Heartless Notions

James Stone's office/May 14/12:34 pm

A/n: Hello everyone! This is the first chapter of Heartless Notations! Every chapter will begin with a name, place, date, and time. This is a detective story, but with a teen/romantic/comedy/and a lot of things twist, so that it will appeal to a variety of audiences. Please read on, and enjoy (:

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James Stone's office/May 14/12:34 pm

Mr. Stone wanted nothing more than an ice cold martini and the ocean breeze in his face. But instead he was stuck here on the sixth floor of the Artwell business center in the middle of the over polluted town of Windleton. He sighed as he shifted his miscellaneous papers and straightened his pencils once again, then glanced at the clock as if time would speed up.

The reason he had picked this job always puzzled the complex mind of Mr. Stone. He hated to work, and he hated to dress up in fancy clothes, and he hated people. So the only reason he could think of was he sure was damn good at being a detective.

Mr. Stone was quite a lonely man, but he liked it that way. The less interaction with annoying clinging selfish idiots, the better. Sure, he had had relationships here and there, but never something serious or worth while. His family was never there for him. He didn't have any happy memories of someone pushing him on the swing set, or Christmas parties where the kids opened presents and fell asleep in the living room while the adults stayed up drinking and laughing. Mr. Stone had been abandoned as a child, only to run away later from one of his many foster homes after convincing himself that he would never find love. It seemed things like that only happened in books or movies. But Mr. Stone never let any of this bother him, he had built a stone wall around his heart, letting no one in but his studies and work.

Once again, Mr. Stone stole a half-hearted glance towards the clock, only to find that it had only been three minutes since he last looked. He was especially anxious to get out of the office today, not for any reason in particular, but he felt that if he stayed any longer, he surely would die a young unaccomplished soul.

Mr. Stone was just about to take another sip of his lemon iced water when his office phone buzzed. Great, he thought, what was it now?

"Hello?" He answered, obviously bored.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Stone!" His assistant, Camille, answered much too cheerfully for his taste, "There's a women here to see you." Camille's voice was unnaturally high, and Mr. Stone had always puzzled over how she still had her job.

"What does she want?" Mr. Stone replied gruffly.

"She said she has a case for you, and is willing to-" Camille lowered her voice to a whisper, "-pay big bucks." Mr. Stone rolled his eyes at her childishness.

"Oh, whatever, send her in." He said hardly giving it any thought. People gave him cases all the time, and they were always so painfully easy to solve. He could solve mysteries in his sleep, while untying his hands behind his back, that was just how good he was.

Just then, his office door was basically torn down, the noise deafening; a women burst through, almost invisible beneath the heap of her faded blond frizzy hair flung wildly about her face. She raced up to Mr. Stones desk, flinging herself at him as he jumped back in his chair alarmed. This lady was crazy. She was wet and blubbery, talking a mile a minute, and about an inch from Mr. Stones face. It wasn't until spit started flying that Mr. Stone took action.

"That is quite enough!" Mr. Stone bellowed loudly, but in control. He straitened his tie and shifted in his seat, "Please, take a seat, Ms.-?"

"Clearwater, Mrs. Sally Clearwater, Sir. I'm sorry, it's just that my son-" before she could get going again, Mr. Stone quickly interrupted her.

"Please, Mrs. Clearwater, I'm here to help you, so slow down and explain your situation." He had rehearsed lines similar to this for years.

Sally Clearwater was distraught. Her eyes were wide and bloodshot, her hands shook as she clenched them in her lap. Her clothes were wrinkled and didn't quite fit right. She was truly a mess.

"It's my son," she choked out, "He's a pilot, the best pilot though! He was the best..." She seemed to drift off, but then started up again, "Well, he's not allowed to share information about work with me, security reasons, you know... But I know when he's out of town. And well, his plane crashed! I don't know where and I don't know how, but his body wasn't found! It was gone! Gone! That must mean he's alive somehow, right? Right? But Ohhh, I really need your help right now..." And with that she broke into another set of big wet messy tears.

This lady was in desperate need of therapy or some very strong medication. Mr. Stone sighed and closed his eyes thinking that he could probably use some as well if he had to deal with Sally Clearwater any longer.

"So, Mrs. Clearwater, before we discuss any further details, lets talk money." Since, Mr. Stone didn't care for many things socially, he personally adored money. It wasn't because he was one of those people who had to have the newest coolest things out there. No, it was because he wanted to feel secure, and what better way than to be financially comfortable, and in Mr. Stone's case, much more than financially comfortable.

"W-well," Mrs. Clearwater stuttered, "I'd pay anything, my husband works as a brain surgeon. Seven million, eight?" Mr. Stone did a double take, who would have thought that a women like this would have that much money?

"Um, excuse me?" He asked, thinking maybe he had heard wrong.

"Is that not enough?" Her eyes were wide and frantic, "I could pay you more! Eight and a half, nine? Please Sir, you need to help me find my son!"

"No. No, that's not it, it's-nothing." Mr. Stone just couldn't deal with this right now. "Eight million is fine." He supposed that would be worth dealing with this maniac.

"Now, nice and slowly, tell me every single detail." Mr. Stone sat back in his chair, sipped his water, sucked in his breath, and prepared for a long rest of the day.

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Thanks for reading everybody! Thank you for checking my story out, and I hope you keep reading it (: Please vote, comment, and fan! It means so much to me, and feel free to tell me about your work, I'll definitely check it out!

-Emma