The Sleuthy Secret Of A Snazzy Socialite

CHAPTER 1

"Coming mom" I called out while putting on a pair of danglers and touching up my lip gloss. I was dressed in a blur ruffle gown with white heels for the dance party.

I hated going to these hotshot parties and dance with a snobby poop heads and eat bland anti-calorie food.

OH wait, I didn't introduce myself, did I? Well, I am Veronica Fischer, (yeah, I am related to the Fischers) a 26 year old Criminology Professor at NYU, or so the world thinks. Actually, I work with the Puddlemere Detective Firm, but only 3 people in the world know that, including myself. I intend to keep it that way.

Now, back to present, I sit in the white limo with my parents , because obviously we need to be over the top for this charity diner party.

The drive to the Petrakis' mansion was quite short and it was not long before the paparazzi were trying to blind us. This was another reason I hated parties, but being the daughter I could not miss them. Sigh.

"Why isn't Luke here? I bet he planned the trip so he won't have to dance with Lara Petrakis."

My dad chuckled. "Nah! Something came up with the Vegas project"

"And it was serious enough that his secretary was incapable of handling it?"

Silence

"See I told you!"

My mom spoke up "Sweetheart, if you don't like it in there, you can leave by 10. Okay?"

"But that's like 2 hours!"

We had entered the gates and had stopped so I shut my mouth. A valet helped me out while dad was helping mom.

"Oh look, the Abbeglens." my mom said and I looked around until I spotted them.

This made all thoughts of going early out of my mind. Any party where Abbeglens were present was worth attending. They were the most difficult case the firm had had in a couple of decades.

"Hey Ariana" I greeted their daughter with a light hug. She was looking pretty in a baby pink gossamer gown with her hair up in a messy yet elegant top knot. She and I got along pretty well, and as far as I had deduced, she was unaware of her family's dealings. She was cool to hang out with and was the window through which I regularly peeked into the Abbeglen household. She also had a brother, Andrew or something like that. I had met him when the family had shifted here a couple decades ago, but he soon left for Yale to get a degree in accountancy. We haven't really crossed paths since then

We all went inside. A maid took my coat and we went into the ballroom. The next 10 minutes were a blur with us greeting almost all the people. Jeez it felt as if there were more people here than the whole of NYU.

After the crowd of "greeters" thinned, Ariana and I went to the refreshments table. I'm not saying that the food was good, but the fact remains that the guys with ego bigger than Texas did not come to get girls near the refreshments table. After all, a real lady won't be found stuffing her face with food when there were guys around. Thankfully, I was not a real lady, and though Ariana had much more manners than me, she still liked to stick with me.

"How's school?" I attempted to start a conversation.

"It's fine I guess. My AP Calculus score is still shitty though." Newsflash: Her score is on a fine line between A and B. "Mom wants me to work harder. Seriously, what college would want me if my GPA is so low"

Just to be clear, this was not her showing off, she actually thought this was bad. Well, to each his own.

"I'm sure you will pull up. What coll-" I broke off because I saw an orange blob hurtling towards me and I barely had time to turn before it, more precisely she, slammed into me.

"I missed you"

"You're choking me, Flora"

"Oh crap! I'm sorry!" she said, releasing me.

Ladies and gentlemen, meet my best friend, Flora Abigail, a girl on a permanent sugar high.

"What are you wearing? It's horrendous!" I said, taking a good look at her bright orange gown.

"I know. Mother picked it out for me. I look like a neon highlighter."

We heard a soft chuckle and turned to see Ariana. Can't believe I'd forgotten about her.

"Hey Ana. You look good" Flora side-hugged her.

"Nice to see you Flora. You look good too."

It was my turn to snicker while she shot me a flat look.

"How come you are here? I thought you were on vacation in LA with-"

"Shhh! Do you want my mom to hear. FYI, I cut out trip short, because she called me for this party. Don't know what's so special about this."

We chatted about this and that for a while before I felt the need to pee. Damn! Shouldn't have drunk all that wine. I left them both there and went to the toilets. That's when I heard voices near the entrance to the loos.

One of the voices belonged to Walter Abbeglen, and it sounded frantic. In a flash, my cell phone was out of the clutch and recording. My bladder could wait.

"The ship can't be here before April you say? Hadn't we agreed for early March?"

"Well, seeing as I can't control the storms, I guess you will have to wait Mr. Abbeglen." The new voice was cold, and I could not place it.

"Of course you can't. Sorry for my words. I hope we can get it done by the first week of April. My son returns on 12th, and I would like to keep him as uninformed as possible. He will be joining the Fischer-Abbeglen & Co."

"Personally I have no interest in your son or that stupid company. But yes, we'll be done before 6th. I hope you have the payment."

"Of course I do. I'm taking you would want it in the form of bonds?"

"Yes I will."

It seemed that their conversation was ending, so I slipped away. Looks like the night was not really wasted and I would have something for the team to work on once I go in for work tomorrow.

~x~

Hey people, this is my first story and you reading it means a lot for me. I know the chapter was not much, but I'll try and update soon again.

Love,
Thea ❤