My Dad, the Private Eye: The Falling Star

CHAPTER 9

One thing I didn't tell you about myself: I'm on a soccer team. Just a local community team, but I like it, and I think I'm pretty good.

My dad's pretty good at soccer too, and that's why he's our coach! Too bad the job doesn't pay anything; he just does it for fun.

Dad coached from the sidelines during our Saturday practice game. "Pass it! Good! Stay on your man... girl... whatever."

Samantha, the striker on my practice team, dribbled the ball for thirty yards then drilled a shot right into the back of the net. Everybody cheered – but me. Why? Because Samantha's the B word.

"Okay, take a break!" Dad said. Everybody left the field to grab their Gatorade bottles.

"Samantha never passes," I told Dad quietly so Samantha wouldn't hear (but secretly hoping she would).

"I know," Dad said.

"She's a bitch," I said. (Oops, I said the word out loud, ha ha.)

"I'm on it, calm down," Dad said, looking over his clipboard, trying to arrange the next set of teams.

I took a swig of Gatorade and changed the subject to something more interesting. "So, I can't believe you saw an actual dead person."

"It was horrible," Dad said. "A horrible accident. I mean, it shouldn't even have killed her – it was only about a twenty foot fall, but she must've landed on her head."

"Ouch."

Dad started to wonder a little. "Kind of amazing, though, how the Director found a new actress so fast. They're shooting again tomorrow. I gotta go back."

"You mean the movie isn't canceled?" I asked.

"They don't cancel movies. They cost too much money, I guess."

"I don't know. Sounds suspicious to me. I think something's going on."

"Like what? It was an accident."

"Listen to you. Some private eye. Aren't private investigators supposed to know when something smells fishy?"

"They're supposed to know when there's nothing there too."

"Well, how do you know until you investigate?" Then I got the best idea ever. "Hey, you should make this your first case!"

"What? No! Private investigators get hired to do stuff. They don't just solve cases that fall into their laps. This isn't Murder, She Wrote."

"Murder she what?"

"Nothing."

"Dad, is anybody hiring you to do anything?" I asked. "You know, from that ad?"

Dad hung his head. "No."

"So maybe you should solve a case for free first," I reasoned. "And it'd be pretty cool too, you know, her supposedly being a movie star."

"She is a movie star. Was. Twenty-five years ago," Dad said, feeling old. "But you're right. I gotta get a name somehow." Some of the girls started to drift back onto the field, but Dad's brain was starting to work. "This is good 'cause I used to be a mailman. I know how to fly under the radar. Nobody pays attention to the mailman. But trust me, we see and hear all," he said, thinking back to the day Patty died. "Like those nails..."

"What nails?"

"Behind the set. There were these nails on the floor, like someone had just pulled them out of a wall or something," Dad said. "Guess I should call that detective about them."

"Why give him all the good stuff?" I asked. "This is your first case. You have to solve it."

"Right..." Dad said, realizing. Then he looked up, getting lost in thought. "My first case..."

"Dad?"

"Yeah?" he said.

"Practice?" I said, running out onto the field.

Dad snapped back to reality. "Okay, let's get going again!" he called to the girls. But as we started another practice game, Dad drifted off again, even allowing himself a little smile. "My first case!"

Yeah, I know, I'm the one who thought Dad becoming a private detective was a dumb idea. Well, it was a dumb idea before. Now it wasn't! I mean, a real big-time case just fell into his lap. A famous actress died under suspicious circumstances, and Dad was one of the only witnesses. And if he solved "The Case of the Murdered Movie Star", he'd probably get famous himself, and then people would want to hire him for a lot of other cool cases!

But first, he had to lay low and just do his movie extra job like nothing was wrong. That way, he could investigate the case without raising any suspicion.

He was going to go undercover!