The Harem on the Hill (Part LXII) (Patreon)

"What was this foreign bird's name again?"

"Anastasia."

Captain Tucker drummed his thick fingers across the equally thick file that officer Petty had laid on his desk.  Clipped to its cover was a surveillance photo of an exotic woman in an evening gown.  "She looks like she should be in a James Bond movie."

Officer Petty sat in a chair opposite his superior.  "Based on that file, I think it's more likely he'd be in her movie."

The captain picked up the folder and held it close to his pock-marked face, sharpening the woman's features and the line of cleavage below her neckline.  "She wouldn't have to work too hard for my secrets, I can tell you that!"

The captain laughed.  Petty didn't.

"This is the gal who reached out to Morgan?"  Captain Tucker continued.

"Right."

"The one with the ax to grind on our billionaire buddy?"

"Correct.  Apparently, her real name is Eva Aleksandra."

"How did you discover that?"

"I didn't."

Captain Tucker nodded and plopped the thick file back on the desk.  "How's our little spitfire enjoying retirement?"

"We've only e-mailed."

"And?"

"She found a new job.  Something with lots of growth potential."

"Where?"

"Didn't say."

"Doing what?"

"Didn't say.  Only that it was sedentary and she'd put on some weight."

"That doesn't sound like Morgan."

"No, it does not."

Tucker patted the potbelly that billowed several inches beyond his belt, an accumulation of twenty years' job-related stress and donuts.  "Serves her right, considering how much she teased me about this."

Petty said nothing.

"Of course, knowing Morgan she's probably gained half a pound at most.  Her idea of sedentary is running nine miles instead of ten."

Petty said nothing.

"What's on your mind, officer?"

"She told me to tell Ruthie hello."

"What?"

"When I e-mailed that Ruthie missed her she said, 'tell her hello.'"

"So?"  The captain glanced out his windowed office to where Ruthie, the five-year-old German Shepherd, waited patiently in her kennel for her next assignment.

"You don't find that odd?  Tell her hello.  To a dog?  A dog she never passed without giving a treat and a belly rub?"

Captain Tucker leaned back in his chair and clasped his hands over his stomach.  "We received Morgan's letter of resignation, you know?  She signed it and everything."

"I know."

"Then what are you getting at?"

Petty stared at his feet.  "I never saw her before she left town."

"None of us did.  She was plenty pissed."

"I should have supported her more."

"You did what any smart detective would do.  You followed the evidence, not your heart."

The sandy-haired policeman returned his gaze to the captain and swallowed hard.  "You should go through that file."

"Why?"

"Anastasia.  Eva.  She worked for you-know-who."

"Is that a surprise?  The man employed thousands.  Maybe hundreds of thousands."

"Let's just say Eva wasn't getting a W-2 for her services."

Captain Tucker stared at the folder.  It was beginning to look like a Pandora's Box he didn't want to open.  "What else is in there?"

"Remember Veronica Tate?"

"That actress who disappeared?"

"Right.  She also had connections to our new resident."

The captain sat up straight.  "Didn't they date?"

Petty nodded.  "She vanished shortly after they broke up."

"Convenient.  He was never a suspect though."

"Not really.  There was no evidence of foul play.  No evidence at all.  At least at the time."

"So what's changed?"

"Just one thing."   Officer Petty pointed at the photo.  "That was taken in the lobby of The Plaza hotel the night Veronica went missing.  Care to guess where the actress was staying at the time?"

The captain picked up the folder again, finally noticing the timestamp below Eva's impossibly long legs: March 17, 2016, 10:33 PM.  "Jesus, Petty.  How come I've never seen this before?"

"It just arrived in the mail this morning."


AUTHOR'S NOTE: I hope you don't mind my taking a break from thickening up your harem to thicken up the plot a little!  I'll be back next week with more choices for you.