The Girl with the Flaxen Hair (1)

It was a brilliant, crisp Fall morning. Riley was in the kitchen, standing over two eggs that were gently poaching in a hot frying pan full of water on the stove. Lilly was seated at the dining table impatiently tapping her fingers.

"Are they ready yet?" Lilly pouted.

"I'm waiting too, you know!" Riley said. He checked the clock on the wall to make sure that three minutes had finally passed, then carefully lifted the pan from the burner and carefully spooned the poached eggs onto two hot, buttered slices of wheat toast.

"Thanks, bro!” Lilly said, as Riley gave her the egg on toast. She smiled and picked up her knife and fork.

It was Sunday morning, the end of an eventful week for the two of them. Lilly and her group—minus Nina—had done their presentation on the Sahara Desert in class on Thursday, which netted them a fairly decent grade. Riley's investigation work had led to a substantial new lead in an underground network of jewel thieves and smugglers that was now being investigated, and most of the jewelry Nina’s mother had stolen had been recovered and brought back to their rightful owners. Even better, Mr. and Mrs. Worthington had heard about Lilly's work in unraveling the jewel theft, and decided that she was entitled to a substantial reward of whatever she wanted.

Lilly's response?

"I want a letter of recommendation to the magistrate for me to take the imperial detective's licensing exam!" she announced. Since the Worthingtons were well acquainted with a member of the national assembly, they were more than happy to oblige, but they still insisted on giving Lilly a little bit of money to have fun with. She accepted it, but Riley persuaded her to put most of it in a savings account.

Riley opened the cupboard and took out a metal tin of breakfast tea. One of the first things he had done the day after Nina's mother was arrested was to go out to the grocery store and buy enough tea in several different blends and varieties to serve to his potential clients. When Lilly came home from school to see all the tea laid out with the other groceries on the counter, she could not be prouder. It meant that her bro was finally deciding to open up the detective agency again.

"Would you like milk and sugar in your tea, Lilly?" Riley asked. Lilly nodded, her mouth full of crispy toast.

Riley prepared tea for two and set down the tray, along with a creamer and sugar bowl, down on the kitchen table between the two of them. "Here you go," Riley said.

"You know," Lilly said, "if I become a detective, we could go into business together. That means we'd need to have a new name." She slowly added milk and two lumps of sugar to her mug of tea.

"Why, what's wrong with Rowley Detective Agency?" Riley asked.

"Well...it's what Papa named it," Lilly said. "And since...we're his successors, then...I think maybe we should make a new name for ourselves."

"Tell you what. You come up with something," Riley said.

“I’ve already come up with something,” Lilly said. “We’re going to be the Charming Detective Agency.”

Riley was trying to suppress his laughter at the suggestion. “Well…that sounds…unique.”

“Well, think about it. You’re like a Prince Charming helping people! It will draw people in the door!”

“Maybe,” Riley said.

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The rest of the morning was taken up by cleaning up.

Riley opened the window shutters of his father's office, and let the sunlight in. He had Lilly attack the dust bunnies with a feather duster and cloths, while he organized the desk and the bookshelves. He took down row after row of case logs and legal books, looked over them, and weeded out the ones that were either out-of-date or irrelevant. Those would need to go into the trash.

The desk was scrubbed down with furniture polish, and the green glass desk lamp was dusted off and the light bulb replaced. Riley decided that he'd get an all new desk set—his father's was serviceable, but he wanted one that spoke to him directly. Also, he'd get a few easy-to-care-for plants—nothing like pretty flowers to put someone at ease.

Lilly paused from her work to look at the now cleared-off desk. "So you're going to keep Papa's desk?" she asked.

"I will, but I honestly have to say I'm going to get a different lamp," Riley said. "I'm...not really fond of green."

"I'll take it, then," Lilly said. "Maybe one day, I'll have my own office."

The two of them looked around the room. It seemed a lot larger and lighter now that most of the clutter had been cleared out—in fact, an entire bookshelf now sat unused.

"Maybe we should put a couch and a table in here," Lilly said. "To make people feel more comfortable."

"That's a good idea," Riley said. "Why don't we take a break and head to the shops?"

About half an hour later, Riley and Lilly were on the wide, tree-lined Maple Street. It was the main thoroughfare of West Side, laden with different shops selling furniture, food, clothing, toys, and other assorted items. Lilly was window shopping, looking for likely places where she could spend a little bit of her reward money, but then she got an idea.

"Can we go to the bookstore, Bro?" she asked. "Maybe they have a study guide for the detective's licensing examination."
"Good idea," Riley said.

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The two of them entered the bookstore, where Lilly went right up to the counter. "Excuse me. Do you happen to have the latest edition of the imperial detective's license study guide?" she asked the man behind the counter.

"Well, now, doing errands for mommy and daddy? Isn't that nice," the man said, smiling.

"Actually, sir, it's for me," Lilly said. "So can you find it for me, please?"

Taken aback, the man went into the stacks of books and went in search of it. Lilly rolled her eyes as she looked back at her brother.

"What is it with people and judging them by their appearances?" she sighed.

With her study books found, Lilly and Riley made their way back to their house. As they came closer, they noticed a young woman standing outside.

She was petite, probably only a little less than five feet tall. She had long, stick-straight blonde hair and her eyes were a beautiful deep brown. She was wearing a powder blue wool coat and a matching pillbox hat. Around her arm was a rather large satchel.

"Excuse me, is this the Rowley Detective Agency?" she asked.

Riley found himself staring at her, and then Lilly elbowed him in the side. "Ah, yes. Excuse me. We weren't expecting any visitors today, so I apologize for not being present. Would you like to come in?"

"Certainly," said the young woman.

Riley opened the front door and held it open for Lilly and the visitor. "You'll have to excuse the mess," Riley said. "We're doing a little bit of remodeling. Hopefully, I'll be able to start taking customers again fairly soon."

"Well, if you're not quite open yet..." The young woman looked hesitant.

"Oh, no, no, it’s fine." Riley went over to her and placed a gently reassuring hand on her shoulder. "We'll use our sitting room. Please, hang your coat up over by the door. Would you like some tea?"

"Oh, yes. Thank you," the woman said.

"Very well. Lilly, could you get the lavender Earl Grey tea from the cabinet, please?" Riley said. "I'll put the kettle on."

"Okay," Lilly said. It was just like old times. Whenever Jasper's clients came in, he'd always ask Lilly to get the tea out and prepared for everyone.

“May I take your hat?” Riley asked.

“I would prefer to leave it on, thank you very much,” the woman said. She blushed a little. She took off her coat, and her blonde hair cascaded down onto her shoulders like a waterfall. She was dressed in a pale pink shirt dress, with a locket around her neck in the shape of a heart. Riley found himself staring.

"So, you're the ones who helped unravel the jewel theft," the young lady said. "And I understand your reputation precedes you. I should introduce myself first." She reached into her satchel and retrieved a small white business card and handed it to Riley. "I am Kayla Shepherd, writer for the Veritas Tribune," she said.

Riley's eyebrows raised. He had seen her byline only a few days ago—it was attached to the story about Nina's mother being captured for the jewel thefts. It was strange to think of Kayla as a reporter, but somehow it seemed to fit. She had an intense gaze that seemed to penetrate you, and her eyes seemed to have a mischievous spark to them.

Lilly came into the sitting room slowly, carrying a tray with three of their fanciest tea cups, the fancy creamer and sugar bowl, and the fancy teapot. "I have it all set for the three of us," she said.

Riley sighed. "Lilly, why don't you head upstairs? Do you have any homework that you need to finish?"

"It's all done," Lilly said. "If I'm going to become a detective, I should be in on this conversation."

"Lilly..." Riley began to protest, but Kayla smiled.

"I'm fine with her being here," she said. "Don't worry. My case isn't anything that a young child's ears shouldn't hear."

Riley sighed. "Very well," he said. He was secretly disappointed—how long had it been since he had been in the presence of a beautiful young woman? Sure, Candace and Sandra had been beautiful, but something about them seemed out-of-reach. This Kayla Shepherd seemed like she had it all—intelligence, wit and beauty. Hopefully, he'd be able to get to know her a little better.

"Well," Kayla said, taking a swallow of her lavender Earl Grey tea, "I suppose I'd better be brief: I have come to see you because I am fairly certain that someone is snooping in my apartment."

Riley nodded, opening up his book and starting to write. "Can you tell me why?" he asked.

"First of all," Kayla said. "Three weeks ago, I had to work late at the Tribune—we were covering a speech that Anthony Suthers was giving at the Ministry of Justice. I came home to discover my apartment's door locked as usual, but the closet doors in my bedroom were open. And I distinctly had left them closed earlier that morning."

"Was anything taken?" Lilly asked. Kayla shook her head no.

"There were some things that were shifted, and some things that fell on the floor, but nothing missing. Second of all," Kayla said, "last Saturday I was called into work unexpectedly. And I was in such a rush that I forgot my wallet at home and didn't realize it until I had to pay my fare at the trolley. So I went back to get it. When I went back inside, I saw some of my cabinet doors had been left open, and it appeared someone had been searching through them. Again, nothing taken."

"How long does it take for you to get to work from your apartment?" Riley asked.

"Well...usually I ride the trolley. It takes me about twenty minutes or so for me to get to work, depending on traffic. The stop is on the corner of the street, outside the postal service. The trolley usually stops every fifteen minutes or so on a weekday, but when I got there I had to wait for about half an hour until it came."

"Were there any more incidents?" Riley asked. Kayla nodded.

"Yes. This happened just this morning, and it was enough for me to come down here." Kayla's expression grew stern. "I have a desk in my apartment. I store a lot of my important documents in there, both personal as well as work related. I left for church this morning, and when I came back..." She shook her head. "My desk had been rifled through. Specifically...my personal documents."

"When you say 'personal documents...'" Riley looked up at Kayla. "What are you talking about?"

Kayla smiled. "I'm not the silly, sentimental type...but these were love letters. From my boyfriend to me." Lilly looked over at her brother and saw his expression change. "He passed away a few years ago...I've been keeping them ever since." Riley seemed to brighten up again. "My church is right down the street from me, so it's just a short walk there. The service was an hour, and at most I was probably gone from my apartment for an hour and a half. When I came back...there were signs that the door was opened and then closed again, and when I opened it myself to see, I found that the letters were in complete disarray. I kept them in the envelopes, you see...And many of them had been taken out and not put back, and were folded wrong." Kayla sighed, as she took another sip of her tea.

"Was anything missing?" Riley asked.

Kayla shook her head. "Nothing at all. Which is what bothers me. In the OTHER side of my desk, in the drawer there, are important papers having to do with a major story that I'm writing for the Tribune. They had been left completely alone. I write front-page stories for the Tribune, and many people recognize my name. So...why would a person want to go through my personal matters, and not my professional ones?"

"Maybe..." Lilly had been quiet, but now she looked up at Kayla's face. "Maybe they want to find out something damaging about you. Like blackmail."

"Blackmail..." Kayla sighed and replaced her cup on the saucer. "I feared something like this would happen. I admit, my reporting has more than likely made me several enemies. This is something that I can't take on by myself. So that's why I've turned to you two."

Riley nodded. "We'll do everything we can for you. Now, would you be able to bring us over to your apartment to look things over?"

"I could," Kayla said, "but...the problem is my landlady. She's...kind of old fashioned."

"Old fashioned as in how?" Riley said.

"Well, for example, if she saw me with a strange man that was from my family, she'd probably have a heart attack. I wouldn't be surprised if she chased you out with a broomstick."

"I'll come with both of you," Lilly said. "More girls than boys makes it better, right?"

Kayla smiled. "I like the way you think," she said. "Maybe that would work. I've pretty much left things untouched since I came back from church."

"Then shall we be off, then?" Riley asked.