Chapter 14:

The Girl with the Flaxen Hair (5)

The Charming Detective Agency


Riley spent the bulk of his afternoon looking up various shops that sold knives—antique dealers, arms dealers, even a shop selling kitchen supplies just in case—and visited each of them with the box that contained the knife left in Kayla's apartment. It wasn't until after the carillon chimed two o'clock that Riley finally had a hit on the knife.

He was in an antique dealer's shop, which was chock full of old furniture, old leather bound books on bookcases, glass cases filled with old jewelry, coins, and stamps, and stuffed and mounted animal heads on the walls. The air was musty and smelled like history. The proprietor was an old man who reminded him of Ebenezer Scrooge from the portrait in the family copy of A Christmas Carol that Riley's parents used to read to him and Lilly when they were children. He wore a pinstriped suit and greasy, dusty brown canvas pants and had horn-rimmed glasses. The antique dealer carefully lifted the knife from the box and inspected it.

"Hmm. I've seen something like this knife recently," he said. "Obviously, it's not an antique, but it would easily fool someone. These panels, here on the handle, they're just cheap celluloid. They've gone a bit yellow with age, too, here. So this knife definitely isn't new. I'd say, oh, fifteen, twenty years old at most."

Riley nodded, and opened up his notebook. "Could you tell me what happened when you last saw this knife?"

"Well..." The antique dealer looked up at the ceiling. "Let's say, it was earlier this month...A young man came in looking for a knife. I asked him if he needed it for something special, and he said, ‘Just any old one.’ Had this cheap one in the case…he snapped it up.”

“Did anything about his behavior seem ‘off’ to you?” Riley asked.

“Not really. I’d never seen him before. I get a lot of regular customers.”

"Can you possibly describe this person for me?" Riley asked.

"Well...he was a young man. Maybe...a little older than you. About your height. His hair was kind of a light mousy brown. He looked like he was some sort of day laborer—he was in heavy overalls and work boots. And...oh, I remember now. He smelled weird."

"Really? How would you describe it?" Riley asked.

In reply, the antique dealer stepped out from behind the counter. "Let me show you something," he said. He walked over to a locked glass case that held several antique bottles of perfume. They were all in decorative glass bottles, some with the bulb of an atomizer attached. He unlocked the case, reached inside, and carefully pulled out an antique bottle that still held a few tiny drops of liquid at the bottom. The bottle was made of iridescent glass and molded into a stylized scallop shell, and topped with a black screw-top cap in the shape of a fleur-de-lis. "The wife's a big fan of perfume and perfume bottles, otherwise I wouldn't carry these. But this stuff, I swear, is the same whiff I smelled from that strange young man that came in with the knife. He put the bottle down on the table and unscrewed the cap. "Here you go."
Riley took a deep sniff of the perfume in the bottle. It was obviously a woman's scent—it smelled of lavender with hints of what he thought was vanilla. A delicate scent for a delicate person like Kayla. He replaced the top and inspected the bottle, trying to find a label. "So what's the name of this scent?"

"Believe it's called 'Champs-Elysees,' after that street in Paris. The wife would probably be able to confirm it."

"And you're fairly certain that this person came in the store smelling like this perfume?" Riley puzzled over the meaning of this until he realized that another talk with Kayla was in order. Was she a fan of this perfume as well?

The antique dealer nodded. "Very certain. Lots of ladies love that one."

Riley nodded, carefully packing up the knife. "Thank you very much for your time, sir. Sorry to bother you."

"Not a problem." The man went back to his workbench. "Take care, now."

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When Lilly came home from school, she noticed her brother sitting at the old office desk, mulling over paperwork. "Did you find anything, Bro?" Lilly asked.

Riley nodded. "I did get a clue from an antique dealer earlier." He explained the knife, as well as the antique dealer's report that the person who bought it smelled of women's perfume.

"Really? That's weird," Lilly said.

"So I'm going to get in contact with Kayla when she's back from work and see if she owns this particular type and brand." Riley leaned back in his chair, sighing. "This is just getting more and more bizarre, and I'm getting worried for her safety."

Lilly nodded. "Then...can we have dinner? Because there's something I want to tell you."

"Oh!" Riley had almost forgotten. "All right. I'll make something, and then you can tell me what your decision will be."

Lilly nodded, and went to hurriedly do her homework before dinner was on the table.

Riley and Lilly sat facing each other. In front of each of them were a bowl of tomato soup and a freshly made grilled-cheese sandwich, which was one of the other more advanced recipes in Riley's culinary repertoire.

"All right, Lilly," Riley said, as he started eating his soup. "What have you decided on?"

Lilly took a deep breath. It was clear that she was nervous. After a few moments, she looked up into her brother's eyes.

"I am going to take the examination," she said.

A surge of pride and a surge of fear simultaneously struck Riley. On the one hand, he was happy that his younger sister had decided on such a lofty career goal. On the other hand...she was still a child, and she had her childhood to contend with and go through. "Can you tell me why?" Riley asked.

Lilly hesitantly stirred her soup. She had prepared herself for this, but still the words were pretty hard for her to get out. "It's because I want to be the kind of person that people can depend on,” she said. “I want to be the kind of person that people go to when they need help."

Riley's eyebrows raised. Lilly's reasoning was mature beyond her years. And it was true—Riley wasn't even sure if he'd be able to solve this latest case without someone to help him out, because the added pressure of Mrs. Ditch was making things difficult. "Then do you want to help me on this case, Lilly?" he asked.

"Of course I do!" Lilly emphatically shouted. "Miss Shepherd—Kayla's depending on you, and you can't give up on her because some crazy old lady won't let you near her. Besides...I have an idea."

"Really?"

"You're not going to like it, but I think it's the only chance that you have." Lilly sat back in her chair and looked into her brother's eyes. "What if you let me stay overnight at her apartment to investigate?"

Riley was about to say, "Absolutely not," until something clicked in his mind. If Mrs. Ditch objected to an unmarried young woman fraternizing with unmarried young men, would she have any objection to a little girl? And with Kayla having such a huge family, it'd probably be easy to come up with a cover story. She probably had more cousins that she could count, so one more would probably not make a huge difference.

There was one thing holding him back, though: That knife. Whoever had once owned that knife could very well be capable of hurting Kayla—and Lilly, too. What if they had other weapons?

"Lilly, you make a good point," Riley said. "But there's no way I can let you go by yourself, not unless there's some way that your safety can be absolutely guaranteed."

"You're right. Hmm..." Lilly gazed up at the ceiling, lost in thought.

"Why don't we hold off on that until after I've talked to Kayla," Riley said. "I need to tell her about what I found out this morning, anyway. I'll tell her about your idea, and if she goes along with it, then...I guess I could let you go. But still, there's got to be some way we can find someone or some way for the two of you to find help if you need it."

Lilly recalled the city map she had memorized over the summer. She mentally searched the streets, alleys and landmarks, and then she blinked in surprise. "There is! Around the corner is a precinct office for the magistrate. I could run there, if need be."

"The magistrate, huh...I wonder if Thomas knows someone who works there we could possibly confide in," Riley said. "I'll give him a try as well."

Excitedly, Lilly finished her sandwich and wiped her mouth daintily with a napkin. "I'm going to get my homework done, and then I'll do some of my studying for the exam. I looked it up and the next session's not until the end of November. I think I have enough time to study until then."

"Lilly, not everyone passes the exam the first time they take it," Riley said. "I did, but maybe I was more of the exception to the rule. So promise me you won't be disappointed if you don't pass. All right?"

Lilly nodded. "I'll do my best. When would the next exam be?"

"Probably not until next February." The imperial detective licensing exam was held four times a year, in February, May, August and November. You were allowed to take the exam as many times as needed in order to pass, but after the first failure you needed to pay a fee to the magistrate in order to retake it. It wasn't cheap, either—back when Riley had first taken it, the retake fee was over one hundred dollars. Retaking it once would be all right, but if it happened multiple times, that meant a good chunk of change.

Lilly stared at her bowl of soup in thought. It was clear that she was mulling over her options. Tomorrow would be the 15th of October—she had only about 30 days in which to study for a test that many people devoted months to. On the one hand, she could try and take the test right away, and be there to help Riley with proper credentials. On the other hand, she could wait until February, giving her more time to prepare, and more certainty that she would pass with flying colors.

Finally, she smiled and looked up at her brother. "I'm going to do it now," Lilly said. "What have I got to lose? If I don't pass, then that just means I have more time to study!"

Riley smiled back. "That's the spirit. Now don't let this get in the way of your school work, you hear me?"

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Riley was seated in front of the telephone, the receiver to his ear. He was listening to Kayla recounting the events of the day.

"...she was absolutely livid," Kayla said, sighing as she finished reporting to Riley her encounter with Mrs. Ditch. "After all this is over and done with, I swear I'm going to try and find a new place to live."

"I honestly don't blame you," Riley said.

"So what did you find this afternoon?" Kayla asked.

"First things first. I want to ask you something. Do you happen to own any perfumes?"

"Of course I do. I've got a couple bottles," Kayla said. "What kind of woman do you take me for?" She laughed briefly.

"Do you own any perfume that's called Champs-Elysees?" Riley asked.

"I do, as a matter of fact...Why?"

"Where in your apartment do you keep it?"

"There's a little chest of drawers I keep in my closet, and all my perfumes and such I keep on top of it."

Riley looked down at the notes he took the day Kayla first came in for her consultation. Sure enough, she had mentioned that the first time someone had broken in, they had been inside her closet, and things had been moved around and dropped.

"Do you remember if your Champs-Elysees perfume bottle was moved in any way when you came into your apartment the day you first noticed your closet had been rifled through?" Riley asked.

Kayla paused to think. "I...believe so...Yes! It was lying on its side on the top of the drawers."

Riley explained what had happened at the antique store earlier, and Kayla audibly gasped. "Do you think it's him?" she asked.

"Well, we'll need to investigate and make sure. Here's what I wanted to ask you about. Would it be permissible if Lilly were to stay with you overnight?"

"Lilly? But..."

"I know, it...doesn't seem safe, but I wanted to clear it with you first. She believes that she'd be able to help investigate, and I agreed to let her go if you thought she would be all right."

"Hmm..." Kayla went quiet on the other end of the line. "It...does seem like she'd have the advantage over someone like you. No offense."

"None taken, but you do see my argument. That's good," Riley replied. "It would be Friday night into Saturday night, so it's not a school night for her. And, I have a friend who works at the magistrate that I'm going to try and get in touch with. He's going to contact the people at the station nearby, and see if maybe they might be able to spare a patrolman or two to watch over things if your unwanted visitor decides to return."

"That sounds like a plan," Kayla said. "Tell her that I would be happy to have such a charming house guest for the night, and that I would cook her anything she wants, within reason."

Riley chuckled. "'Within reason,' huh?"

"Well, I can't do any of that fancy restaurant cooking they have in the city here, but I can certainly hold my own. Did I mention that I grew up on a farm?"

"No, you didn't!" Riley was fascinated now. "I'll have to hear all about it sometime."

There was a pause from the other end. "I...would very much like to tell you," Kayla said, quietly. "Perhaps...after all this is over...and when I'm settled into a new place, we can..." She trailed off.

"We can what?" Riley asked.

"Ah, nothing. Forget I said that for now," Kayla said. "I'd...better get to bed. I have to be at work early tomorrow morning."

"I won't keep you. Good night, Miss Shepherd."

"Good night...Riley."

As Kayla hung up the phone, Riley felt somewhat light. The way she said his name...He couldn't find words to describe it, but it filled him with an incredible feeling of pure joy and happiness. He couldn't celebrate long, though, as he pressed down on the cradle and asked the operator for the number for the Franklin household.