Jade Monkey

There was a moment of silence and time seemed to slow down, I wasn’t breathing. I let the breath out slowly and stood still. The gun trailed down my back and stopped as its owner gave me an unfriendly shove towards a small white door at the end of a corridor.

The house was brightly lit; the expensive furniture and artwork were delicately arranged, but shadows still clung to the corners.  Old faces with frozen expressions looked down at me from their canvas prisons, their gently condemning smiles reaching down across the ages.

The white door swung open and I was pushed through it. The room was large, a table was set out for meal complete with candles near a large set of French windows. A chaise longue flanked by two old and immaculate looking armchairs was set in front of an old-fashioned fireplace. I couldn’t see any trace of dust on the furniture, and I could detect a slight smell of rose blossom in the air. I then saw Ms Michelle. She was sitting in the chaise longue holding, a wineglass in one hand. She was wearing an elegant dark green dress, the fire seemed to give her short blonde hair a red tinge. Closing a book and putting it on a small table she turned to face us. After a few seconds she spoke, her clear voice rang out across the room.

‘Wait outside.’

I’d not met her before but I recognised her voice from telephone calls. The goon didn’t reply but the pressure of the pistol left my back, and there was the sound of the gun being holstered. For some reason I didn’t feel any safer.

She looked across at me and waited for the goons to leave the room.

‘Please sit.’ I sat down heavily in a small armchair as she stood up and made her way towards an elaborately decorated cabinet and opened a small door.

‘Drink?’

‘Its breaking the habit of a lifetime, but no thank you.’

A bottle made a small chinking noise as she took it from amongst its neighbours. Refilling her glass she took her seat and looked across at me, with that measuring look where a woman can tell you your shoe size and how much change you have in your pockets. She didn’t smile.

I shifted uneasily in my chair. ‘The chauffeur said you wanted to discuss my contract.’

‘And I do.’ She paused to take a sip from her glass before continuing ‘I believe before you began your current line of work you used to be a private investigator here in Loughborough?’

‘Yes.’ I knew what was coming next, I’d known it was coming from the minute the chains had fallen off the crate in the museum’s warehouse.

‘And you were quite successful.’

‘Yes.’

‘Then one day you left everything. Your partner, the case you were working on, everything. You just left.’

‘Yes.’ Behind a blinding smear of anger lay the fragments of memories. The misted glass door with our two names in gold lettering, the phone with its broken ring and the way she moved her chair to sit in a sunbeam in the mornings. I closed my eyes, refusing to remember more.

‘I want you to take up one last case.’

‘No.’

‘Surely your past troubles aren’t reason enough to turn down a quite lucrative investigation now.’

‘It was a little more than that’

‘So I’m told. Though my sources were a little indistinct on the details.’

I can imagine.’ I said glibly. ‘But why me? You can afford an army of private detectives to find out the truth.’

She stared quietly into the fire for a moment, watching the flames dance. I began to wonder whether she had had too much wine. She started speaking softly. ‘Because you haven’t been in Loughborough long enough for me not to trust you.’

I gave in; I knew I was going to take the case. My curiosity if anything else wouldn’t let it rest. ‘Okay…. A few conditions though.’

‘Go on.’

‘First, I need information. I haven’t been here for years I don’t know this place any more. Second, I need an expense account.’ I carried on quickly as her expression tightened. ‘Nothing outrageous, my old daily rate for detective work.’

Miss Michelle nodded. ‘Plus a little given inflation.’

‘Thank you. Lastly I’ll need to be able to contact you day or night ’

She nodded slowly. ‘Agreed. But I get status reports. So what do you need to know?’

‘First, what’s more important to you? Finding the Jade or avenging the Mayor.’

She sat back in her chair. ‘I believe they’re linked. Solve one and you solve the other. But I would like the Jade back if at all possible.’

‘Right, so what is the situation here?’

‘I’ll give you the outline, as I see it. I and my associate Miss Mills see Loughborough as a place with great potential. A little investment in the right industries, a few helpful gestures from the local government and we could have quite the boom town.’

‘But there’s a problem.’ I said.

‘Yes, there are special interest groups who rather like the town as it is and prefer the status quo. Bringing the Jade here was to raise the towns profile nationally.’ She grimaced. ‘Which it has done, in quite an unfortunate way. But we can still make something of this if we can find the Jade quickly and resolve the Mayors murder.’

‘The police will be seen to be efficient and law and order is good for business.’

She nodded. ‘You’ve got it. I believe those are all the basic facts. We have no real suspicions as to who was behind the crimes so I’m afraid the rest is up to you.’

‘I have some particular questions about the Jade.’

‘The best person to ask would be the archaeologist I hired to authenticate the Jade. You should be able to find her at the museum. Ask for Miss Ferguson at the front desk.’

‘Is there anything else?’

She thought for a while. ‘You may wish to speak to Keren, she may have some information you may find useful. I’ll make you an appointment, just ring her tomorrow to confirm. I believe that’s it.’

‘Right.’

‘Till we meet again then.’

She turned her back to me and rang a small bell and the goons appeared through the door like a pair of badly dressed pantomime villains. I allowed them to roughly show me the door with only mild glaring on my part. Waiting outside the Chauffeur sat on the bonnet of the Rolls. He slid off the car lightly when he saw me coming and opened the passenger door. I stared at him for a second and got in. The car pulled off slowly; gravel crunching under the tires as I went back to Loughborough for one last case.