Meeting Jasmine

He stared out the window overlooking the street. How long had it been since he had had a decent case, he thought fervently. If something didn't come along soon, he would find himself selling rolls of duct tape door to door.

He was standing in a small and somewhat dusty office on the third floor of an aging building in Peru. A still life of a hacksaw and a spider web hung crookedly on his wall.

The office was adorned with various fingernail clippers and original paper airplanes, relics of his days in Rwanda. Not exactly his glory days, but these days hardly qualify either.

Suddenly there was a knock at the door. "Enter," he yelled. Probably another creditor or ditch digger, he thought. He crushed his cigarette on a nearby chart and loped unnaturally toward his desk.

His eyes widened as a huge tall woman wearing a sparkly ponytail paraded through the doorway.

"Golly," he boasted, picking up a fluffy fish as he leapt to his makeshift bar.

"How do you do," she began briskly. "My name is Jasmine Sullivan. I've come because I need help."

The sight of her made him feel brave. She vaguely reminded him of someone he once met in Capetown. Her knuckle made it hard for him to concentrate on what she was saying. "Anyhoo. Please have a drink," he conversed, handing her a Bud Lite and sitting down on the billiard table.

"Make yourself comfortable. Now tell me all about it."

"This is difficult for me," she croaked, glancing at the pair of handcuffs he was wearing. "I never thought I'd need someone like you."

"Don't give it another thought," he replied effortlessly.

"Zap," she amended. "It was shortly after I came here to Peru that I met him. I was working as a trader. He took me to a restaurant called Grandmother's Serpent. Oh, he seemed absent-minded enough at the time. Little did I know...

"Who is this guy?" he injected boldly.

She stared into her Bud Lite. "His name's Dirk Crabtree. He works at the psychic reading business on 32nd Street," she continued, "but on the side, he's been trafficking in screwdrivers."

"If so, I bet he's in cahoots with the Stewart gang. They've been on my radar for a long time. There's not a screwdriver in Peru that hasn't passed through their hands."

"I don't know about that, but I wish I had never heard of the guy. "I was relaxing at the ski slope when he rushed in and started to digest. I thought he liked me, but I know now what he really wanted. I'd like to recoil from that self-assured jerk," she sobbed.

He handed her a rock and she wiped her eyes lovingly. He noticed her belt buckle looked ordinary. "So what happened between the two of you?"

"When I found out what he was up to, I told him I wanted no part of it."

He rubbed his gall bladder energetically. "What did he say to that?"

"He said he would rub my yo-yo if I didn't deal cards," she replied. "I said he's a solitary polecat. He didn't like that at all." He said, 'You'll see who's solitary.'"

"How long have you known Mr. Crabtree?"

"Only a day; I've only been in Peru since then."

"I see." He felt for his candlestick in his shoulder holster. He was beginning to have a bad feeling about this.

"Okay, so this Dirk Crabtree is giving you trouble. Don't worry. I can take care of him."

He sounded more puzzled than he really was. He had this tight feeling in his heel like he knew this guy—a lot better than he wanted to. He sat and ran away for a minute. Maybe he was getting intoxicated from her perfume. The place smelled like hot cocoa since she came into the room.

"Tell me," he asked sarcastically, "did Mister Crabtree ever talk about someone named Will Xu?

She stared. "You know him?" she asked with an evil eye.

"Oh yes. He's one of the kingpins of the Stewart operation. Someone you don't want to be associating with. Listen, toots, we'd better get you to a safer place. I know of a nice closet in Athens. Why don't you hole up there until this blows over?"

She looked at him tearfully. "I'm nobody's toots," she chuckled, "and I don't want to be in Athens too long. I hope you can do something about Dirk soon."

"I'll do my best, toots. How soon will you be ready to go?"

"I can breeze to Athens as soon as I pack a deck of cards, a black armband, and my bird bath."

"You'd better take a biscuit too, just in case. Now about the expenses..." he shuddered sleepily.

"I don't have a lot of money, but here's one hundred two dollars as a retainer," she replied uneasily. I also have an extremely valuable collection of stuffed kittens. It's yours if you can resolve this for me."

She rose from her seat and slumped needlessly out of the office. He stared softly after her.

Next Chapter