THE DIXIE DETECTIVE AGENCY
By Historian
CHAPTER TWO
Virginia looked through the alley and called Georgia's name. She listened carefully and heard a faint moan, followed by a metallic thud. A quick search of the alley showed the only metal object capable of making such a noise was a Dumpster. She raced to the object and found Georgia lying beside the large trash bin, in a position to kick the Dumpster by drawing her knees back. Georgia was bound at the wrists and ankles, gagged and blindfolded. Virginia knelt down beside Georgia and went to work releasing her friend, starting with the blindfold.
As soon as the gag was removed, Georgia took a deep breath, with an unfortunate result. "Arghh!" she said "What an aroma!"
"Could have been worse," Virginia said. "You could have been inside that thing."
Virginia unbound Georgia's ankles and helped her to her feet. "Did you get a good look at who did this?"
"No. I'm okay, thanks for asking."
Georgia wiggled her fingers and shook her legs in an effort to restore her circulation. "Looks like there's nothing we can do for now," she said.
"Right," Virginia agreed. "Besides, we still have that meeting with Senator Hands tomorrow morning."
"I haven't forgotten."
The two returned to their apartment and Virginia took a shower before going to bed. Georgia went straight to bed. She preferred to shower in the morning…
…Which was what she did the next day. Once dried off, Georgia joined Virginia for breakfast and the two set off for their office. Georgia, who had been working for the Dixie Detective Agency longer than Virginia and never once regretted inviting Virginia to move in with her. They drove to the agency and spoke with their boss before going to the meeting with Senator Hands.
Dixie Kupp was fifty-one, with pronounced gray streaks in her dark brown hair. A hard-nosed detective with good instincts, she ran the largest private detective agency run by a woman on the East Coast. "How'd it go last night?"
"Not too well," Georgia said before giving a summary of the previous night's events.
Dixie nodded gravely when Georgia finished her story. "You've panicked them," she said.
"How so?" Georgia asked.
"You've only started this case, yet they've already taken action against you. From what Virginia said, you haven't found anything useful, but they're not aware of it."
"Panicked people often lash out," Virginia said.
"Exactly." Dixie said with a huge grin. "They also make mistakes, which can work to our advantage."
Georgia looked at her watch and said, "We better get going."
"Just make sure he keeps his distance," Dixie said.
Once on Capitol Hill, Virginia and Georgia were directed to Senator Hands' office. They were on time, but were compelled to wait well beyond the agreed upon time. No doubt this was a ploy on the Senator's part to make the two detectives nervous. What he may not have been aware of was that detectives don't get as nervous as politicians do.
Finally, they were admitted to Hands' inner office. The Senator stood in front of his desk and greeted the two sleuths warmly. Behind the desk and off to one side stood Dick Peters. Hands' was shorter than then expected, about an inch shorter than Georgia. He wore the requisite suit and tie and his salt and pepper hair was thing. Physically, he was unimpressive. "You've already met Dick," he said as he sat down behind his desk."
"That's right," Virginia said.
"Best staffer on the Hill. There are times where it seems I can't think without my Dick."
Virginia and Georgia looked at each other and managed to suppress giggles. Both thought the same thing: You and a few million other guys.
"How far along are you on this case?" he asked.
"Not very," Virginia said.
"Though we have rattled a couple cages," Georgia said.
"Indeed," Peters said. "How so?"
Georgia repeated her story, something she was beginning to tire of. The Senator took in this tale without interruption.
“Do you have any idea who might want to hurt her?” Virginia asked.
“It may be somebody trying to hurt me,” Hands said. “People are always trying to bring lawmakers down for some reason or another.”
Hands droned on for the next half hour or so. In the true manner of politicians, he spoke a lot but said very little Hands became aware of this, often forgetting two people in your office wasn’t the same as hundreds of supporters. Eventually, the intercom buzzed. “Senator Bucks to see you, sir,” said the voice from the outer office.
“I almost forgot,” Hands said.
Senator Seymour Bucks was Chairman of the Senate Appropriations committee, somebody Hands could hardly ignore. Hands turned to his other visitors. “I’m sorry I can’t spend more time with you. Your visit has been most informative.”
They shook hands and the two sleuths left. “What do think?” Virginia asked.
“General Thomas Jackson had nothing on him when it comes to stonewalling,” Georgia said. “Might as well look up Vivian’s roomies and see what they have to say.”
“Right. I’ll call it in to Dixie.” Virginia pulled the cell phone from her purse.
“Something’s wrong,” she said. “I’m not getting anything.”
Virginia and Georgia raced to their car and returned to their office. D.C. traffic was its usual snarled weekday self and the going was slower than they would have liked. Finally, they arrived at the building and hurried to their office.
The first sight they beheld when they entered the office was Dixie’s secretary Minnie Keyes. Minnie’s wrists were bound to the arms of the rolling chair and several coils of rope secured her chest and upper arms to the back of the chair. A brightly colored cloth held a balled-up handkerchief in place.
Behind the desk, the binding was even more elaborate, with rope around the knees and ankles, and the ankles secured to the chair’s support. Virginia un-gagged Minnie and asked if she was all right. “Yeah,” Minnie gasped.
“Dixie?”
“Inside.”
Georgia went to the inner office and found Dixie lying face down on the floor in font of her own desk. She had been subjected to elaborate binding as well. Her wrists secured behind her back and large quantities of rope were around her waist, arms, and chest. Another coil of rope went almost from her knees to her ankles. Finally, a brightly colored scarf was tightly knotted at the base of her skull.
It took some time, but Georgia got Dixie free. Gently, Georgia helped her mentor gain a footing. They came to the outer office in time to her Minnie say “I could use a stiff bourbon about now, but Dixie wouldn’t allowed.”
“I’d make an exception in this case,” Dixie said. “Hell, I’d join you.”
“What happened?” Virginia asked.
“The goons came in and took the computer disc on the case,” Minnie said.
“How many?”
“Three. They all wore ski masks, but they didn’t wear gloves. It was an integrated group”
“Sounds like Derek the Viking, Samurai Joe, and Chocolate Thunder,” Georgia said. “Three of the guys we saw last night.”
“They sure were big,” Minnie said. “And the black about as dark as I am.”
“Now you know why I’m old school about files,” Dixie said.
“One problem,” Minnie said.
“What’s that?”
“We didn’t have enough information to put on a disc. They went to all this effort for nothing.”