A dark expanse stretched out in every direction. The only thing that seemed to exist was the water I stood on. It had a blue glow that provided the only light in this place. It wasn’t bright enough to blind me when I looked down. It was like someone built a pool with blue lights at the bottom. I knew I wasn’t just standing on glass because the water would ripple whenever I moved my foot. When I looked back up, I saw the person that stalked me through the grocery store standing a few feet away from me. Only, it was some strange computer rendering of them. It looked like one of those 3D retro games popular in the 20s, and it was dancing. It danced kinda like one of those blow up tube man things but more accordion like. Its feet were kept in place as the top part of it moved up and down and side to side like an accordion. Its arms flailed in a similar manner. Despite the way it moved, it didn’t look like an accordion. It acted more like rubber, stretching beyond what a human body is capable of. I looked past the dancing thing and saw the shadowy thing. “What is it doing here?”
Beeeeb beeeeb
The soft beeps of my alarm roused me from my sleep. My headache was gone, and for the first time in a while, I felt refreshed and not tired. I shut off the alarm and looked down at the still sleeping Twilight. I licked Twilight’s ear which got her to giggle but not fully wake up. Some more licks and nibbles and kisses managed to stir her.
“Okay, okay, I’m up.”, Twilight said while teasingly pushing me back. “You seem better.”
“I feel a lot better. Guess sleeping for nearly a whole day is what I needed.”, I said as I pushed myself up into a sitting position.
Twilight scooted her head onto my lap, and I petted her hair. “You still look like you’re wearing diluted white face paint though.”
“I would say “If you’re gonna talk like that, talk to my slit.”, but we’ve got work.”
“Aw, poo.”
Twilight worked her way out of bed, and I followed. We went through our morning routine and managed to have some fun in the shower. Once we were dressed, fed, and caffeinated, we headed down to our vehicles and to our respective works. Interestingly, when I got to the office, Rarity wasn't there, but the door was unlocked. The office was in order and how it usually looked, minus the curtains being drawn.
“Odd” Probably in the lobby. Without Rarity to give me an assignment, I just started up my workstation and played some games.
About thirty minutes after I arrived, Rarity finally came back with an armful of letters. “Oh, Sunset, I have great news. Well, great for us, bad for Skunky.”
“What happened?”
“He’s been institutionalized. He was arrested last night, and the alcohol withdrawal was so extreme that it caused brain damage. He was eating his own shit in the cell.”
“And here I thought I had a crappy night. Is the damage permanent?”
“Looks like it, but all this is coming from the mouth of our favorite pig, so take that with a grain of salt.”
“Any idea when we’ll get a new building manager? And who do we even pay?”
“I don’t know. For now, I’m just going to keep paying as normal, as, officially, we know nothing. Now, what was so bad about your night?”, Rarity said while leaning back on her desk.
“Think of the worst hangover you ever had then multiply that by ten. That was the magnitude of the headache I got last night.”
“Ooh”
“Yeah, and I was trying to laid when it happened. I was on the bed, reaching up for Twi’s bra, when my head suddenly decided that, no, I have not suffered enough.”
“Hahehe, that sucks. You do seem better though.”
“I feel better. Is the Skunky situation what kept you?”
Rarity looked down at the mail that now sat on her desk. “That and I also got a call from the younger Sparkle sibling.”, she said in a ‘ya better spill’ tone.
“So, you know. Do you have a theory to add to the pile?”
“No, you two summed up my thoughts.”
“Good. You got a case for me?”
Rarity handed me another case box, and I got to work while she got going on her own work. Fell in love with a man at a seminar, lost touch, looking for him. Don’t know his name, phone number, or address. Alarm bells started going off in my head. A physical description, age, and past jobs were about all I had to go off of. The lack of a name, not even a guess, made me smell witness protection. I took a look at the client’s name and contact details and looked her up. The name’s a common one, but the contact details led me to a burner.
“I smell a rat, a protected rat.”, I growled.
“Got any proof?”
“Not exactly, but the client’s sus.”
“Let’s investigate before tossing the case out. I don’t want to lose the money.”
“Alright, but you should listen in. Was she a hand-off?”
“Yes- those bastards gave us a rat case.”, Rarity said irately.
“You still want to take this?”, I asked while leaning back in my chair.
“Yes, I have a bone to pick now.”
I shrugged my shoulders and called the client. Rarity came over and shoulder surfed me. It rang a few times, but then I was answered by a burly sounding dude.
“Who dis?”, the man asked rather rudely.
I gave Rarity a raised eyebrow, and she gave me a knowing look. “Hello, I’m looking for Ms. Bright. I’m the PI assigned to her case.”
I heard talking in the background before a pleasant female voice came on. “Hello, this is Star Bright.”
“Hi, I was hoping to talk to you about the man you wanted us to find. You didn’t exactly give us much to work with.”, I said in my ‘sweet, happy, jovial’ voice. Any decently skilled voice reader will recognize it for what it was, but anyone else will take it at face value. The moment of silence I heard at the other end told me she does have those skills.
“Ah, yes, I understand. I wish I could give you more, but I was drunk and don’t remember much.”
“You remember his previous jobs but not his name?”, I asked skeptically.
There was silence on the other end of the line before Ms. Bright let out a chuckle. “Hehe, yes, I know. We were so enraptured by each other that I never got his name.”
“I’m pretty sure seminars give their attendees name tags. You’re telling me you never took a look at his.”
More silence on the other side before she just hung up. I looked at Rarity, and she looked at me. I canceled the case, and Rarity went back to her desk.
“What do we do in this scenario?”, I asked.
“I’m not sure, but I do have a theory on who that was.”
I looked over at Rarity with a ‘go on’ side eye.
“Have you ever heard of the Chess Master?”
“I’ve heard the name. I take it they’re some mastermind?”
“The rumors are that she’s in her mid-twenties and a master manipulator. To sum her up, she’s you, if you never went straight.”
“That does match who we heard on the phone, but a woman in her mid-twenties also matches a couple thousand other people. Did you get a physical description?”
“Nope. Snoops’ going to get an earful from me, next time I hear from him.”
A knock at our door stopped our conversation in its tracks. Please be a client.
“Come in.”, Rarity said in her cheery, customer service voice.
A woman in some very expensive looking clothing and one of those big, rich people hats came stomping in, in her high heels. The way she carried herself told me she was going to a fun one. Maybe she’s the lady Twilight recommended us to. She looks in the right price range. The lady stomped passed me and straight to Rarity’s desk.
“My wife is cheating on me. I was told you could get me proof.”, the lady huffed to Rarity. She sounded exactly like someone mimicking a snobby, rich, southern-ish lady. She sounded so ridiculous, I had to cover my mouth to keep from laughing.
I leaned back so Rarity could see me and mouthed the word ‘money’ while motioning something coming out my ears. She got the message, I think.
“Yes, we are excellent at intel gathering. Please, have a seat, and we can discuss how to proceed.” Rarity gestured to one of the seats in front of her desk. The lady looked down at the chair with such disgust that it was visible from the back. “I can assure you, our office and chairs are clean.”
The lady sat down, but I could practically smell the indignation. She and Rarity began talking about our services, rates, and contact details. The inflated rate Rarity gave confirmed she got the message. Rarity was also putting together the contract as they talked. I’ve never put together a contract myself, but I know Rarity uses a template where she can just punch in the service and pay rate.
“So, why do you believe your wife is cheating on you?”, Rarity asked.
“For starters, she is frequently accusing me of cheating. My friends tell me that’s a sign of cheating.”
“That is correct. Those that do suspect others of doing the same.”
“I also smelled another woman’s perfume on my pillow. It was a good brand but not one I’d personally wear, and I’ve never smelled it on her.”
“That is some pretty damning evidence. Alright, we can set up camera surveillance in your home and have her followed.”
“That would be perfect.”
“Very good, that will cost you 4,000 dollars as retainer and 500 dollars an hour plus expenses.”
Without a word, the client pulled out her credit card and handed it to Rarity. Rarity turned her monitor around so the client could sign the contract then ran the card, and as soon as the happy beep came from the machine, Rarity handed it back.
“Do you have any idea where she is now?”
“She’s at work and isn’t expected home until six. She works at Neighsay Attorney-at-Law.”
That caught our attention. “Are you saying you’re married to one of the daughters of Chancellor Neighsay?”
“Yes, Citrine Spark, her name is Citrine Spark. You know them?”
“We have had prior encounters with your father-in-law. We operate in similar fields. Sunset, you take care of the cameras. I’ll do the following.”
I didn’t protest as we packed up. I grabbed a case of camera equipment, Rarity grabbed her camera, and the three of us headed out. Rarity led the way with me bringing up the rear. As we passed one of the many branching hallways, I saw something out of the corner of my eye. I snapped my head to look at it. At the other end of the hallway was the grocery store stalker.
“Hey! Halt!” I chased after them, but they disappeared around the corner. I burst around the corner but couldn’t see them. The building’s a maze, so they could’ve slipped down any of the branching halls then down more branching halls.
“Sunset?”, Rarity asked. I turned back around to see Rarity quickly approaching. “Sunset, what happened?”
“Did I tell you about the grocery store stalker?”
“Rainbow did.”
“I saw them here.”
Rarity looked around, but like me, didn’t see anyone. “If only we had security. What do you want to do?”
“Let’s just continue with the job.”
We turned back around and joined back up with the client.
“What was that about?”, the client asked, annoyed.
“Someone that’s not supposed to be here.”, I informed.
The client looked annoyed, but we continued to the elevators. The client got off at the lobby while we continued down to our vehicles. I hopped on my bike and followed the client back to Twilight’s building. She pulled into resident parking while I looked for street parking. Walking through the lobby was the same as usual, except I had the client waiting for me by the elevators. I pressed the call button, and when the elevator arrived, I gestured for her to enter. We got in, and the client pressed the button for her floor. The client led me to her apartment. It was one of those two story places.
“I’m going to set up cameras in all the common areas, the kitchen, living room, places like that. I won’t be putting anything up in the bedrooms or bathrooms. All the footage will be automatically saved to our company’s secure cloud file. If you object to any of this, we can cancel this service and just follow your wife.” This was a typical spiel I have to give whenever I set up cameras.
“That sounds good. Go ahead.”
I went around the apartment and placed cameras where they are easily hidden, usually up in corners. They’re motion activated and battery powered, so no need for outlets. As I passed the bathroom, I peaked my head in but only saw a normal toilet. Once all the cameras were placed, I met back up with the client in the living room. “Okay, everything’s set up.”
“Very good.” The client, despite the elegant face she tried to put on, looked distressed.
“Are you okay?”
“Yes, I- no, I’m not.” The client’s dam broke, and she began sobbing into her gloved hands.
I gingerly approached and patted her on the shoulder. Even though I’m terrible with comforting people, I had to do something. Even if her wife rejected me, she’s still my sister-in-law.
“Why would she do this?”, the client sobbed out. “I love her. I give her everything. I even gave up on the idea of ever having kids because she doesn’t want any. Why?”
What now? Do I hug her? What’s appropriate? “Um, Ms.- Charm, I have a- she gets it from her dad.” The client- should I even be calling her that? She- well- I’m on a case. For now, she’s my client. The client looked up with a tear filled questioning look. “When my partner said we’re familiar with your in-laws, we are very familiar with them. Mr. Neighsay had a habit of sleeping with prostitutes. One of those- um, you know-” Even though I hate my parents, the thought of them in the act still made me uncomfortable. “-resulted in a child. That’s how we know about the cheating.”
“There’s a genetic component to cheating?”
“I hope not, but there’s definitely a nurture component to it.”
“So, I married a second generation cheater. I guess it’s a good thing we never had kids. I wouldn’t want them ending up like Citrine or Neighsay.”
“And you could find someone who also wants kids. Better you learn about this now rather than when it’s too late.”
“I suppose that’s true. Still feels like my heart’s going to break in two.”
I grabbed my wallet, pulled out one of my cards, and handed it to the client. “I suggest you tell her you’ll be going out tonight, maybe even say you’re going to spend the night with a friend, and actually go out. That will bait her into bringing her lover over and give me a chance to catch it. What time would you like me to call you?”
The client nodded and took the card. “I come home to eat lunch, so meet me here a little after noon.”
“That will work.” I packed up my stuff and headed back to the elevators. I pressed the button for Twi’s floor. Stepping off the elevator, I turned to head down the hallway but saw my gray skinned stalker half way down it. After a second to process what I was seeing, I dropped my bags and chased after them. They weren’t near a corner, so they couldn’t just disappear like last time. They tried to lose me by going around corners randomly, trying to psych me out, and running in circles, but I wasn’t losing them this time. I chased them all over Twi’s floor. They were much faster than their colleague and faster than me. I was losing ground, and the pain in my sides was getting harder to ignore. I watched my stalker bolt around the corner to the elevators, but when I got around the corner, I was only able to catch sight of the doors as they finished closing.
“Crap” I took several shallow breaths as I waited to come back down to normal. Explaining to Twilight why I was out of breath would not be a pleasant experience. Once I didn’t look like I just ran a marathon, I picked up my bags and resumed my trek to Twi’s.
I crept inside, gently laid my stuff down, and crept into Twi’s office. She wasn’t wearing her headphones so wasn’t in a meeting. I crept behind her, her carpeted floor making it all the easier. I skillfully ducked low in case a stray black screen gave me away. As I got right behind her, I sprung up and wrapped my hands over her eyes. “Guess who.”
“Bob Marley?”
“Nope”
“A banana sundae?”
“Now, you’re just being weird.”
“Okay, okay” Twilight turned to face me with a smile on her face. “What are you doing here?”
“Your neighbor ended up hiring me. Oh, and she’s my sister-in-law.”
Twilight looked like she was processing what I said before she got a concerned look on her face. “Couldn’t that be seen as a conflict of interest?”
“Unlikely. For starters, the courts don’t know about my relation to them, and they aren’t too keen on having it be known. I also hate my sister, so helping her ruin her life is a bonus.”
“Well, you definitely will be ruining her life. Sure, Citrine does have some cash, but Charm’s the one with the big bucks. She comes from some mega, old money.”
The grin that crept over my face could make the Cheshire cat envious. “My day just keeps getting better and better.” I bent over to put my hands right next to Twi’s butt. “Do you know what will make it even better?”
“I do, but I can’t. I’m already running behind as it is.” Twilight gave me a quick kiss and my butt a squeeze. “How ‘bout the day after tomorrow.”
“Really”, I whined. “Fiiine, but I’m going to fuck you and fuck my sister over if it’s the last thing I do.”
“Well, make sure your body gets the memo.”
“If it doesn’t, I’ll drug myself up so I don’t feel the pain.”
Twi opened her mouth like she wanted to say something but closed it and turned back to her work. I gave Twi one last noggin kiss before leaving her freezing cold office. For such a dark skinned girl, Twi has some serious cold resistance. Since I had no reason to leave, I just grabbed my computer and set up camp. Twi’s building, as upscale as it is, has unsecured security cameras along every hallway. Well, ‘unsecured’ is a bit harsh, but as Twilight put it when she hacked me in, “The password is little better than 1234”. At least the cameras are hi-res and record. I logged in, but instead of seeing the security feed, I saw static. It was like that for every camera on every floor. I tried rewinding the recordings, but it was all still static then black up until yesterday, and I couldn’t see the incident that caused this. Shit. I headed out into the hallway and looked up to the camera. It was gone. “Oh, fuck me.” I re-entered Twi’s apartment and went back to my computer.
“Hey! Twi, the building’s cameras are gone!”
“Hang on!” Twilight came out and looked at my screen. “When you mean “gone”?”
“I just checked. At least the one monitoring your hallway is straight up gone. It looks like someone ripped it off the ceiling.”
Twi got a stunned look on her face as she processed what I just said. “Okay, at least I can bring it up to security without- you know.”, she said with a shake of her head.
“Admitting you broke the law.”
“Yeah, that. What I want ta know is how someone managed to yank all the cams off the ceiling without anyone noticing.”
“Probably dressed as a repairman. You can get away with a lot of sketchy stuff in blue jumpsuits and high-vis vests.
Twilight paused for a moment before slowly turning her head towards me with a ‘you’ve done that before, haven’t you’ look on her face.
“There’s a reason cops tend not to like us. We operate in a legal gray area.”
“Gray my butt. I’ll take this up with security once I’m off work.” Twilight turned on her heels and headed back to her office.
I logged out of the now useless security system, pulled out my phone, and called up Rarity.
“Hello, Sunset. Are the cameras set up?”, Rarity asked.
“Ours are, but the building’s cameras were ripped from the ceiling, and I quite literally mean ripped.” I lowered my voice, even though Twi was unlikely to hear what I had next to say at my normal volume. “I also had another encounter with the grocery store stalker.”
“That’s… disconcerting. Sunset, you’re the only one who's ever seen this person, and given your current condition-”
“Are you suggesting I’m hallucinating this person?”, I asked angrily.
“I’m saying it’s a possibility. The way you’ve described this person, they sound like a ghost, inhuman.”
“We’ve been described as ghosts. That just means we’re good at our jobs.”
“I know. I intend on helping you catch this person. I just want to make sure we explore all possibilities. Are you still seeing the shadow person?”
“I was in my apartment before the sun set last night, so didn’t see it. How’s the stakeout going?”
“I’m really bored, so it’s going well. Do you plan on telling Ms. Charm who you are?”
“Maybe, it’s not like we’ll be sisters-in-law for much longer.”
“I’m glad you’re nothing like your family.”
“Me too. I’ll see you later.”
“Bye”
I hung up and turned to figuring out what to do next. Going somewhere alone wasn’t the safest option as of now. Even walking around the building isn’t safe, like I’d want to do that anyway. Joining Rarity on her stakeout would likely result in us getting made. My hair is pretty easy to spot. The only thing that I needed to be at the office to do is cleaning, and that’s just light busy work. I had no other cases, but I remembered something from earlier, the Chess Master.
I cross referenced that name with crime bosses and found her. A newcomer, all that’s known about her is that she’s a woman in her mid twenties, never been caught, and gets her name from how she treats this whole thing like a game of chess. If that’s the case, we don’t have to worry about her coming after us. If she’s as smart as people think she is, she’ll try to distance herself from us. Coming for us will only leave her exposed. As much as I would like to be the superhero that saves the city from the BBEG, I’m not. I’m just a PI. It’s nothing like what you see in the movies.
I closed the page and put the Chess Master out of my mind, but that only let the shadow figure take her place. I do still have a couple cameras. I hopped up from my seat and grabbed one of the last cameras. Heading out to the hallway, the hardest part will be finding a good spot. Corridors and passageways don’t have much in the way of nooks or crannies one could hide something in. I could hide a camera in the wires of the security camera mount, but if anyone comes to fix it or even inspects it, my camera’s gone, permanently. The hallway was so plain that even if I put it on the ceiling, it’s likely getting spotted.
I looked up and down the hallway for an answer, and that’s when I spotted it. In the wall at the near end of the hallway was an air vent. I scurried over to it, making 100% sure no one was around, and kneeled down to get a better look at what I’m working with. The thing was filthy. Perfect. I cleaned it up a little and stuck the camera in it. Just like with the cameras in the client’s apartment, I used the connected app on my phone to make sure it was angled properly. Once that was set up, I hurried back into Twi’s apartment. I used the app to program the camera to start recording a few minutes before sunset instead of when it detects motion.
With that taken care of, I turned my attention back to figuring out what I should do until Rare’s done with her stakeout.
I laid in bed with Twilight snuggled up to my side. She had fallen asleep basically as soon as she hit the covers while I remained up. I stared at the hallway cam footage on my phone. The thing was out there. I stuck my head out earlier and saw it. It was near the elevators, and I could see the general area around the elevators on the camera, but I couldn’t see it. Well, that’s not exactly accurate. It didn’t appear on camera, but I could still feel it watching me, the same way I could feel its gaze through the car. I’ve had possible ghost encounters before, and this was nearly identical. This thing had a distortion effect on the space it occupied. It wasn’t a visual thing and more of something you could feel, like it warped and twisted the ambient energy. Hang on.
I gently extracted myself from Twilight and the bed, placed my phone on the nightstand, and headed out of the apartment. I walked over to the elevators and stood in front of the thing. It was no different from the last time. I closed my eyes and focused on the ambiance. It’s like air, something you don’t notice until it’s been disturbed or changed, and this thing disturbed it. I felt nauseous then I got that feeling. I bolted to the trash can next to the elevators and just barely managed to get into position before my stomach completely emptied itself. It felt like my stomach was trying to even rid itself of its mucus lining.
I heaved until there was nothing left. The pungent stench of my innards permeated the hallway, making me feel even more sick. I picked my head out of the can and glared at the thing. “Fuck you.” I straightened myself up, went back inside, and brushed my teeth. I tried to sneak back into bed but ended up rousing Twilight .
“Hey”, she said sleepily.
“Hey, go back to sleep.” I petted her hair, and she lulled back to sleep. I got into a comfortable position and curled up next to her. This beautiful woman, this beautiful woman I’m never going to get to marry. She was going to have to live on without me. I could hear her wails of pain now. It wasn’t fair. What do I do?