Tuesday Tales: From the Word PARADE

Welcome to this week’s Tuesday Tales and the first installment of a new Evie Chambers mystery, The Case of the Missing Prince. Sound intriguing? I hope you’ll think so. This week, our word prompt is PARADE.

I took a deep breath and unlocked the door to E C Investigators. The office wouldn’t open for another couple of hours, so I expected to have the place to myself. I figured everyone would bombard me with questions soon enough. I was wrong.

Hallie Demarco, my receptionist, computer whiz, and Girl Friday sat with her back to the door, her headphones on as she worked her way through the messages that had come in over the weekend. Knowing I was probably going to scare the crap out of her, I walked over to her desk and tapped her on the shoulder.

As expected, she screamed and went all Kung-Fu panda on me. I tried not to laugh, as she attempted to disentangle herself from her desk chair but I failed.

“Evie? Is that you?” she squeaked. “My God, you scared me half to death.” She cocked her head, her chocolate eyes growing large in he mahogany face. “Wow. Love the do. You look so different—younger, happier, and may I say satisfied?” I nodded. “You did mention you’d gotten your hair cut, but a teal top? The color looks amazing on you. Much better than the grim reaper fashion you’ve been sporting all these years.”

I chuckled. “Glad you approve. I like the purple by the way. Very chic.”

“Thanks. What are you doing here? I thought you said you wouldn’t be in until ten, so I didn’t book any appointments until eleven. So when to we get to meet the mysterious Mr. Alphonse Binette?”

“I’m not sure,” I parried. “He has a lot to do before he moves here, but I expect he’ll come to visit before Christmas.”

Al had asked her to go to visit his parents in the Barbados in January. They’d opted to go there instead of Florida for the winter this year. Since I wasn’t sure I could get away, we’d agreed he would come and see me before the holiday.

“You really shouldn’t have those headphones on, when you’re alone in here, even if the door is locked. Anyone could parade in here and … well, we’ve been robbed once by someone with keys. It could happen again.” She nodded. “Point taken, but we do have all new locks and I have a panic button which thankfully I didn’t push. A couple of carloads of police officers is hardly the welcome back to work you expected.”

Don’t forget to check out the other Tuesday Tales.