Tag Archives: detective

Powerful and Persnickety ~ On the trail of a mastermind – #JulyWriting

08 Sunday Jul 2018

Posted by in July Writing, short story

≈ 10 Comments

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Join me every day at Noon EST for the continuing adventures of the bungling detective, N. Owl, in her quest to bring the mastermind, ~M, to justice!  If you’ve  missed any episodes, you can find them HERE!


The tunnel seemed to go on forever. At some point, Cory burned his fingers and dropped the match. We were stranded in this hollow metal casket for what really did seem like an eternity. He finally stopped whining and found the other matches. Thank goodness for small favors. Striking them on the side of the tunnel, because of course, he didn’t take the entire book of matches, he couldn’t get them to light. Fred, took the matches and struck one against the cobblestone walkway. Ah, light, at last, but not at the end of the tunnel.

We gathered our wares and began the trek once again. Cory decided to become persnickety, going on and on about how he could have lit the match, and Fred always getting the credit, blah, blah, blah. I think I would have accomplished more with the Ringling Circus, I know that whip would certainly come in handy. Ooops, sorry, trailing off here. When I finally got Cory to shut up, we could see that we were nearing the end of tunnel.

With a bit of hesitation, we slowly made our way out into what appeared to be a small village. Well, not a village exactly. It was more like rows and rows of just windows and doors! The powerful ~M had no desire to have anyone find her easily. She made things look appealing to the eye, when deep down inside, her nefarious ways held very wicked thoughts, much like the whip I mentioned. Oh, sorry, again.

Trying to get somewhat of a grasp on the whole situation, I told the three stooges to stay behind, and I went ahead to check out the street. I was careful to keep to the side as much as possible, but the windows made it impossible to stay completely out of sight.

I turned to signal to the others to follow, but something struck me rather oddly. Looking around, things had changed. Maybe a figment of my imagination, or not enough coffee in my blood stream? I blinked a couple of times, but it was still happening. I made sure the others stayed where they were. I didn’t need any more of their stupid antics distracting me.  I needed time to figure this out by myself.

 

Stay tuned for more from this crime solving wordsmith…

 

July Writing Prompt – Powerful and persnickety – Day 8/31

©2018 Dorinda Duclos All Rights Reserved
Photo via Pixabay CC0

Jiggled and Joggled ~ On the trail of a mastermind – #JulyWriting

07 Saturday Jul 2018

Posted by in July Writing, short story

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Join me every day at Noon EST for the continuing adventures of the bungling detective, N. Owl, in her quest to bring the mastermind, ~M, to justice!  If you’ve  missed any episodes, you can find them HERE!


We stood on the deck, staring at the back door, blank looks on our faces. Mildred, who jiggled and joggled the lock to no avail, was creating a lot of unnecessary noise. Shaking my head at her, I snapped my fingers but she ignored me. Then Cory motioned to me to show me he had found what appeared to be a small door. I looked down and saw this wooden door with a latch, which actually reminded me of the doors they had on “Laugh In’. I couldn’t help wonder if there was enough space behind it to fit a person. Maybe Goldie was back there. Or maybe…oh right, I’m wandering. So sorry. Getting back on track, I nudged Mildred, again, to get her attention, and to stop her from making such a racket. This time she stopped.

Cory jumped off the deck and made his way below to investigate the door. Signaling up to us, we all climbed down to find out exactly what he had discovered. There was no lock, just a small latch that turned easily downward, allowing one to open the door. The hinges creaked, eerily sounding like a spirit being awakened from its tomb. I stooped down, and fully opened the door. It was pitch black. I couldn’t see anything in front of me. I asked for a lighter, but since no one smoked, no one had one. Great group I have here. Always at the ready. Pfft.

Clicking my walkie, I asked Fred if he had matches or a lighter. There was no response. I radioed again, still no answer. I had no doubt, he had fallen asleep. We had no way of knowing if ~M was still at her writing desk. Deciding I needed to take care of this personally, I told Cory and Mildred to stay where they were, and for God’s sake, be quiet!! I headed back to where we had left Fred, by the big oak tree, where I found him sound asleep next to it. I jostled him, finally waking him up and pointed upward to show him ~M was nowhere in sight. The house was dark and shades had been drawn. He said nothing but hung his head down, knowing he had really screwed up.

We both headed back to the others, only to find Cory missing. Mildred was standing there with that “I told him not to do it” look on her face. Cory had gone through the door. It seems he found a stash of matches inside a fake rock, which was right next to the door. At least he had enough sense to not go in blindly. I called to him, but only created an echo of my own voice. I waited. Nothing. Then Cory called back, in a whisper as to not deafen himself that it was safe to come in. Come in? Where, exactly, were we going in to? I sent Fred first. He struggled to get his large frame through the entrance but eventually made it. I could hear a low “Wow” through the opening. Mildred went next, I brought up the rear and closed the small door behind me.

We were standing on cobblestones that lined a long metal tunnel. Cory was holding a match that dimly lit the way. I prayed he had taken more than one with him.  Unsure of where we were headed, we began our journey into the tunnel, with only the sound of our breathing, echoing off the walls.

 

Stay tuned for more from this crime solving wordsmith…

 

July Writing Prompt – Jiggled and joggled – Day 7/31

©2018 Dorinda Duclos All Rights Reserved
Photo via Pixabay CC0

Plumes of a Pigeon ~ On the trail of a mastermind – #JulyWriting

06 Friday Jul 2018

Posted by in July Writing, short story

≈ 13 Comments

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Join me every day at Noon EST for the continuing adventures of the bungling detective, N. Owl, in her quest to bring the mastermind, ~M, to justice!  If you’ve  missed any episodes, you can find them HERE!


Little did we know that ~M had another place she kept her secrets hidden. A place she called “Her Writing Haven”. THIS is where she would strategically pen her poems, which I was pretty sure were really secrets messages to her army. I decided to take the crew out one night, past ~M’s place, to see if we could figure out where this other lair was. As we got closer to the place I first saw her with her feet in that God awful dirt, I noticed something rather odd laying on the ground. I picked it up and examined it. It appeared to be a feather from a bird. Not one you’d normally see around here, though.

I asked Cory if he knew what kind of bird this came from. Upon closer inspection, he triumphantly shouted, “It’s the plume of a pigeon!” at which point we all smacked him for shouting so loud. There was movement in the bushes. I thought we had been made for sure, but as I pulled everyone back behind an old oak tree, we saw what was making the noise. It was a pigeon. Poor dear, it had lost half its feathers. Or had it. I looked at the feather I had picked up and realized it had something dark on the tip of it. INK! This was ~M’s plume, the one, or one of the one’s she used to pen those crazy word lists of hers.

We must be close to her haven or this bird would not be here. I looked up, and in the window of the house, next to the one where she had been sitting with her feet in the dirt, was ~M! I could see she was busy writing away, another plume in her hand. That dastardly woman! How could she do that to a poor pigeon? Maybe he pooped on her and she got mad. Revenge? Anyway, didn’t matter. We had found her.

I motioned to the others, signaling this was our chance to head over to the other house and snoop around for clues. One of us needed to remain behind to be sure ~M didn’t go anywhere. After arguing for several minutes, I booted them all, and made Fred stay behind. Geez, nothing’s ever easy.

Tiptoeing away from the house, hiding in the shadows, we made our way over. The front door was locked. So we headed around to the back. There was a deck, and of course, the back door was locked, too. Guess you can’t be too safe in this neighborhood. We needed another plan to enter the house undetected. No amount of gas was going to work here. We had to try something else.

 

Stay tuned for more from this crime solving wordsmith…

 

July Writing Prompt – Plumes of a pigeon – Day 6/31

©2018 Dorinda Duclos All Rights Reserved
Photo via Pixabay CC0

Unexpected Revelations ~ On the trail of a mastermind – #JulyWriting

05 Thursday Jul 2018

Posted by in July Writing, short story

≈ 8 Comments

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Join me every day at Noon EST for the continuing adventures of the bungling detective, N. Owl, in her quest to bring the mastermind, ~M, to justice!  If you’ve  missed any episodes, you can find them HERE!


As luck would have it, it was my room key and soon we were all slumped over the small coffee table in the middle of the room. Ideas went back and forth, some good, some not, until Mildred (not her real name, of course. I’d be silly to tell you that), had an unexpected revelation.

Now if I told you about this revelation, it would give it all away, right? So I’ll just let you stew a bit before bringing it to the forefront. I’m sure you understand. Okay, back we go.

Cory (not his name either), Fred (you know) and I waited as Mildred let us in on her idea. What if ~M was not as powerful as she had led us all to believe? What if she not only had a flaw, but a soft spot, too?. Mildred’s revelation? Dirt. Yep. Dirt. Imagine that.

It seemed we need only to deliver fresh dirt to ~M’s home so she could stick her feet in it. But here’s the catch. After more thought, we decided it wouldn’t be real dirt. Nope, it would be wet cement, disguised as dirt. Once she stuck her feet in, she’d never be able to get out.

Wait, what did you say? You don’t think that will work? The cement will dry too quickly? Sigh. I think you’re right. Back to the drawing board. Surely, there had to be a way to get to this mastermind once and for all.

Again? Now what? Just use regular dirt to keep her occupied? You really think that will work? Looking around, I realized there was no one else in the room, except the other three, who had worried looks on their faces, while trying to figure out who I was talking to. I guess it was time to take a break and get some food into us. Grabbing a menu, we ordered Chinese, had it delivered and worked while we ate.  Chop sticks were never my cup of tea, so after much of my dinner was on me, instead of in me, I reached for a fork and finished what was left of my dinner.  Hoping the fortune cookie had the answers, I quickly broke one open and read it.  No such luck.  It said “Better luck next fortune”.  Who writes these??

Stay tuned for more from this crime solving wordsmith…

 

July Writing Prompt – Unexpected revelations – Day 5/31

©2018 Dorinda Duclos All Rights Reserved
Photo via Pixabay CC0

Spontaneous Eruptions ~ On the trail of a mastermind – #JulyWriting

04 Wednesday Jul 2018

Posted by in July Writing, short story

≈ 8 Comments

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , ,

Join me every day at Noon EST for the continuing adventures of the bungling detective, N. Owl, in her quest to bring the mastermind, ~M, to justice!  If you’ve  missed any episodes, you can find them HERE!


I waited, impatiently, pacing like a junkyard dog looking for its next meal. The plane was late. The last I saw was a delay of 30 minutes. There was only so long I could hang around the baggage claim before someone got suspicious. I watched, as each jet taxied in from the tarmac, hooked up with its gate, and let the passengers off, into the airport. Time was running thin. Finally, the board lit up, announcing the arrival of Flight 608 from Newark. But something wasn’t right.

As the plane came to a stop, and the ramp attached, the door was immediately thrown open, and the passengers fled in all directions. Some of them were green, still others holding their hands over their nose and mouth, while one woman was actually carried off in a stretcher. There was no sight of the team I was waiting for. My heart sank. What on Earth could have happened?

I stopped one of the passengers, who had slowed down enough for me to do so, and asked what was going on. He preceded to tell me, in between gagging, that there had been several passengers on board with excessive gas issues, so much so, the plane had to be evacuated as soon as it hit the gate. I believed he referred to it as spontaneous eruptions. So that was their plan. It was all I could do to keep from laughing in the poor man’s face.

I felt my cell phone vibrate. It was my team, who had exited the plane through the baggage compartment in the underbelly. Everyone was so busy trying to get away from the stench, they never noticed them slip away. Genius, I say, pure genius. But there was no time to celebrate now. We needed to get back to my hotel and get busy. Except, I forgot the name of my hotel. Good thing I had my room key! I think it’s my room. I guess we’ll find out soon enough.

 

Stay tuned for more from this crime solving wordsmith…

 

July Writing Prompt – Spontaneous eruptions – Day 4/31

©2018 Dorinda Duclos All Rights Reserved
Photo via Pixabay CC0