"Tiki Moon" drabbles by Christopher

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Jake Randolph in "Tiki Moon" Pt. 231

Tiki Moon #231

I woke up to the sound of an alarm clock doing its damnedest to drive me insane. Scarlett reached across and turned it off and then snuggled back against my chest.

I'll refrain from revealing events of the previous night except to say that she is not a natural blonde. But everything else about her was 100 percent authentic. And I'd just appointed myself the new president of the Scarlett Wilcox fan club.

"I've got to get to the office," she said in a sleepy voice.

"Yeah, I should probably get to mine, too."

"So, you have an office, huh?"

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Jake Randolph in "Tiki Moon" Pt. 230

Tiki Moon #230

"I understand," she said as she got up from the couch. "I wish you'd stay. I can make us dinner."

I got up and said, "I appreciate the offer, Scarlett. I do. But I'm afraid if I stay any longer it's going to be that much harder to leave later."

I straightened the papers up and put them back in the boxes, then I turned and looked at her.

"I better go," I said, heading for the door.

She untied the belt on her bathrobe and let it open. She was naked as a baby underneath.

Okay, change of plans...

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Jake Randolph in "Tiki Moon" Pt. 229

Tiki Moon #229

"I do," she said. "So, can you tell me who you really are?"

I wasn't sure if I should.

"Well, my name's Jake. Let's leave it at that. I was hired by Deborah Newstead to find out what was going on at the construction company."

She got a sad look when I mentioned Deborah. But I couldn't tell her she was alive. She'd find out soon enough, as I believed the end was getting near.

"Well," she said, "I'll do whatever I can to help you."

"Thanks for being so understanding. And sorry about the deception. It couldn't be helped."

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Jake Randolph in "Tiki Moon" Pt. 228

Tiki Moon #228

"Scarlett, I haven't been completely honest with you," I said, trying to gauge her reaction.

She smiled, "I know. You're not Phil Garfield's brother. He told me once that he was an only child."

I was completely shocked. "Then why didn't you say when I first told you I was his brother?"

"I wanted to see what it was all about. And I wanted to see how far you'd go with it. You seemed like a decent sort deep down. Now I know that's true."

I smiled, "Well, I apologize for the deception. It's for a good cause. Believe me."

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Jake Randolph in "Tiki Moon" Pt. 227

Tiki Moon #227

"Do you have to go so soon?" she asked anxiously.

I couldn't do it. Not without telling her who I really was. And I couldn't do that. Although Deborah said she was a sweet girl. Deborah, that was the other thing going through my head. I go for so long completely devoid of a good woman and then I have two dropped in my damned lap at once.

Maybe I could tell Scarlett without letting her know Deborah was still alive. But if she freaked out and wound up telling Nick Berman I would be screwed.

I took the chance...

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Jake Randolph in "Tiki Moon" Pt. 226

Tiki Moon #226

Construction Site 7 was the key to this. I didn't know how but I knew that was what was going to break this case wide open. And that was why Phil Garfield was run over. Call it detective's intuition.

I knew I had to make a quick escape from Scarlett's before I became an absolute cad.

"Would you care for another drink?" she asked me and all I wanted was to drag her to her bedroom like a caveman.

"No, thank you. I should probably be going. I need to follow-up on some of this information."

She looked sad...

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Jake Randolph in "Tiki Moon" Pt. 225

Tiki Moon #225

She continued, "But there's been some sort of hold up. They pulled the crew off it and put them on something else. I don't know what's going on."

"It says here that my brother was scheduled to be on that crew."

"He was on that crew. I guess the paperwork didn't get updated when he died. He was on the crew that did the groundbreaking."

This was getting interesting. "How long after the crew was pulled did the hit-and-run happen?"

She thought for a moment and then said, "It couldn't have been more than a couple of days."

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Jake Randolph in "Tiki Moon" Pt. 224

Tiki Moon #224

We stared at each other for a moment and I felt it. I knew what was about to happen. And I couldn't do it. Not with her believing I was Phil Garfield's brother. I decided to bring the conversation back to the matter at hand.

"Scarlett, what can you tell me about this Construction Site 7?" I said as I pointed to the paper in Phil's file.

"Uh...that's in Pacific Palisades. It's going to be an art gallery if they ever start on the project."

"They haven't started yet?" I asked.

"Well, they broke ground and got the site prepped."

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Jake Randolph in "Tiki Moon" Pt. 223

Tiki Moon #223

"And thank you, Mr. Garfield."

"Call me J....," I almost said Jake, "...Don."

She smiled, "Alright, Don. I've been an avid reader ever since I learned how. I'll read anything. Once in a bus station someone had left behind a copy of Popular Mechanics and I had a two-hour wait so I read it from cover to cover. I can tell you anything you wanna know about model trains and I have no interest in that subject!"

She laughed and at that moment I finally believed there were women in history that men took their countries to war over...

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Jake Randolph in "Tiki Moon" Pt. 222

Tiki Moon #222

"I do indeed," she said as she went to the wet bar in front of the big windows that looked down onto Hawthorne Boulevard. I got up from the couch and started over to the bar. There was a three-shelf bookcase on the other side of the window that contained books on philosophers like Plato, books about Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla, as well as fiction, spanning from H.G. Wells to Dashiell Hammett to Albert Camus. If she'd read all these books then this chickie was something else.

"That's quite a library you have, Miss Wilcox."

"Call me Scarlett."

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Jake Randolph in "Tiki Moon" Pt. 221

Tiki Moon #221

That's the key, the Pacific Palisades project. That has to be what got Phil Garfield killed. The meeting between Mort, Nick and Stan North was the next night. It was now more important than ever that I crash that party.

The door to the back opened and Scarlett came out wearing a pink terry bathrobe. Her white blonde hair was damp and she still looked stunning.

"Sorry about that," she said. "Are you sure you wouldn't like a drink?"

I'd pretty much found out what I needed to know so I said, "Bourbon on the rocks, if you have it."

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Jake Randolph in "Tiki Moon" Pt. 220

Tiki Moon #220

The first project Phil Garfield worked on after starting work at the company was the construction of the Tiki Moon. He was there for three months before moving to the construction of a high-rise building on the Sunset Strip, ironically just down from the building that my office was in. He worked on that for six months.

I made note of all the subsequent projects he'd worked on. The one he was about to start on when he died was the upcoming art gallery in Pacific Palisades, the one Mort and Nick were scheduled to meet Stan North at...

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Jake Randolph in "Tiki Moon" Pt. 219

Tiki Moon #219

I heard the shower turn on in the back room and my mind began to wander as I imagined the water sliding down Scarlett's glistening naked body. I shook my head and continued with the files.

Phil Garfield had been employed at the Commonwealth Construction Company for a little over seven years. So I figured if there was any bribery going on with the City Planner's Office that there was a good chance that Phil had some knowledge of it. Or at least saw something that made Nick Berman consider him a threat.

I just had to find out what...

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Jake Randolph in "Tiki Moon" Pt. 218

Tiki Moon #218

I nodded and sat down on the couch.

"Do you mind if I take a quick shower? I haven't been home long and I really need to get out of these work clothes," she said.

I shook my head, "No, Not at all. Please carry on as if I'm not here."

She nodded and retreated to a door on the other side of the living room.

I pulled out a few of the files and started sorting through them. The first one was simply his personal information: full name, Social Security Number, etc.

The second file was his work history...

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Jake Randolph in "Tiki Moon" Pt. 217

Tiki Moon #217

I wanted to say yes and ask to see the bedroom, but I reined in those adolescent urges.

"No, thank you, Miss Wilcox. I need to keep a clear head when going over my brother's files."

"I understand," she said. "The files are on the coffee table."

The coffee table was between a fireplace and a long red velvet couch. There were a couple of boxes with files sticking out of the top.

"You didn't arouse anyone's suspicions, did you?" I asked, realizing how easy it would be to get aroused by this woman.

"No, I often bring work home."

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Jake Randolph in "Tiki Moon" Pt. 216

Tiki Moon #216

I heard a muffled voice behind the door.

"Just a minute!"

The door swung open and Scarlett was standing there, looking every bit as gorgeous as the first time I saw her.

"Mr. Garfield, please come in," she said as she stood back to let me in.

"Thank you," I said as I entered.

The apartment was very elegant, tastefully furnished. The lighting created an ambience of laid back romanticism. Made me wonder just what Scarlett would get up to in this apartment under the right circumstances.

"Would you care for a drink?" she asked in a low, sexy voice...

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Jake Randolph in "Tiki Moon" Pt. 215

Tiki Moon #215

His voice was whiny, like bald tires running flat out on the highway. He looked like he'd just snorted a glass of lemon juice.

"Whatever floor Apartment 24 is on," I said as he closed the elevator's scissor gate.

"That'll be floor two," he said, clearly the frontrunner in this year's Most Annoying Voice Ever competition.

The elevator lunged into action as it pulled us up to the second floor.

"Second floor," he squeaked as he opened the scissor gate.

This little guy needed to gargle with some hinge oil.

I walked down the hall to Apartment 24 and knocked...

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Jake Randolph in "Tiki Moon" Pt. 214

Tiki Moon #214

I got to Scarlett's apartment building at 6:50 that evening. Some might have said I was a bit anxious, but I just like being prompt. Scarlett had neglected to tell me her apartment number the previous night at the Molten Java, so I had to do some tricky detective work to find out. I went into the lobby and checked a vestibule that contained the apartment's mailboxes. I looked at the names written above each. Wilcox was above the box numbered 24. See, tricky.

I went to the elevator. A little short man in a red jacket said, "Floor, please."

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Jake Randolph in "Tiki Moon" Pt. 213

Tiki Moon #213

I left the Molten Java and made my way back to my car in front of Scarlett's apartment building. I was scanning every alley, every doorway. I didn't think Mr. Saint was on my trail but I was becoming paranoid. I was going to have to find a way to draw him out and deal with him on my terms.

I went home, making sure I wasn't followed, and went to bed early. I was expecting to have a late evening at Scarlett's the next night.

Going over Phil Garfield's files, of course. What other reason could there possibly be?

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Jake Randolph in "Tiki Moon" Pt. 212

Tiki Moon #212

Harrigan looked at Kip, who nodded his approval.

“Okay, Randolph,” Harrigan said gruffly. “We'll give you a little bit of rope. Just see that you don't hang yourself with it, huh?”

I smiled. "I'll be in touch as soon as I know something."

I got up from the booth and Little Miss Sunshine walked over and said, "Did you plan on paying for those cups of java over there," she asked, pointing to the table that Scarlett and I had been sitting at.

"Sorry," I mumbled, reaching in my pocket for a couple of ones.

"Keep the change," I said...