Best Laid Plans

Was this how her husband saw her? Was this how Clara saw her? That young, blond, German detective? Was this how any of her lovers saw her? Just a woman with an attractive face, large breasts, ample waist, and long legs? One hand moved slowly down her stomach, stroking and kneading the muscles, down to her swollen clit. She took two steps back to the edge of the bed and braced herself with one hand while flicking her clit with the other. Her head rolled back in ecstasy, a small orgasm radiating from her clit up her torso to her tits making her chest flush. Alice drew one leg up on the bed so she could see her pussy in the mirror angled toward the bed and started ramming two fingers in and out of her fuck hole. She really let herself go and her body was responding to the attention she was paying to her pussy. Alice's nipples, prominent before, were now fully engorged and hard. Her breathing was ragged, coming in gasps and moans. Locking eyes on her pussy in the mirror, Alice hammered her cunt for all it was worth. She was so close..So close...

///

Archie was frozen on the balcony. This, he told himself, was the reason Father Denis would not let younger priests hear his confession any longer. The noise from the room was unmistakable, the sound of a very wet cunt being roughly fucked. Detectives made most of their bread proving that spouses were unfaithful, which broke Archie's cynical heart ever time he saw it. By this point in his career there was no telling how many cases he had worked where he had to take compromising pictures. As much as he hated it, Archie knew he was a passive observer; an uninterested fourth party who was merely there to document morally questionable behavior. This felt different.

Archie had never been turned on by the scenes he had witnessed in seedy motels, run-down apartments, and business offices. The display in the room before him was one of the most sensuous things Archie had ever witnessed and it made him feel dirty. There was no cheating going on here, just a beautiful woman pleasuring herself. Archie let himself down the trellis as quietly as he could and disappeared around the other side of the house, back up the road, and to his car. He did his best to hide his hard-on the whole way. Before he turned on the car, Archie had a quiet ten minutes smoking a cigar and listening to jazz on the radio. He was at the grocer's calling Lenore to update her with his movements before Archie realized he had left the clipboard, notebook, and pen back in the bushes at the Masters' house.

Chapter 3: Out Of Nowhere

Ed took a deep drag on his cigarette and let the smoke curl out of his nose and rise up through the air above his head in the bus. The former apartment of Ms. Clara Weiss had been a dead end. She had moved out, no one knew or cared where, it was a move planned for a while, not some over-night disappearance. No one knew what she did. No one knew if she had any friends or family. She was real enough, everyone recognized her picture. Everyone, even the ghoulish old woman who kept tabs on the young women staying in her building, liked and missed Ms. Weiss. Her old room was small, basically just a bedroom as all the women on that floor shared a hall bathroom. Nothing had been left behind but dust and stale cigarette smoke.

Now he was headed over to central booking to see if anyone there recognized her. It was a true long shot and Ed knew Archie knew it. So many people made their way through that building that no one, no matter how attractive, would be remembered. There were so few threads to follow in this case that Ed knew it was not just Archie sending him on a wild goose chase. Each thread was important and needed to be run to the logical conclusion. However painful that might be.

Mrs. Masters had definitely mentioned an "agency" she had contacted first to find Ms. Weiss. None of the paperwork in the file mentioned the name of the agency or even what kind of agency it was. Maybe, if Ed was right and struck out chasing down a mugshot, he would get a chance to visit the Masters' home and question the brunette dame in greater detail. Back in Archie's office she said she did not want both detectives showing up at her home at once. That left the door open to Ed making a visit on his own. Just to verify leads, certainly. Though that mole and the brown eyes were certainly worth following up on in Ed's opinion.

If they were going to find their hot blonde, it was going to be chasing down these leads. Ed did not want to think about what he would have to do if central booking was a dead end, hopefully Archie was having more luck on his end. But central booking was the next logical step, so Ed resigned himself to the task at hand.

First, Edwin had an old friend who worked bar at a nice restaurant not too far from his destination. Lunch and a drink would set Ed in the right frame of mind to square off against the willfully blind sergeants and coppers of central booking. He took another look at the photo of Clara Weiss and wondered what she was doing at that exact moment.

///

Lunch was in full swing at Marconi's when Ed sauntered his way to the bar at the back of the long restaurant. Marconi's was the kind of place a young detective could have a drink and a good bite to eat at the bar while the rich and privileged lunched on lobster and pasta at tables by the windows. White-gloved waiters chaperoned expensive meals from the celebrated kitchens out to the bespoke-suited patrons while the bartenders mixed up the concoctions that lubricated the business deals and affairs being conducted around and underneath all the tables. Archie had trained Ed to make friends with bartenders all over Charm City, but none was more trusted than Marconi's own Rudolf.

Both immigrants from Europe at a young age, both sons of veterans from the Western Front, both thrown into public schools to sink or swim with little English training; Edwin and Rudolf found each other at a young age and thrived in the fishbowl of public school. Both were fiercely competitive but fast friends. Ed was slimmer, faster, and better read, but Rudolf was more than his match in strength, sports, and love. A friendly argument over how many of the city's attractive young women had fallen before them turned into a brawl at Rudolf's old bar. Ever since then Edwin had made it a point of honor to show up and buy himself a shot of whiskey as a way of indicating that his body count was at least one higher.

"Look at the state of this one!," Ed heard over the din of the bar area. Rudolf waived him over to a free stool. The tired detective set his folder down on the bar and held up one finger, indicating how many drinks he needed.

"Just one this time? It's been what, three weeks? Still staying with your mom?" Rudolf questions were all fired from behind a smile and Ed knew it was in all in good fun. The shot landed on the bar and he drank it all down in one go, wiping his mouth with his jacket sleeve afterwards.

"Just one. Been busy. Probably going to be busier. How's business?"

Rudolf looked around the busy bar area and packed restaurant by way of response. "Can't complain. Are the cases keeping you busy or just the one shot of whiskey?"

"Cases mostly. They seem to fall out of the sky when least expected. I'm running fool's errands all morning, now I'm on my way to central booking. Nothing good ever comes out of that place. Hopefully Archie is having more luck on his end. What's the soup today?"

"Fish and Rice," Rudolf answered with a smile. Ed hated fish but soup was mostly all he could afford at Marconi's.

"Sounds grand. What do you think of this?," Ed asked sliding Clara Weiss' photo out of the folder. "An equally attractive woman gave me this photo, if you can believe it. She's the foo'ls errand of the moment."

Rudolf looked at the photo and slapped it back on the bar, face down. His normally lighthearted grin was gone, replaced by a serous look Ed had only a handful of times in their years of friendship.

"If I told you your fool's errands were at an end, would you leave a real tip this time?"

"If you know something useful, I'll leave as much cash as I have on me right now."

"Turn around and check out the table by the side window. The one with the purple flowers."

Ed turned. Clara Weiss was indeed sitting at the table with purple flowers. In the chair to her left sat one of the ugliest and best dressed men Ed had ever seen. From Clara's smile, casual stroking of the oaf's arm, and general disparity in their appearance; Ed knew at once that she was being paid to pay attention to the otherwise unlucky gentleman. Clara was wearing a pale, blue summer dress that showed off her lean frame well. Ed mentally kicked himself for not seeing her when he walked in. Not only because she was the object of his search, but because she was the best looking woman in the restaurant.

Ed spun back to Rudolf trying his best to erase the look of shock on his face.

"I need to know everything you know."

Rudolf spun a story Ed had heard a hundred times from a hundred bartenders. She drank gin fizzes, flirted with everything on two legs, showed up with the same ogre at the same time each week, left smiles and winks as tips. Rudolf did not know how long she had been coming to Marconi's with Mr. Weatherly, but it was long enough that Rudolf could not remember a Thursday lunch without her.

"One last tip, and this one's for free: she's going to get up and use the ladies room before they eat. She always does," Rudolf said sliding a bowl of soup over to Ed. "Better get this down quick so you can catch her without her sugar-father interfering."

"You mean "sugar daddy", Rudolf." Ed bolted the soup and excused himself to take up position by the ladies room. He could hardly believe his luck. What tactic should he use? Try and set up a date? Ed rejected that one right away. Ms. Weiss clearly had expensive tastes and she would know by his suit that he was not the man to satisfy them. Honesty? Ed considered it. Archie told him not to let her know the Masters were looking for her, any explanation would inevitably lead to disclosing his client's identities. Half truths then, Ed decided with a sigh. He'd made up his mind just as the platinum blonde walked down the hallway toward Ed's spot.

Instead of going into the ladies room, Clara walked right up to him. The hall was not long, but the young woman's casual gate gave Ed time to study her. She was on the tall side, certainly not as tall as Ed, but taller than most. Her platinum-blonde hair was cut in a short bob. Ms. Weiss' arms and legs were long and she moved with grace, though it appeared effortless to Ed. The feature that captured Ed's attention was the same feature he had taken notice of in the photo: her dazzling smile. Some women were able to smile with only their mouths, but Clara seemed to smile with her whole being. Even her eyes seemed excited to see him, a stranger, standing in a restaurant hallway. Ed felt inclined to trust her, and Archie was always telling him to trust his gut.

"Do we know each other?," she asked tilting her head to one side. "I saw you staring at me from the bar. You looked like you recognized me, I would remember a handsome man like yourself." Clara smiled and locked her eyes on Ed's own.

"No, miss," Ed heard himself uttering from far away. "We have never met. Allow me to introduce myself," Ed produced a card from his pocket. "I am Edwin Zeit, private detective. I have some questions about your lunch date. Nothing serious, I just need to confirm his whereabouts last Thursday. Not here, and please don't tell Mr. Weatherly. Is there somewhere I could meet you later?"

Clara ran her gloved finger down Ed's hand before taking the offered card. Her smile lingered on her lips as she met his gaze. He could tell she was weighing her options, deciding whether to believe the story or not. After a long moment, Clara slipped the card into her glove.

"I'm staying with a friend at the Belvedere. Come by around 4, I'll meet you at the Owl Bar and you can buy me a drink while I answer your questions about 'Mr. Weatherly'." Clara gave Ed a last appraising look and turned to enter the bathroom.

Ed walked back to the bar and asked Rudolf if there was a phone he could use, preferably someplace quiet. There was no phone at the restaurant, but there was a bar across the street that was quieter and would let you make a call for a nickle, Rudolf told him. Ed smiled and took his leave. A five dollar bill sat on the bar, the best tip Ed ever left for Rudolf.

///

"Lenore, this is Ed. Good news, I found Clara Weiss. I'm going to meet her later this afternoon at the Owl Bar."

"I'll let Archie know the next time he phones," the older woman answered. "Anything you want to pass along?"

"Clara's definitely a chippy, though a high-priced one. If she took the necklace, she wasn't wearing it."

Lenore laughed, "It's never that easy, kid. Archie followed Mrs. Masters back to her house and overheard a conversation about meeting someone for lunch at the Admiral. He said it didn't sound like they'd be eating. Archie knows the house dick there, so he'll have backup."

"I'm going to run home before my date. I didn't check in after work last night, Mom will want to hear from me."

"Now it's a date? Do I need to be be worried that my two men are spending their afternoons and evenings with loose women in hotels?"

Now it was Ed's turn to laugh. "We both know Archie is more embarrassed interrupting couples than the couples being interrupted. Worry about me if you need to worry about someone. She's twice as attractive as that photo the Masters gave us." Ed could hear Lenore roll her eyes through the bad connection.

"Call me as soon as you have any updates. I'll call the store if Archie needs you."

"Thanks, Lenore," Ed said as he set down the receiver.

The bar was an inviting, quiet place to lose himself in for the next few hours, but Ed knew that he only found Ms. Weiss by random luck and he could not trust her any farther than he could throw her. Trained well by Archie, Ed had kept an eye on the front of Marconi's, invisible from inside the dark bar across the street. Neither Clara nor her beau had exited the restaurant yet, and Ed was determined to follow Clara until his date with her at four.

Exiting the bar, Ed waived over a taxi and explained the situation. Taxi drivers were always happy to tail someone, especially if it meant keeping the meter running while sitting still. Each of Ed's taxi drivers in the past seemed to take a pride in driving recklessly in order to follow another car on the flimsy excuse that Ed was "investigating a suspicious subject". This time was no different and Ed found himself dozing off in the back of the car waiting for Clara to emerge. The warm spring day was conspiring with Ed's overindulgence the night before to make keeping his eyes open next to impossible. Luckily, fighting the Sandman was a short proposition. Soon a long, black limo pulled up and Ms. Weiss exited on the arm of Mr. Weatherly, both jumping in the backseat and the chase was on.

Chase may have been an exaggeration. The limo slowly wound its way around the backstreets and quiet boulevards leading to and surrounding Patterson Park until it finally found a quiet parking spot away from the laughing children and strolling house wives enjoying the warm, clear weather. The taxi driver had no trouble finding a spot inconspicuously between two "out of service" taxis. The limo driver got out and strolled slowly over to a bench with a bag lunch and a coffee flask.

"On a Thursday afternoon? What are they, French?"

"I doubt it," Ed replied. "Probably a weekly occurrence. I'm sure the driver enjoys the diversion and lunch out-doors."

"Not as much as his boss enjoys his diversion."

A short while later the limo horn sounded and the driver threw away his now empty lunch bag in a nearby trashcan and made his way back over to the black car. In short order, they were on their way again. This time instead of the slow and leisurely pace, the limo roared past the stately town homes and through quiet neighborhoods back to the city center. Eventually the limo found it's way to the Belvedere. It was looking like Ms. Weiss was telling at least part of the truth.

The taxi pulled up to the opposite curb in time for Ed to see Clara get out of the limo, straighten her dress, blow a kiss into the car, wink at the driver holding her door, pirouette and stride into the art-deco hotel.

"Give it ten minutes, then I have another destination," Ed instructed the taxi driver. He relaxed into the seat. Ed thought it unlikely that Ms. Weiss would bolt out of the hotel and jump in a cab; it seems Clara told the truth about where she was staying. The whole story from the Masters was seeming more and more preposterous. Mr. Masters might be slipping it to her on the side, which Ed found extremely likely; but Clara certainly was not proving herself a thief. Or a "social secretary" for that matter.

Ten minutes slipped by and Ed gave the taxi driver his home address. Time for a change of clothes and a few quick winks.

///

Arnold Zeit, covered in mud and the blood of his fellow German soldiers, had run out into no-man's-land to fetch back his lieutenant when the worst happened. The shell that landed nearby sent him head over heals into the air and then back into the trench from whence he had come. Waking up in a field hospital minus one leg and with a case of vertigo so bad he could barely sit up, Arnold spent his waking moments holding onto the sides of the cot to try and stop the room from spinning. The vertigo ended the same day as the war and two weeks later Arnold went home to his wife and two sons.

Post-war Germany was a tough place for an ex-soldier, and an even tougher place for one with a wooden leg and an interest in building a future for his family. Old comrades would drop by to relive the glory days, but none were able to provide him with a lead on a job or suggest a course of action that did not involve schnapps. Eventually Arnold would accept that Hamburg had little to offer him in the way of opportunity. Once his mind was made up, he hopped a freighter to Baltimore, another port city. There was a thriving German-speaking community and America offered a brighter future for his two boys.

Arnold worked the docks until he met Herr Gunther, bookseller. Edwin and his brother grew in the shop, reading more than they cleaned, and had received a first class literary education and mastered the English language along the way. Mr. Zeit managed the shop exactly as it had been once Herr Gunther had his stroke - dark, musty, and filled with the scents of old leather books, coffee, and mildew. To Ed the shop was a second home, to the young men of Baltimore's establishments of higher learning it was a beacon of banned literature and bawdy pictures.

Herr Gunther peddled smut like a baker peddled bread. The books in the window displays were just there for show. Mr. Zeit had been shocked at first, discovering that most of the stock on the shelves were just window-dressing, that the real merchandise lay in crates in the back. De Sade, Boccaccio, Defoe, Voltaire, Lawrence all wrapped carefully in straw next to photos and crude drawings of women and men engaged in unspeakable acts. The money, though, could not be overlooked. Eventually Mr. Zeit inherited Herr Gunther's business and contacts; and, following his heart attack, Ms. Zeit inherited it all from her husband.

A police raid while Edwin's father still lived brought the Zeit's into Archie Chance's sphere of influence. Fast friends, Arnold and Archie met each week to drink and exchange stories, occasional favors were traded and not a few secrets made their way from Baltimore's fledgling pornography industry to the police when things got out of hand. Above this den of iniquity the Zeit's made their new home. Ed and his mother shared the rooms now, though Ms. Zeit had the apartment to herself most nights.