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Chapter 1
Gloria frowned at the squeak that jumped out of her swivel chair when she swiveled. She was still checking it out, swiveling slightly back and forth when Gladys barged into the office, her heavy footsteps banging on the old grey tiled floor.
“I got news from Lucy concerning the Jindal account.” Gladys said, talking and walking past the door in one breath.
This announcement pulled Gloria out of her investigation, momentarily, “Yeah? Well what does she have to say?”
Gladys cringed inwardly at the look that hung in those beautiful caramel eyes; such a shame. “She dropped us. She is going with the Dillinger firm just across the corner.”
“What?! What do you mean dropped us? I spoke with her a few days ago, and I’m telling you we were fine!” Gloria squealed, slightly embarrassed at how precariously close she was to whining, “hmmh, I mean did she give any reason for the sudden change of attitude?”
“Uh Gloria c’mon it’s okay to feel sorry for yourself; I feel bad too. It’s been two months since our last real case, and it gets disheartening.”
The squeak of the swivel chair was nigh sorrowful as Gloria sighed and sank into it. The august offices of Patton and Patton could not go on like this for much longer. “So what else we got?”
“Well there is always Mrs. Murkowski’s cat,” Gladys replied curtly as she took a seat in the wooden chair on the client’s end of the modest office table. “You could do what I suggested earlier.” Gladys’ two hands played nervously with each other as she pretended to observe an interesting square inch, just behind her hands on the office table.
Gloria sat up right with a snap, he elbows upon the table, “Mrs. Murkowski’s cat is always in the broom closet, looking for the first opportunity to get out of the garlic-scented houses, and away from that eccentric, old woman. You on the other hand are crazy.”
“Oh come on how difficult can it be?!” Gladys chipped in insistently, unable to keep the giggle out of her voice.
“I mean who lives with that amount of cats? She is a quirky old cat lady, and I don’t wanna hear any more of this soothsaying nonsense.”
“She has the gift-I mean, how else can you explain the things she says?” Besides you can’t just sit around and do nothing; we have to turn over all bricks-or stones! I forget what the expression is.”
“Leave no stone unturned,” Gloria said helpfully in tandem with the, now, ever-present squeak. She pulled her swivel chair closer into the table, her brow donning the look of someone deep in thought, her caramel brown eyes intense. “Uh-uh, no way.” Gloria said at last, shaking her head vigorously from side to side as she pushed her chair behind, ignoring the squeak as she rose.
Gladys rolled her eyes in frustration, “You know for a second there, I thought I had actually convinced you about something for the first time in your life.”
“Keep trying little sister-you’ll get there someday, I promise.” Gloria said as she rounded the table and headed for the coat rack that held her jacket.
Gladys stood as well, her tight-fitting leopard striped blouse, mingling nicely with the black pants that she wore. Gloria could not help but admire Gladys’ sense of style, which today accentuated her voluptuous figure. They were twins, but the comparisons ended there.
“Do you know what the problem with smart people like you is? You never know when you are in over your head, and what’s worse? Even if you did, you wouldn’t ask for help. So where are you going now?”
Gloria swung the pragmatic, rather than attractive jacket over her round shoulders, “Off to the police station; doing some real positive action like.”
“You wanna forage their cases. Okay I’ll just man the phone then, on the off chance that our luck begins to turn.”
Gloria had expected nothing less, and smiled at the remark; she was the part of the duo with all the energy when it came to such matters, while Gladys handled the social, and public relations issues with something akin to genius.
As if on cue the phone went off in Gladys’ office in the outer room. “Right, some ailing customers in dire need of our expertise.” Gloria said with no intention of keeping the smug smile out of her face. “Enough with this voodoo.”
