Chapter 6 Puppy Alert

They had one thing in common

Chapter Six Puppy Alert

Finally, a case that was not wrapped up with another. A case Alex could work on with little to no sidetracks…she hoped.

Alex previewed the file on her desk, left early by her favourite Detective…Glace. With a note. “Alex, this case has your name written all over it..literally.”

She chuckled as she read the particulars…..

Missing Dog

Name…Alex

Breed…ChowChow

Owner…C.D. Windsor

Alex wondered if there was any relation, but after viewing the family history she strongly doubted it. Money and her family did not know each other. This family of Windsors had plenty.

“Alex” went missing from the family’s cottage. A sprawling estate on Rice Lake about 2 hours north of the city.

Alex could not help but chuckle at Glaces knowing joke in giving her this case. It intrigued her enough to go ahead with plans.

Alex had set up a meeting with Natasha Windsor, the granddaughter of the dog’s owner. The Sr. Mr. Windsor had turned the matter over to Natasha as he was older, and in no disposition to fuss with a missing dog…or so Natasha explained.

Alex joined her ever-sweet housekeeper at the breakfast table.

“Good morning, Gladys, it smells wonderful in here. I needed a good breakfast this morning. I am driving up north to Rice Lake to start on a case. No biggie, just a missing dog, but I will likely be gone the rest of the day. Maybe take the day off and relax. I will grab a late supper with Glace.”

Then, just as if he knew he had been spoken about, and that food was mentioned, the phone buzzed, and it was Glace.

” Good morning, I figure you have read the report I left for you, and if I know you, a meeting with the Windsors is arranged. If you are free can we go to supper to discuss the ‘ case’?” Glace said with a chuckle.

“Well, your stomach is right. I had just finished giving Gladys the day off. You name the place and I’ll see you at about 7pm. I am going up to Rice Lake to meet with Natasha Windsor. “

After they settled on a favourite Greek Restaurant, Alex said bye and finished her breakfast. She then put a few things in the car to enjoy the day, and maybe take in a hike on one of the many nature trails around Rice Lake.

“Take care Gladys, have a wonderful day off. I will see you in the morning.” With that, Alex was off for the two-hour drive. The traffic was light, and Alex took time to reflect on the past few cases. By far the most interesting the past while was the Knight Case. She never had someone fake their own death before. The hardest was dealing with Anne Kingston. The last chat she had with Anne though, yielded an interesting tidbit. Anne had gotten a note from Greggory, and the friendship was taking a turn.

Before Alex knew it, the time had passed and she was at the driveway to the Windsor Estate. A long whistle escaped her lips as she surveyed the grounds. Manicured lawns graced both sides of the brick inlaid drive. A solarium was off to the right, and a pool and tennis court could be seen back behind some trees to her left. The cottage itself was cause for another low whistle.

As Alex drove up a white-haired gentleman approached her car.

“Good Day Miss. You are Alex Windsor I am certain, I am C.D. Windsor, but call me Cal. My Granddaughter will be inside, and…” the man let out a chuckle, “she will be aghast that I met your car myself, but I was rather curious as to the P.I. who bore our family name.”

Alex greeted the man with a smile and followed him into the “Cottage”. Another low whistle passed her lips as she walked through the massive entryway to the parlour where a lady sat. The decor was breathtaking, but not as much so as the scene that greeted her in the Parlor, for there sat Natasha, who could easily have been her twin…and the most beautiful dog she had ever seen.

“Welcome Alex.” greeted the lady as she rose from the chair to meet the PI. “I am Natasha, and this is my “Alex”.

Alex, the PI, was speechless for a moment, but composed herself quickly and replied.

“Good Day, I am pleased to meet you. Did your dog show up on its own?” Never one to waste time or words, Alex, the PI, had gotten right to the point.

Cal interjected into the obviously awkward conversation.

“I am so sorry that we presented misleading information, but we had to keep the real reason for calling you a secret. Alex was never missing, but we do need your help. Natasha has been getting threatening phone calls. We do not wish to involve the police. We are very private people, as you may have discovered. Please join us for a light lunch, and I will explain further.”

Lunch was an elaborate spread of enough food to keep a small army fed for a week.

Cold cuts lined the center of the buffet table, hedged with fruits on one side and vegetables on the other. One end of the table held an impressive array of cheese and bread, and the other end had sweet rolls of many kinds.

“Glace is going to kick himself for missing this”. Alex chuckled out loud.

Then as on cue, she heard a voice behind her.

” Nope, not missing it.” Glace came up beside her with a plate.

“What are you doing here?” Asked Alex, quite puzzled.

“Well, ” started Glace, as he popped a grape into his mouth. Then in a whisper, “They don’t know I am police…I told them I was your boyfriend, and that I followed you up here because I thought you were cheating on me”

Alex stared at Glace not knowing whether to believe him or not but was settled with Natasha’s interjection.

” We got a little surprise when your boyfriend showed up, but after he explained who he was and that he tags along on your cases now and then, we figured one more for lunch would be fine.”

Natasha motioned to the buffet and indicated to them to begin. Mr. Windsor pulled up behind Glace. ” Quite the gal you have there son, she reminds me of my late wife…not to mention my Granddaughter. ” Glace nodded in agreement.

After they were all seated with well-proportioned plates of food, Mr. Windsor began his explanations.

“Sorry we had to be secretive, but the threats were filled with too many details about our private life. Whoever is doing this knows more about us than anyone should. They knew about the death of Natasha’s father, which was kept out of the papers, and they knew that Natasha’s Mom had left us when Natasha was born. I wanted whoever was doing this to be satisfied that we were keeping it private. I hope we can resolve things quickly.”

Alex usually liked to eat in silence, but it was clear the elder Windsor was shaken and wished to discuss the case, and how she could be a help.

Mr. Windsor continued.

“When it was clear we were going to need help, I did some research into your profession. I stumbled upon you quite by accident, and when I saw how much you resembled Natasha, I had a bit of a brainstorm. Since the mysterious con-man knows Natasha, I am hoping you could sort of, take her place, for a while, and see if we can flush him out.”

Alex swallowed and joined the conversation.

“I can see how that would be a plan. I am sure we could make something work, and keep the con from knowing what was really going on. I must admit, I would enjoy staying here for a while. What do you think, Glace, could you do without me for a little while?” Alex gave Glace a very small subtle nod yes, and indicated she wanted him to head back to the city and let her work this end. Glace picked up on the nod.

“Yes, I think I can manage. So long as you invite me up for some more food, This is the best. Second only to Gladys.”

To the Windsors, he added.” Gladys is Alex’s housekeeper, and cook. The best. She keeps me well fed.”

Alex continued with a few questions for Cal and Natasha.

“Is there any pattern to the phone calls, are they at a specific time of the day, have you noticed anything familiar about the voice? Things like that would go a long way to help sort out who is doing this.”

Natasha, who had taken the calls, answered. “It was always right after I had gotten home from my work at the rehab/long care center. I work with amputees, Monday- Friday. I usually get home by 6pm and have supper. The voice is muffled, almost mechanical like they were using a simulator of some kind. That makes me think it is someone we would recognize.”

“Yes,” agreed Alex, “I would think that as well. So whoever this is, knows your routine at the Center, and is likely someone you know, at least by voice. That gives us a good start.”

“Hey Glace, could you take time from your busy schedule and do some research for me? I’d like to know about the staff at the rehab center, and maybe a bit about some of the patrons as well. Not sure if you could swing the patrons, due to privacy issues, but you should be able to find out some about the staff without too much trouble.”

Glace was quick to agree to add that he would do his best but asked if he could invite a friend who was an amputee for some help. He promised he would keep it as confidential as possible.

Alex assured the Windsors that Glace would be discreet, and they agreed to his suggestion.

With the details sorted out, Glace and Alex kept up their charade and went for a “Romantic” stroll on the grounds.

“You know, I could get used to this, ” whispered Glace into Alex’s ear, as he took her hand and strolled along.

“Well, we will see,” laughed Alex, who pulled away laughingly and ran, as if in a playful tease, with her ‘boyfriend’.

Alex and Glace visited for a bit and then Glace headed back to the city. It was drawing near bedtime, and Alex was shown a tastefully decorated guest room.

“Tomorrow”, explained Natasha, “We will get you ready to be me. I will get you a portion of my wardrobe and show you my work schedule. There are a few quirks about my schedule that someone watching me is sure to know, and we must find him.”

Alex agreed and said goodnight, gave Gladys a quick call to update her, and settled in for a good sleep.

Morning came way too fast, and Alex was met with the wonderful aroma of a full breakfast, with all the trimmings.

“If you keep feeding me like this, I will not look like Natasha for long. I don’t know how she stays trim, but I have to work at it…hard.” Explained Alex as she declined the second helping of waffles.

“Oh I work at it as well,” added Natasha, “but not too hard. I was blessed with my father’s metabolism”, as she took a second waffle.

When breakfast was completed, Natasha and Alex retired to the den, where they spent the morning going over routines, and mannerisms that would be critical to the switch.

After a light lunch, the girls went to Natasha’s room to work on the wardrobe. Alex fit Natasha’s clothes like they were made for her. They decided to do a quick test of Alex’s lessons. Alex donned a favorite leisure wardrobe and went down to Mr. Windsor’s Office.

“Father, could I ask you a quick question?” asked Alex, with a perfect imitation of Natasha’s voice.

“Do you really think this PI can do this switch, do you think she can actually ‘be’ me?”

Mr. Windsor looked up to who he expected to be his daughter.

“Well, Alex, you have the voice perfect. I was certain it was Natasha asking until I looked up. Natasha would never stand with her hand on her hip. Other than that small detail, I would not have known you were not my daughter. I think you will do the switch expertly, after this much promise in one morning.”

“I agree Father,” added Natasha as she came in behind Alex. “She really is the professional that we expected her to be. She will be ready to go to work for me on Monday without a doubt.”

Meanwhile, back in town, Glace had rounded up a friend of his who was a fairly recent amputee and had him go with him to the rehab center to do some investigations.

While his friend John was being shown around a bit, Glace took some quick pictures of the guest book on the common room table and was armed with some names to research. John actually loved the center and signed up.

“Well, John, this worked out better than I could have imagined. You can do some undercover work for me, without even having to pretend. That was wonderful providence.”
“Providence for sure,” answered John. “I had been praying about finding a place to get the help I needed with the new leg. This is a win-win situation.”

The first day on the job went well for both Alex and Glace. The case was shaping up quickly and the weekend was well spent.

Glace took Sunday and headed back to the Windsors to fill in Alex on his progress in person. He arrived just as Mr. Windsor and Natasha were getting home from church.

“Good afternoon, is Alex around this morning.” Greeted Glace as he approached their car.

Both gave a hearty laugh.

“Well I guess your lessons are complete, you fooled even your own boyfriend,” chuckled Mr. Windsor, as he addressed, not Natasha, but Alex.

“We decided to do a big test this morning, and Alex accompanied me to church in Natasha’s place.”

“Wow.” was all that Glace could manage.

The trio headed into the house where they were met by the real Natasha, who had secluded herself away in the house for the day to not risk being seen.

“I have my friend situated over at the Center. He is now a guest, and will do wonders,” explained Glace over a cup of coffee and cookies.

“I am sure we are ready on this end, “assured Alex, “what is your friend’s name, at the Center?”

“His name is John Cooke. He is an amputee and will be an enormous help. He is totally trustworthy.” answered Glace after he swallowed a third cookie.

The ” couple” visited for the afternoon, and then Glace headed back to the city. Alex and Natasha went over a few details for Alex’s first day in the undercover job. Alex was no stranger to undercover work, and having John Cooke inside was going to be a huge help. Glace had given Alex his number, and they had made contact.

Whoever was harassing Natasha made a big mistake, and they were soon to find out how big.

Alex headed off to work as Natasha. She signed in and went to her desk as normal, and went thru the emails for the day. All was in order, coworkers did not seem at all alerted to the covert work. This was good. Alex was glad. Nothing out of the ordinary happened day one.

A whole week went by with nothing out of the ordinary. John Cooke had met Alex/Natasha and was positioned to keep an eye on things. He was assigned to Natasha for motion training, so he and Alex had time to chat privately about the case.

Glace came in from work twice during the week to see that his friend John was getting the help he needed. On the second visit, Friday, John went through the motions of introducing Glace to Alex/Natasha. Glace did a professional job of pretending he did not know her.

Someone was watching. Someone who was not glad to see a rather good looking man talking and laughing with ‘Natasha’. Alex/ Natasha had just arrived home when the phone rang. The real Natasha answered.

” I don’t know who your new friend is at work, you looked awfully chummy. If he knows what is good for him, he will stay away. You are mine.” Then silence, the call disconnected. Natasha quickly met Alex in the den.

“Did Glace come by today at work?” She asked.

” Yes, he did, very briefly. John introduced us as if he were a stranger to me, Why?”

“Well, our caller friend saw him and was not happy, in fact he seemed jealous. I guess we ruffled his feathers,” Natasha laughed.” You are doing an awesome job, he does not know that it is not me.”

“Not only that, he gave us a clue. We can narrow people down to those who were at the Center for the brief time that Glace was there. Our con-man has made a mistake. They always do. Since it seems he has a thing for you, we can have Glace visit more often. Lets make him really jealous. That will flush him out faster than any digging could ever do.” Alex was in her element. She was an expert in pinpointing the enemies mistakes.

“Are you sure this is safe? Will you be alright? Will Glace be okay?” Asked Natasha.

“Well, I have to be perfectly honest. You need to know now that Glace is not my boyfriend, he is a county sheriff, a good one, who has worked with me on more cases than I can count. He is a good friend as well, and this will work 100% to our advantage. I know you did not want the police involved, and to this point it is only Glace who is involved. We will keep it that way until the con-man makes it otherwise. I promise.”

Natasha and Mr. Windsor understood, and seemed rather relieved that there was a quiet background police presence.

Unknown to the investigators was the fact that the caller was not referring to Glace, as the new friend of Natasha. He saw John Cooke talking with Natasha several times during the course of the week. John was in danger, and no one knew it.

Another week progressed and nothing happened pertaining to the case. Glace had visited the Windsor’s three times during the week, and had frequented the Center, to get a rise out of the caller, hopefully.

The caller was oblivious to Glace, his attention was fixated on the new client at the Center, John, and he was none too please that Natasha was assigned to John as a support friend. He put a plan in motion, and began to follow John when he left the Center.

“I am beginning to wonder if we are on the right track. Glace visits me at the Center regularly, and we are even starting to make it look like we are chummy. He has walked me to my car, and brought me candy. I could get used to this, Glace better watch himself, he is setting himself up for expectations, laughed Alex.

“Let’s give it more time, we have to find out who this is if I am ever going to get back to normal. I have to admit that I am enjoying the time at home, and getting some projects done. Dad is glad to have me around as well.”

“You are right there”, chuckled Mr. Windsor.

“I still cannot shake the feeling that we are missing something,” added Alex.

“Oh, I know that feeling all too well,” said Glace between bites. “I have learned from experience, that when she has a gut feeling, it is not to be ignored. We need to do some digging.”

Friday night, two weeks later, just as Alex /Natasha was getting home from work, with Glace along to go over the case, so he said, Alex knew he was along for the food, the phone rang, it was him.

“I have your friend. Your tender care for him, and his bumm leg comes to an end, NOW!!” and he disconnected.

“OH, no!,” exclaimed Natasha. “He has your friend, John!”

“That’s what I was missing,” chided Alex. “He was not referring to Glace. He was jealous of John.’