Buch lesen: «Mantel teams up»

Broke... once again

Living the life of a private investigator is never easy. No one knew this better than Mantel. Always struggling to find new jobs. Because no job means no money, means no food to eat, means feeling miserable.

It was another one of those miserable sunday afternoons.

Mantel sat on her couch and zapped through the tv programs. She was wearing an old jogging suit and had her shoulder long black hair tied up to a pony tail. Her last case was a week ago and since then she didn‘t do much. She spent most of her time on her couch. During the afternoon talkshows she always got excited shouting at the tv, participating in all the debates, on every channel simutaniously.

She was just yelling at a man who had brought two children into the world and now one of the mothers was expecting another baby from him, yet he didn‘t want it. He wasn‘t in a relationship with either of the two women and he never wanted any children but was to scared to get a vasectomy. Mantel couldn‘t understand how some people could be so thoughtless and play with the lives of others.

„How irresponsible are you man? If you don‘t want children then don‘t WOOHOO!“ Mantel was so into her tv program that she was suddenly startled when her phone rang. She took a deep breath calming herself then picked up the phone.

„Heya“ was her usual enthusiastic greeting.

„Am I speaking with Mantel, the private investigator?“ a male voice with a foreign accent was heard through the phone.

„Yep, that‘s me“ Mantel said proudly.

„I have a job offer for you“ the man at the other end of the line urgently stated.

„Hey pal, it‘s sunday!“ Mantel was not in the mood for work.

„You don‘t want the job? You don‘t even want to know what the job is?“ the man was surprised.

Mantel suddenly seemed to wake up. She took her eyes of the tv and switched it off, sitting up straight.

„Of course I want the job! What‘s the job?“ she got curious.

The man didn‘t hesitate for a second thinking that this was the right investigator for the job: „Two items where stolen from me. A modern key-card and an ancient key. They are both very special to me and I have an idea who stole them. I need you to find this person, get those keys, and bring them back to me. Can you do this?“

„Can I do this? Pal, you are talking to Mantel, P.I. The greatest detective! Of course I can do this!“ Mantel got up to her feet, posing like all the hero's she knew from the comic books did.

Mantel gladly excepted the job and after spending the rest of the day in front of the tv she started her work promptly late Monday afternoon because monday mornings were for sleeping in!

With the information she had gotten from her client it wasn‘t to hard to find the thief. She spotted him a day later walking down an empty street. He was busy reading a newspaper. Some people were gifted, Mantel thought, walking and reading at the same time. It was hard for her to do even one of those things without being somewhat clumbsy. She knocked over a trash can, cursing loudly after falling right into the pile of garbage. She had been so focused with admiration at the man‘s multitasking talent that she hadn‘t seen the garbage can in front of her. But the man hadn‘t even taken notice of her. Annoyed, angry and smelly Mantel got up and decided to take immedate action.She ran after the man but instead of confronting him she simply knocked him down and went through his pockets. That was the good old Mantel-Way! She didn‘t find the two keys, so she took the mans house keys. His wallet revealed his home adress.

He lived in a nice building. Mantel opened the door and stepped in. His appartment was unlike hers, tidied up and smelled of fresh flowers. He had good taste in funiture and ? seemed to be doing pretty well for himself. Some expensive looking paintings were hanging at the walls and some ? antiques were giving the living room an interesting flair.

The first thing Mantel did in the man‘s home was plunder his refrigerator. Knowing she was short on money and hadn‘t had a good meal in days. Even though she had gotten a nice sum of money from her last job, somehow she just wasn‘t good with keeping her money!

After her stomach signaled her it was full she spotted some cookie dough ice cream in the freezer. Now that was something she just couldn‘t ignore. She she emptied the whole carton and after sticking the last spoon into her mouth she felt a bit sick, regretting not having saved the desert for later.

She didn't feel like doing much on a heavy stomach and so she decided to wash away the stench of the garbage she had fallen into earlier and took a nice hot shower. In a bathrobe she found in the bathroom she then took a 30 minute break watching tv. After she felt a little better, she finally started her work, looking through every drawer and closet. She found the missing keys her client had described to her in one of the drawers in the living room.

The ancient key was rather small but heavy. It was made out of some kind of metal and had an interesting look, though the key-card was even more interesting to Mantel. She had a hunch what is was. She would definately ask her client about it.

Before leaving the appartment Mantel changed back to her own clothes, still hot from right out of the dryer. The slogan was absolutely right on the box of washing powders. They smelled like a fresh summer breeze.

Mantel was nice enough to clean up the mess she had made in the kitchen while feasting. It was one thing to plunder all the food but leaving a mess? She might not be the most tidiest person in the world and her own apartment certainly didn‘t always look sparkling, but being a „guest“ in someone elses place she tried to make a good impression, if that was even possible in that situation!