FBI

Chapter 1
Short Notice

Chapter Description: The young lady smiled and shrugged. "Can't say I get all that many calls for 8 AM babysitting."

“Ten-ninety Wedgewood Lane.” The recent high school graduate and the GPS on her phone said the address at the same time. She pulled up next to a black pickup in the two-car cement driveway, shut down the nav on her phone, and locked the car behind her before ringing the doorbell.

A clean-cut man of about 23 answered the door. “Shonda, right? So glad you could make it on such short notice.”

The young lady smiled and shrugged. “Can’t say I get all that many calls for 8 AM babysitting.”

“Come in, come in.” The man introduced himself as Ben and led Shonda on a nickel tour of the house. It had three floors, was wide open and airy, and sunlight poured generously into every window on the eastern side of the house. “I’d show you the basement, but… well… it’s unfinished and would almost certainly ruin all that came before.”

Shonda laughed. “No problem. So where is little, ah…”

“Crystal,” said Ben. “She’s shy around new people. I wouldn’t have been surprised if she snuck into the bathroom when I showed you her room, and vice versa.” Ben turned his head to acquire the full space of the house. “Crystal! Get your buns down here! Daddy had to be out of here five minutes ago!”

Down the carpeted stairs, clutching the bannister, sauntered, slowly, a little girl of five. Her darkish-blond hair was done in curls, and her penetrating blue eyes stood out atop a pair of lips from which a thumb idly descended.

“Hello, Crystal!” said Shonda, daring to take a step forward. “I love your hair.”

“Daddy did it,” the little girl peeped. Shonda whipped around to face Ben, a look of proud surprise on her face.

“The life of a single father,” Ben sighed. “You learn more about the opposite sex by raising them than by any other way, I’m sure.”

“Mommy’s in Heaven,” Crystal contributed, without the slightest hint of emotion.

“Oh, I’m so sorry,” said Shonda. She turned to Ben, who was already scratching his forehead and wondering how much to say, if anything.

“It was a… a high driver,” Ben volunteered. “I don’t know what he thought that stop sign was, but he certainly didn’t do as it said.”

“Stop means stop your car,” nodded Crystal.

Shonda nodded back. “That’s right. You’re a smart little girl.” At this, Crystal beamed.

“Well,” said Ben, “I’m running late, so I’ll leave you two to your own devices. If there’s an emergency or Crystal just wants to talk to me – it happens sometimes – my office number’s on the fridge.”

“No problem,” Shonda replied, and her employer was out the door and driving away.

“So, Crystal, it looks like we’ve got more than a few hours on our hands. What is it you’d like to do? Didja have breakfast yet?”

Crystal nodded. “Daddy took care of that. So I wanted to show you something I have in my room.”

Shonda shrugged and smiled. “There’s nothing I’d rather do.” Crystal bounded up the stairs, Shonda behind her, and the duo slipped into a bedroom quite appropriate for a little girl of any age. While the walls were plastered with “My Little Pony” posters, Shonda could see games stacked up on the bookcase – Monopoly, Scrabble, Risk – that seemed a bit too advanced for a girl Crystal’s age.

“Do you have a sister?” Shonda asked. “Ben—Daddy—was out the door so quickly I…”

“I don’t have a sister,” Crystal declared. The edge in her voice signified impatience. Shonda hoped to herself that Crystal’s angelic demeanor wasn’t a simple show she’d put on for her father.

“I’m sorry,” replied Shonda. “So… what’s this thing you want to show me?”

It was the innocuous question Shonda would regret for the rest of her life.