Some would day the day was pleasant. Sunny, even. But to me, it looked overcast as shit. People bustled around on the street below, going about their mundane lives like ants on a mission from their queen, utterly oblivious to the heavens barely retraining themselves from pissing down on them. Children frolicked. Lovers touched. Birds pecked at the discarded remnants of lunch that never quite made it to the rubbish bins specifically installed to keep the pavements clean.

Being three storeys up wasn't the only thing that made me look down on the city.

Wiping the scowl from my face, I turned from the window to face my visitor. She watched me expectantly from across the desk, a small smile teasing at the corners of her full lips like a Mona Lisa model with a dog's nose sniffing between her legs.

She had barged through my door and into both my office and my life like she owned the damn place. I had barely finished my third morning coffee when a polite but frustratingly confident knocking distracted me from my paper. And when I opened the door, she had been standing there.

Lips like blood. Ebony hair, cascading down her back without a single knot, as if every strand wanted nothing to do with the others. A snug black dress that accentuated her figure and was cut high enough to show off legs so long you could base a new calendar off them.

Despite myself, the dame was pretty.

But beauty's only skin deep, as they say. After I had stood aside and let her into the office, she had taken a seat without a care, like she and I were old friends. I'd never seen her before, though. Hard to forget a beauty like that.

And when she talked, it felt as though she were talking down to me, even as I stood above her. Sure, her words were polite, her tone soft like down feathers, but her smile seemed... insincere. Like she knew more than she was letting on. She gave me the impression she could read my thoughts. Perhaps it was just her patient stare as I got my thoughts in order. Always staring at me with those dark, bottomless eyes and that self-confident smile.

"If your friend needs me to find something for her, she should have come to my office herself," I grumbled. "How's a detective supposed to work through a middle-woman?" I took a cigar from my breast pocket and deftly lit it with my favourite lighter. A woman needs her vices.

The dame chuckled. She did that a lot, I'd noticed. "My friend is hesitant to ask for professional help," she replied in a melodic, soft but deep cadence that tickled my ears like a breeze edging a dandelion. Her laughs dripped with rhythm, too. Since she had arrived, every word she said had drizzled over me like those clouds were hoping to do to the ants outside. "She doesn't have much money, and she's somewhat embarrassed to be in... her position."

I grunted and took a drag, blowing the smoke in her direction. To my frustration she didn't seem at all intimidated, her smile only widening - very slightly, but a private detective notices these things. The dame wasn't telling me everything. "Sorry, sweetheart," I said in as condescending a tone as I could manage. "I don't take cases without hearing from the client first."

"I thought you might say, Detective," the dame said, not missing a beat. "I know your reputation as... a professional. As I said, my friend is hesitant, but she's not altogether adverse. I've brought her along. She's waiting in my car outside."

I shot her a scowl and leaned back in my chair, putting my feet on the desk. "Well, you'd better go get her, then," I suggested. "I'll listen to what she has to say."

"Of course, Detective." The dame smiled, inclining her head in what was doubtless an insincere display of deference, and rose to her feet, turning and walking across the floorboards in heels like daggers. My eyes took the opportunity to look her over; it was gratifying to see her leaving on a personal level, but I couldn't deny I'd welcome her coming back just to watch her leave again. She looked over her shoulder and shot me another million-watt smile as she slipped out the door.

"Socialites," I scoffed, picking my paper back up and taking another drag.

*****

I barely got through three pages before the knocking came again. I groaned; of course I needed clients to run my business, but that didn't mean I had to enjoy it. My line of work only exposed me to the underworld most of the city folk either ignored or were blissfully ignorant of. "Come on," I grumbled in a barely raised tone.

The dame opened the door and stood back to allow her friend to come through before joining her and shutting it quietly. Friend was almost as tall as Dame, her hair a honey brown and her skin the pale shade of a woman who doesn't see the sun much - though in this city the same could perhaps be said of all of us.

She didn't seem as nervous as Dame had implied, looking to her companion and saying something in a language I couldn't place. Greek? Italian? Portuguese? I had no clue. I couldn't detect an accent.

To my surprise, Dame grinned and replied in the same language. The two shared a slight chuckle as they each took a seat on the sofa behind my desk. I reluctantly took my feet off the top so I could lean forward.

"Ma'am. Your friend here says you lost something and want me to track it down."

Friend glanced at Dame and spoke in the other language again. Dame responded with what I could figure was an explanation, gesturing at me with a perfectly manicured hand. Friend then looked back at me with a small smile and spoke in English.

"Yes. I lost my mother's necklace at a party the other day. Well, more accurately, I was wearing it when I entered and I didn't have it when I woke up at home the next morning."

Her grasp of English was perfect. So perfect, in fact, the details almost skipped right past me like the wind through a clenching fist. "Sounds like you got pretty drunk," I smirked. "Are you sure you didn't just sell it?"

The Dame and Friend spoke in their language again, and then the former looked me in the eyes. "Detective," she said in a voice of authority. "My friend is upset at the loss of her necklace. Please refrain from making jokes at her expense."

My gaze slid back over to Friend and, sure enough, there were tears threatening to fall from her eyes. Great. The last thing I needed was another sobbing woman in my office. "I'm sorry, ma'am. I'll find your necklace. What's your name?"

Friend looked back to Dame, who said a single word in their mystery language. Whatever it was, it caused Friend to bark a short laugh before turning back to me. "Faith."

"Faith?" Such a stereotypical name. If I had a nickel for every Faith or Hope that came in from the scum-filled streets of the city to visit I'd be a rich enough woman to not be here to greet them. The two broads shared another laugh. My eyebrow twitched. "What's so amusing?" I demanded.

"Detective," Dame said, ignoring my question. "I think you should offer your guests some coffee. It's professional courtesy."

I bristled behind my desk. What was I, some kind of maidservant? I was a fucking detective, not a barista. Still... It was only polite, and Faith did seem pretty upset, despite her unusual fits of laughter. "All right, all right. You two sit tight. I'll be right back."

I grabbed my tan coat from the rack and walked past the women, shooting them a suspicious glare as I went into the corridor. The building's kitchen wasn't far; they couldn't get in too much trouble. But something was off, and I would find out what.

*****

""Faith'? Seriously?" Danielle laughed, batting Ashleigh's arm. "I have to go by that from now on?"

"You don't have to do anything, Faith," Ashleigh grinned, leaning back and crossing her legs. She fingered the stitching of her jeans along her thigh, a habit she had long stopped being aware of. Danielle watched her finger for a few moments before laughing again.

"So, you just called me over to show off your pet project, then?"

"Don't act like it's not hot. And funny." Ashleigh smirked. "It's too much fun fucking with Liz's head."

"I'll bet. So I take it she thinks she's like, some noir detective, then?" Danielle's grin widened. "Does she think that pink bathrobe was a leather coat or something?"

Ashleigh laughed. "I'd imagine so. She's very creative. I didn't actually tell her that much... Just 'you are the protagonist of a noir detective story' and that she wouldn't understand anything not directed at her."

Danielle nodded, musing over it for a moment before her smirk returned. "Noir badass with pigtails." Ashleigh giggled.

"I didn't make her do that, she just decided to try them today."

"Pretty sure this breaks some kind of ethics code," Danielle teased her friend.

"Psh, ethics. She enjoys it, that's the only ethical relevant consideration. Psychology's a tough course, why not have some fun with it on the way?" Ashleigh smiled and looked over at the lollipop her roommate had been smoking. "Besides, it helps her with her writing."

"I guess." Danielle smiled, then turned as the door opened again. Liz walked back into the room with two cups of coffee. She handed them both to Ashleigh and shrugged the bathrobe off, tossing it back on the coatrack with an out-of-pace scowl.

"There's your coffee, ladies," she grumbled. Danielle and Ashleigh's grins widened at the girl's attempted gruff tone.

"She's so cute," Danielle whispered. Ashleigh nodded.

"The two women were talking to each other again, as if I wasn't in the room," Liz said in the same almost gruff voice as she walked back to the dining table. "I hadn't been able to place their accents yet, but the fact both spoke perfect English to me had my finely-honed senses on full alert. I was sure they were up to something."

Danielle giggled as she lifted the coffee cup and took a sip. Ashleigh beamed her roommate a smile.

"The Dame shot me another knowing smile. I wasn't sure what was behind it; confidence? Arrogance? Attraction? I couldn't say, but under the frustration it triggered in me was an undeniable sense of desire. Surely she knew how attractive she was."

"Oooh," Danielle whispered. Ashleigh grinned at her momentarily.

"Detective, forgive me for asking, but do you find me attractive?"

Liz froze, lollipop halfway to her lips and her free hand miming holding a lighter. "My heart pounded in my chest. Could she read my thoughts after all? It was impossible, and yet... was I just bad at hiding my feelings? The Dame could read me like a damn book. I had to be careful."

"Yeah, good luck with that," Ashleigh mumbled out the side of her mouth as Danielle giggled.

Liz continued, flicking her thumb and sucking on the end of the lollipop, blowing out the air. "I didn't know what to make of the Dame. Everything had felt off since her arrival. Ever since she sashayed her way into my life like a hurricane in heels -"

Danielle coughed into her cup, coffee splashing her face. "Hurricane in heels!" She broke into laughter, wiping the coffee from her cheeks with her free hand.

"What's going on?" Liz demanded. "What's wrong with Faith?"

"Detective, Faith is just very emotional. She's just crying over the loss of her mother's necklace." Ashleigh made a show of embracing her friend. "You're messing with her world view, Danni..."

Liz sighed. "Another crying client in my office. It always tugged at my heartstrings. Work in the city always felt like it beat the humanity out of you, but seeing a girl cry always woke something in me." She rounded the table, approaching and kneeling before Danielle and wiping the girl's face with a napkin. "I promise I'll find your missing necklace, Faith."

The look of sincerity on Liz's face as she took the coffee-stained napkin back and tucked it into her pocket made Danielle collapse harder into her fit of giggles.

"Okay, you know what?" Ashleigh smiled. "I think we leave it there. End of chapter, Lizzie." She clapped her hands twice.

Liz blinked, confusion in her eyes as she took in the scene. Danielle giggling on the chair in front of her, coffee dripping down one hand onto the floor, her roommate sitting next to her with a grin... With a start, she yanked the lollipop out from the corner of her mouth and gagged. "Ew, lemon? I hate lemon! Why am I eating lemon?" She demanded, turning to Ashleigh.

"I dunno, babe, I think it was the last one left. It makes sense." Ash smiled.

"It makes sense," Liz agreed, reluctantly licking it and shivering. "Yuck. What happened to Dani?"

"Just a little accident. She's fine, aren't you Dani?"

Danielle nodded, waving Liz's concern off with another giggle.

Ashleigh stood. "Look, Liz, I'll take care of Dani. Why don't you go do some writing?"

Liz's eyes lit up. "Ooh, could I? I've got an idea for a noir detective story I was hoping to work on," she gabbled.

"Go ahead and get on it," Ashleigh grinned. "I can't wait to read it."