Dana's First Case

Chapter 1

Her name was Dana. It wasn't the name her mother picked for her but instead a shortened version of her chosen name. She was born Jordana Elizabeth Gordon but that seemed too complicated for her, so she chose to go with just Dana. Something far simpler and just as difficult for bullies to pick on. She never really had problems in school, yet Dana took credit for that because she took measures to minimize attention, and shortening her name was one such tactic. She was good in school, doing enough to pave a way into college yet always didn't do too much to make her the envy of people who would attack out of jealousy. Dana preferred to fly under the radar when she was in high school, doing enough to get the attention of various universities but not those of people who would demean her. When people were out in the fields playing sports or mingling with friends, Dana was in the library sneaking bites of her lunch when the librarian wasn't looking. This was how she survived high school, but it was college that scared her even more.

Once she arrived, her fears of university life melted away as the campus she chose was quite friendly and allowed her to be herself more than she ever had before. She was free thinker, a person who needed more than just a person's word to believe their story. She demanded evidence, which would explain why she was also a hard skeptic. She stopped going to church a long, long time ago and was a pursuer of the sciences more than the arts as science was about truth where art was about fantasy. Dana was more interested in the way things were rather than the way people wanted them to be. Her mother wasn't a strong supporter as she thought college was only meant for women who were still looking for a good husband, where Dana wanted to find her way in life rather than a man to support her.

While it was practicality that made her want to be a nurse but it was her curiosity that always got her into trouble. Whenever she became bored with her current studies, Kat would often challenge her professors and refuse to do what all students were encouraged to do: regurgitate what they were told and not think for themselves. To Dana Gordon, this was not her idea of higher learning but a gross example systematic brainwashing. When she realized what a sham the university truly was, she dropped out and continued her studies for the price of a library card, which was much cheaper.

Dana never told her family that she dropped out and instead chose to lie and tell them she was doing well. This allowed her the freedom to do whatever she wanted and start to make her own life, which was the entire reason she had moved away to a distant university to begin with. She was always in search of answers and found many everyday at the library during her off time. She paid the bills by working at various shops, doing whatever she could to make ends meet. She wasn't afraid to work and despite the fact that her family was wealthy, she didn't want anything from them. To accept their money was to accept their will, their belief that she was inferior and incapable of doing her own thing. To Dana, accepting what they though of her was not an option. She was better than what they thought of her, better than what the world thought of her during this time of blatant sexism. She would do something that she liked and she didn't care what her family or the world had to say about it.

Dana's calling came to her one night when she was working at a local pub. She was serving drinks and flirting with the regulars for good tips when a man strolled in and took a seat at the table. He waited very patiently and Dana could tell by how he was dressed that he was in her presence for more than just a drink. While waiting for her, the man was looking around the bar. He was either scoping the place out or looking for someone who should be there.

"Good evening, sir." Dana said with a smile.

"Good evening, Miss." The man said as he took his hat off. "I'll take a pint of Brewsters please."

Dana could tell just by his good manners that he wasn't from this part of town. No one called her Ma'am unless they were well breed and educated. Something she rarely saw in her pub at least. "Of course." Dana replied as she left to fetch the man his drink. As she returned to the man at the bar with her drink, she smiled again.

"Do you need help with anything else?" She asked.

"What makes you think I need your help?" the man replied.

"Well, you are looking around the bar an awful lot." Dana answered. "You're not being very secretive about it, so that gives me the impression you're here to meet someone rather than follow them. I can also tell that you've never met this person before, this will be your first encounter."

"What tells you that?" the man said, curious to know more.

"You keep reading that piece of paper in your hand, which likely has the name of the person you're here to meet and a description of what they look like. The fact that you don't know what this person looks like is why you turn to the door every time it opens." Dana then pointed to the back. "You also scouted our place for possible exits so it tells me you're anticipating a quick departure after your meeting or the chance that the person you're here to meet doesn't want to talk to you and might run for the back door."

The man took a sip of his beer and smiled. "I guess you are more than just a pretty face."

"Most of us are." Dana chided back.

"Well since you work here and have an eye for detail, perhaps you can help me." The man said with a smile. "I am looking for someone, that much is true. This man is missing and I've been asked to bring him in."

"Like a bounty hunger?" Dana asked.

"Heavens, no." the man replied with a laugh. "I'm a private investigator and the person I'm looking for defrauded an insurance company. They've paid out a large sum for what they thought was an accidental death but there have been several reports of him being sighted in this part of town."

"So what are you supposed to do?" Dana asked.

"Find him and prove he's still alive." He answered. "Nothing too complex, just take his photo with this portable camera I have here and they'll rescind the payout and sue for the rest."

"That sounds very exciting." Dana confessed. "So what does this person look like?'

Dana spent half the night speaking to this man between serving drinks to other customers and she was inspired by the kind of work this man did. His name was Alexander Jenkins, originally from Cambridge and settled there after exploring the world and learning a great deal from other cultures. Dana enjoyed speaking with Mr. Jenkins because he was a wise man with knowledge that none of her professors could ever offer. What he knew came from a wealth of personal experience. When he spoke about Asia it wasn't from something he read in a book but from his experience over there, visiting monks in their temples and the people in the poorest slums. He had traveled the south pacific through Africa and South America before eventually settling back home to become a private investigator, a job that he had now been doing rather well for over twenty years.

To hear Mr. Jenkins detail his life as a private sleuth, it was nothing short of amazing. He wasn't the kind of guy who would sneak around to find out of a man was cheating on his wife, that kind of work was beneath him. Before he traveled the world, Mr. Jenkins used to be a police officer. He was a good cop, but years on the force made him increasingly frustrated with the politics that often interfered with their work. It was clear to Jenkins that the people above him being more concerned with their career rather than helping people.

Dana enjoyed speaking to Mr. Jenkins and was actually disappointed that she wasn't able to help him find the man he was looking for. Just in case the person he was looking for stopped in, he left a card for her with his number and address on it for her to call. She promised to call if she spotted the man which was appreciated by Mr. Jenkins as he left a sizable tip before leaving. When she was cleaning up the bar after closing, Dana realized that Jenkins had left more than a decent tip for her as she spotted the camera he brought with him was left on the bar. She was surprised someone hadn't stolen it but Jenkins had left close to closing so it wasn't sitting there very long. She took the camera and decided she would return it to the PI the next morning. It was on her way to visit the old man when something happened that would change her life forever.