A New Beginning...?
By: Athena

Part Seven:

Washington, DC Police HQ; Washington, DC; 1:30 PM

	A tall blond woman in glasses walked up to the information desk.
	"Can I help you, miss?" an aging officer in uniform asked.
	Carmen flashed her badge. "I'm with Acme Detective Agency, Interpol
called in some extra help from the locals here."
	"Extra help?"
	"Yes, with the murder case out at Mount Vernon. I was told to 
retrieve the police file on that, to aid in the investigation."
	"You can't take the file out, ma'am."
	"Then may I just look at it?"
	The officer shrugged and led Carmen down the hall to a storage room.
"It should be in here," he said gruffly, gesturing to the room.
	"Thanks." I think.
	Carmen looked at the room. Filing cabinets went up to the high celing
and papers were still strewn on the floor. How am I going to find it? Carmen
asked herself.
	She then noticed a man sitting in the far corner of the room, 
partially hidden by the filing cabinets.
	"Excuse me, sir."
	The man looked up and smiled at this pretty young woman who had 
entered his domain.
	"Can I help you?"
	"Yes, I'm trying to find the file from the murder case at Mount 
Vernon."
	The man did a double take. "I'm sorry, but that's classified. I can't
give that out to anyone."
	Carmen flashed her badge again. "I work for Acme Detective Agency. 
Interpol called some Acme agents in to help with the investigation."
	The man seemed relieved. "Well, why didn't you say so? I'll get that
file for you. Just wait right here."
	Even in her disguise, Carmen still felt uncomfortable, and she felt
very unnatural not having her fedora, but she'd be recognized if she wore it.
She had thrown it in a garbage can outside the costume shop where she bought
the wig and glasses.
	"Here you are, my dear!" the little man shouted as he handed Carmen
the file.
	"Excuse me, sir?"
	The man looked up. "Yes?"
	"Could you possibly get me a glass of water? It's so dry in here."
	"Of course, don't do anything while I'm gone."
	As soon as the door shut, Carmen took the file to the copier in the
room and made two copies of the file. She'd read it later, when she wasn't 
so pressed for time. Once done, Carmen laid the original file on the man's 
desk and left the room.


Washington, DC; 2:00 PM

	Zack and Ivy were in a cab following Carmen who-knew-where. Ivy 
clutched a bag from a costume store. 
	"Ivy, what is that?"
	"Something, I'd like to keep. Will you get off my back about it?"
	"Hey, sorry! What's gotten into you lately?"
	"Well, maybe the fact that a THEIF is going around with an Acme 
badge and posing as a detective!"
	"Sorry I asked...."
	Zack turned from his sister and looked out the window of the cab, 
watching the buildings and streets fly by.
	Sure that Zack's back was turned, Ivy once more checked the contents
of the bag to be sure they were safe. Cautiously, she opened the bag, inside
lay a brown fedora with the initials CS written on the inside of the brim.


The Plaza Hotel; New York City, New York; Two weeks later; 2:17 AM

	Carmen sat in her hotel room breifing the Cheif on the last weeks'
events.
	"I have reason to believe that this wasn't the result of a domestic
dispute after all. I can't tell you anything over open lines-"
	"I think you should stop this investigation." 
	"What? Cheif, I can't do that! I'm on the verge of a break-through!"
	"Carmen, I don't want to lose you. Besides I don't know how long 
Armando and I can hold up with Essie."
	"Armando? What about Zack and Ivy?"
	"They had a family emergancy. Come to think of it they've been gone 
for two weeks now. I hope it's nothing serious."
	Carmen nodded hoping the same thing. "Cheif, how is my daughter?"
	"Oh, Essie's been great. If you don't count the food she throws 
across the room at meals or the way she pulls at my wires...."	
	Carmen laughed, easily picturing Esmeralda doing all of those things.
"Cheif, what did you call her?"	
	"Essie? Yeah, it's a nickname for her. Besides I couldn't tell 
anybody her real name."
	"Essie...." Carmen smiled at a distant memory.
	"Carmen? Yoo-hoo. What are you thinking about?"
	"Just how good it feels to be back...."
	"You wouldn't have to leave, you know. You could stay on with Acme 
and-"
	"Cheif, no. I don't think that I was ever meant to be a detective,"
Carmen responded, her smile fading. Then she added quietly, "or a theif...."
	The Cheif looked at Carmen curiously, unable to decipher her cryptic
message. A Crimenet alert caught his attention.
	"Sorry, Carm, gotta go. Crimenet alert. Cheif out."	
	Carmen sat on the edge of the bed thinking. What IS my place in life?
she wondered.
	Quietly shaking the thought away, Carmen turned back to the police
file she'd "borrowed" from Washington, DC. She'd gone over it four times that
night, but she knew that she was still missing something.
	All the evidence in the police report pointed to her. Some of the 
evidence Carmen was positive had been planted. But why would a single person
go to such great lengths to frame her?
	Just that day, Carmen had spoken to a man who knew Vera Lockhart, the
murdered woman. He had said that Vera had kept pretty much to herself when
she found out she was going to have a baby. The man had said that Vera seemed
AFRAID to have a child.
	The next day, Carmen was scheduled to speak with Vera's co-workers 
at Fieldhouse Publishing Company. She hoped that they could shed some light 
on what had happened.

To be continued....