Back Story & the Fledgling — R.B. Pahl

This is the first of the Tracy Cunningham, PI series. It is a compilation of two books. In Back Story, Tracy's life as a youngster is revealed and followed through becoming a young adult. We discover the passages in her life that influenced her decisions. We see her begin to mature into the character we meet in Fledgling. Fledgling is the first full-length book in the Tracy Cunningham P.I. series. It opens where Back Story ends. Tracy Cunningham rents an office in a converted WWII warehouse in the industrial section of Sausalito. The only thing right about the office is the rent. She is working on a shoestring, and hasn't had a single client. Her cellphone rings. The caller is a male, and says he got her name from Tracy's former escort service, the Eden Connection (EC). Really mad, she slams the phone down, thinking, Sheese. It's not even noon yet! The phone rings again. When she answers, the man shouts to wait a sec, he's not calling to get laid, he can't find her office, and he wants to hire her. She agrees to meet him in a local touristy restaurant. Bradford, the client wants her to find Stephanie, his daughter, who left home two years ago when she was fifteen. When Tracy asks why he went to the EC, he says that his daughter was undoubtedly a hooker. How else could she earn money? And Nora told him one of her best gals was going on her own as a private detective. Tracy takes the job, and heads for the high school Stephanie attended before she left. Her class would be seniors now. There, she talks to the class counselor and discovers that Stephanie's boyfriend is still in school. He is called into the front office. He denies knowing where Stephanie is, and Tracy gets nowhere with the kid. He leaves the office, and Tracy trots to where she can see the parking lot. As he passes by Tracy, she ducks down in her car. As she does, a big school bus pulls alongside and double parks to load students. Once free, she can see which on-ramp Jerry takes. That's the last she sees of him. Discouraged, she decides to go talk to someone at the police department. The only person she knows there was an almost-boyfriend, she heads up to homicide to see Sergeant Greg Phillips. The conversation quickly turns to her past. Greg knows about Tracy's moon-lighting career. In defense, she tells him that she retired early, and is living on her bank account and a greasy hamburger a day. After a horrible day and night drinking, Tracy hits bottom. She takes time to re-organize her new lifestyle. She moves into a boarding house. She leaves her warehouse office, leaving a few paperbacks for the next guy. Next day, she tracks Jerry to an apartment house. She sees Stephanie in the lobby. When she meets her, Tracy changes allegiances. Too many things are not right. Why does Bradford want Stephanie back now? It's been two years since she walked out. How did she survive the streets? What is the real operation at the apartment house? Tracy and Steph hide out on an anchored tugboat. She contacts an attorney with offices nearby. While the lawyer is finding the local Mafia Consigliere, he asks Tracy to fill out a resume. Several facts come to light. Stephanie is really a mafia princess. Her mother has been missing for almost five years. Her grandmother committed suicide. Her most loved relative was her grandfather, who passed away three years ago. They head for the mountains, hopefully to find Angel Martucchi Bradford, Stephanie's mother. She may have information. They discover her skeleton under the family cabin in Pinecrest CA. They have evidence that she was killed within a month after she left. When Tracy finds out that Bradford shut off the utilities, things began to fall into place. In her new partner's office, before all parties, Tracy tells the group her story of what has happened. Tracy now must mollify Greg, who is P.O.d that she didn't follow his orders, and that she became associated with a law firm as their in-house investigator.