Synopsis
Pine Valley had been invaded. Slowly and then not so slowly known and loved citizens had disappeared as newer and, more often than not, younger characters came on the scene and dominated one storyline after another. Nobody could explain the terrible change, although many had noticed it. It wasn't for Ratings. The Ratings were headed down the drain. Why were the Powers that Be intent on destroying the history of the most well-beloved town on Daytime TV? Why indeed? Zach Slater and Kendall Hart are hired by Person or Persons Unknown to solve the Mystery. Before it is too late. Note: This story was begun before the Janet Greene's Adventure in Quicksand storyline on AMC. It takes place after Greenlee has left but before Zendall has divorced. In it Kendall is not pregnant and the Casino never blows up.
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Chapter One – "Zendall"
Kendall Hart Slater stifled a yawn and settled her fashion-model slim body into a more comfortable pose on the couch. She looked not unlike a thoroughly beautiful, thoroughly bored cat. She was in fact beyond bored. High noon and the phone hadn't rung once that day. Or the day before. Or the day before that. Or really, EVER. The Kendall Hart/Zach Slater Detective Agency (or "Zendall" as their business cards read) was not exactly setting Pine Valley on fire. Briefly, Kendall surveyed their modest but comfortable office from her place on the comfortable but modest couch. Very Sam Spade, she thought. Curtainless widow complete with crooked blinds, shabby desk and chair, retro-styled telephone, two wooden high-backed chairs for clients if they ever had any clients, magazine-strewn coffee table and the couch upon which she was lounging. Everything in a shade of brown. If it weren't for the laptop computer on the coffee table in front of her, she would have thought she was on a 1930's movie set. A "B" movie at that.
For the thousandth time, Kendall wondered if cashing in her shares of Fusion and Zach selling his Casinos had been ill-advised, foolhardy and/or stupid. Maybe there wasn't room in Pine Valley for another Detective Agency. People were used to Tad and Aidan. People liked Tad and Aidan. True, Tad and Aidan had never actually solved a case. But they certainly knew how to banter, and that counted. But Hell! Zach could banter with the best of 'em. There had to be a better explanation for their apparent failure.
"Stop brooding, Kendall, it'll give you lines."
Kendall looked over at her One and Only, who was leaning back on his chair with his feet on the desk. Very Sam Spade. "And if I have lines on my face, you'll stop loving me?" she asked him as a point of information.
He shook his ruggedly handsome head. "How can I stop loving you?" he asked her innocently. "We're not in love, remember?"
She remembered. Not being in love with each other had been the terms of their marriage. Kendall had married Zach to protect herself from falling in love again, and Zach had married Kendall as a legal maneuver to keep his Casinos from being seized by his son.
"Well, that was certainly the Plan," Kendall thought now.
"We're in a Marriage of Convenience," Zach was continuing. "In name only. We're a business deal!"
Kendall laughed out loud. "WHAT business, Beloved? Haven't you noticed? Nobody's hired us! We're a Detective Agency in name only!"
Zach refused to see it Kendall's way. "It's only been six weeks. Zendall is new in town. Give us time, we'll get us a mystery to solve."
"Cockeyed optimist," Kendall scoffed.
He shrugged his ruggedly handsome shoulders. "What can I do? I'm just a glass-half-full kind of guy."
Kendall smiled in spite of herself. That was the thing about Zach. He could always make her smile. Even after Ryan came back from the dead and she suddenly, and inexplicably wasn't having his and Greenlee's baby anymore. That had been peculiar. She was right in the middle of a front-burner storyline and a surrogate pregnancy and poof both were gone. So was Greenlee for that matter. Greenlee's departure had knocked Kendall way off-balance. Once bitter enemies, they had become closer than close since Ryan's supposed death. So close that her Mother had thought they were lovers! Erica had been completely off base of course. But still, there was an undeniable void in Kendall's life since Greenlee left. Was that why Zach had been able to talk her so easily into starting a detective agency of all things?
"Cheer up, Lovely," he was urging her now. "The phone is bound to ring sooner or later."
The phone began to ring.
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Kendall and Zach running a detective agency? Who could ask for anything more! Return for Chapter Two, at which point the plot will begin to thicken! Your review would be appreciated!