Title: The Case of the Missing Detective

Author: Ticklesivory

Rating: T

Summary: The owner of the Quinn Detective Agency has gone missing. His partner, Ben Noble, is going to do everything he can to find out what happened to his employer and friend. What he uncovers is something he never even knew existed until now.

Warnings: None other than a little creepy stuff.

Characters: Ben Noble will be played by Obi-Wan Kenobi; Matthew Quinn played by Qui-Gon Jinn; Ami Berrie played by Padme Amidala; Mason Dunn played by Mace Windu; and Iris Archer played by Siri Tachi. Special guest appearance by Asajj Ventress who will play Asa Voss.

Disclaimer: Disney owns it all.

Note: This is the fourth AR Obidala mystery story I've written. I'm not sure how many will be part of this series, but when I run out of ideas, I'll let you know. ;)


Chapter One: "Road Trip"


When I opened my eyes to look upon a brand new day, at first I was disoriented and couldn't remember where I'd laid my head. Once I got rid of the cobwebs, I remembered.

Ami had allowed me to stay the night. With her. In her bed. We debated about it for a while, but I was really tired and she insisted I stay. No matter how difficult it became, no matter how I yearned to make love to her, we had both decided to wait. She needed to finish college first and didn't want to risk having a child at this time. Once on the subject, we stayed up late discussing the names of our future children. I was a traditionalist and therefore, picked out traditional names such a Sally and Jim. Ami, on the other hand, opted for more creative ones such as Raven and Dakota. I was willing to compromise but insisted whatever we chose had to go well with my last name. Just to be sure, I'd asked her if she intended on taking my last name once we had gotten married, and she informed me she had no problem with that.

The conversation in bed lasted only a short while. I was exhausted and fell asleep quickly. Actually, I think Ami was talking to me when I dozed off.

"I'm glad you're awake," Ami said happily as she entered the room. I hadn't even realized she had gotten up. "It's 7:30 and Iris has already dropped off her car. Here, I made you breakfast."

I stretched before sitting up and was handed a meal of scrambled eggs and toast. My first inclination was to reach for the coffee she was handing me. I took a careful gulp of the hot liquid and smiled.

"You shouldn't have gone to all this trouble! I would've gotten up and helped."

"I know you would have, but we have a long day ahead of us I think, and you needed a good night's rest. Who knows what tonight is going to be like."

She had reached over to brush my hair back off my forehead with her hand before leaning down to kiss me. "I'll start the shower for you once you're finished."

I just then took a good look at her. She had already showered and dressed and was ready for the day. "How early did you get up?" I asked before taking a large bite of egg.

"Pretty early. I've got a lot on my mind."

Half of the toast went into my mouth. We needed to get on the road. I knew we'd have plenty of time to talk on the way, but I wanted to listen to anything she had to say anytime she wanted to say it.

"I dreamed about Quinn," I told her. "I don't remember exactly what it was about, but there were these odd people surrounding him. They were dressed strangely and had paint on their faces."

"Like Indians?"

"I guess so." It sounded pretty funny once I tried to explain it, but I remember having a feeling of dread during the dream. It was far more frightening than comical.

"Maybe it's prophetic."

I couldn't tell whether Ami was being serious or teasing.

"You know, my great grandmother could interpret dreams. Do you own a cowboy hat? You already have a gun, so all you need is a hat and maybe some spurs. Oh, and a horse. A good western movie always involves horses."

I got it now. "Haha. You've been hanging around Iris too much."

She knew exactly what I meant and smiled. "Hurry and get dressed. I'll be in the kitchen cleaning up." With a quick kiss, she left me alone with the rest of my breakfast. I finished quickly and hopped into the shower. I didn't have my razor though or a toothbrush and I didn't feel comfortable using hers. I'd have to skip shaving this morning and used my finger to clean my teeth.

However, when I stepped out into the bedroom with a towel around my waist, I found all the necessary items on the bed, along with a clean suit. How?

There would be time for questions later and I finished my morning rituals, dressed, and packed the items into my overstuffed duffel that was also lying on the bed.

"How did you have time to go to my place and pack all this?" I asked once I met Ami in the kitchen.

"It was Iris. Did you know she has a key to your apartment?"

"No," I answered, although it didn't surprise me. The girl was nefarious.

"She packed everything she thought you'd need for the trip just in case we had to spend the night there. By the way, where is 'there'? Where exactly are we going?"

Ami was the opposite of Iris. She wasn't conniving or quarrelsome, but decent and kind, gentle and honest. Characteristics I wasn't sure existed in the world any longer. It was nice to know they did.

"The number Iris gave me belongs to a coastal town called Fort Bracken."

"But that's not where Mr. Quinn told us he was going."

"I know. It's another twenty miles down the coastline."

We quickly gathered our things and locked Ami's door, took the stairs down to the street, and loaded everything into the car.

Once inside, Ami took out a map from the glove department while I started the engine and put it in gear. Iris' vehicle was too small for my taste, but she claimed it got excellent gas mileage. Once we got on the road, we would see. I wasn't sure she had taken it anywhere outside the city before.

"If we take highway 60 and then get off on exit 41, we should be able to make it to Fort Bracken in three hours."

I mulled over what Ami had said and then subtracted some time based on my bad habit of exceeding the speed limit.

"We should be able to do better than that."

"Ben Noble, don't be taking any shortcuts or side trips. We don't have time for that. And we can't afford a speeding ticket! I'm truly worried about Mr. Quinn. He should've at least called one more time."

"Maybe he's having too much fun to think about all us troublemakers back home." For once, I was the one being optimistic.

"Maybe."

When I glanced over at Ami, I could tell we were both thinking the same thing but were too afraid to admit it. Quinn was in trouble and we needed to get to Fort Bracken as quickly as possible.