Conner and Andy Investigations: Origin Story

Conner and Andy are happy to be back investigating, it’s what they’re good at. It’s how they met.

Five years ago, Conner and Andy had separate private investigations. They didn’t know each other yet.

A man was driving down the road at night and he tried to turn on his car’s headlights. But they wouldn’t turn on. He took a wrong turn, drove off the road and into the lake. He tried to escape his car, but it was dark and he was running out of air. He pushed and pulled the door open, but it would not budge. He elbowed the window, it cracked and shattered open, but that just let more water in. He tried to swim out, but it was too late. He ran out of air.

Conner was hired by the man’s mother to investigate.

Andy was hired by the man’s father to investigate.

Conner drove to the site and parked his car on the side of the road.

A few minutes later, Andy parked his car and walked down the hill to the shore of the lake. He checked the water if he could see the car, but he couldn’t, it had sunk too deep. He called a tow truck and a deep-sea diver to pull it out.

Conner’s velcro-ed clothes detached to reveal swim trunks underneath. He jumped in and swam to the bottom. He took pictures with his waterproof camera.

But before he could get the last picture, the deep sea diver hooked the chain onto the car’s back bumper. Conner followed them.

Conner walks on land, “Hey, what’s the big idea? I was hired to investigate this death,” Conner says angrily.

“I’m Andy Dunn and I was hired to investigate this death. I have connections.”

“And I’m Conner Stone. I did all the work by myself and then you come in and call people to do your job.” He gets angrier.

Andy opens the passenger door of the car to find the dead body. His clothes were ripped and his body was wrinkled and red.

Andy handed Conner a towel and checked the dead body’s pants’ pocket. He found a driver’s license with the name Edward Colton.

“Well, we know his name. But how did all of this happen?” Andy asked.

“I was thinking someone might have done something to him or his car,” Conner conspired.

“I thought he might have done this to himself. We could work together,” Andy added.

“I work alone.”

“I mean, if we work together, we could solve this case faster and split the commission.”

“Okay, you have yourself a deal.”

They walked up the muddy hill and spotted a little blue house across the street.

“Let me do the talking, you’re all wet and dirty,” Andy said.

He crossed the street and knocked on the front door. He showed her his badge.“Hi ma’am, I’m Andy of Andy’s Private Investigations and I — we were wondering if you heard or saw anything a few nights ago.”

“I did, now that you mention it. I heard a screeching sound as if a car turned real hard. I looked out the window in the living room and couldn’t see since it was too dark. But I heard a loud splash. Why? What happened?” The woman asked.

“He drove off the road, fell into the lake, and drowned to death. Did you know him?” Andy showed her the license.

“Um, yes, Ed lived a few blocks from me, he was in my book club,” the woman, Deloris said.

“Do you know anything else about him?” Andy asked.

“I know he worked at the flower shop downtown, Floral Delights,” Deloris said.

“Thanks, what’s the address?”

“One Harold Street.”

Andy wrote down the address in his notepad and rushed off. He crossed the street to a waiting Conner.

“Did you get the info?” Conner asks.

“Got it! One Harold Street,” Andy replies.

“I’ll meet you there, I just have to change first.”

Conner arrived at the flower shop in another suit and walked into Andy already talking to the flower shop owner.

“What did you find out?” Conner asks Andy.

“Well-

“Who is this?” Clifford, the store owner asks.

“This is my partner, Conner, we work together.”

“What?”

Andy’s elbow bumps Conner in the side.

“Oh, yes.”

“Clifford was just telling me that Ed used to work in the flower shop during the week. He also said he was quiet and didn’t talk much, except to the customers about flowers.”

“He knew a great deal about botany, he even studied botany in college, or at least that what it said on his resume,” Clifford said.

“Which college did he go to?” Andy asked Clifford.

“I think it was Waterville University,” Clifford remembered

“Thank you,” Andy said.

“And come back, for your flower needs,” Clifford said.

Conner and Andy walked out of the flower shop.

“Looks like we have a couple of leads, Ed’s customers and his ex-classmates, Conner said.

“Looks like it, where should we start, partner?” Andy asked Conner as he put his arm around his back.

“I guess we should start with the customers. We could talk to the customers that walk into the flower shop,” Conner replied

“Good idea, we’ll start tomorrow,” Andy insisted.

Conner walked into the flower shop and interrogated a customer with questions like “Did you know Ed Colton, the guy who used to work here?”, “What was he like?”, or “Did you buy flowers from him?”

Andy walked in and found Conner pestering the customers. “You can’t ask all the customers you see questions. You have to ask one customer.”

“Oh, I knew that.”

An old woman entered the store and looked at some roses. She touched one of the thorns and bled.

Conner built up the confidence to talk to the old woman. “Excuse me, miss, did know you, Ed Colton?”

“Who wants to know?” she asked slyly and defensively.

“Conner, a private investigator,” he said as he shyly showed her his badge.

Andy walked over, “We just want to ask you a few questions about him. He died in a car accident.”

“Well, he worked as a volunteer at the retirement center where I used to live. He took me to this flower shop and gave me a bouquet of roses,” Cadence, the old woman and customer said.

“How sweet, did he do anything for you?” Conner asked.

“He helped me get out that retirement center by convincing my worried daughter. He said I was very independent and don’t really need to rely on volunteers and workers to help me, so he helped get an apartment,” Cadence explained.

“Wow, how noble and helpful of him to go out of his way,” Conner says.

“I know, if you want to talk to some of the employees at the center, there’s a senior prom there on Friday. I’m going to meet people,” Cadence recollects.

“We’ll be there,” Andy says.

Conner and Andy walk into the prom in their most dapper-looking suits. The senior citizens

stared at them, they look like a couple and they are young.

They walked up to a male employee pushing a wheelchair. Conner saw Cadence and waved at her.

Conner took a deep breath and said, “Pardon me, but did you know Ed Colton? He was a volunteer here.”

The old-timey music skipped and comes to a stop.

“He was awful, he kept taking seniors out of the center and putting them in apartments,” Denis, the male nurse said.

“Isn’t that good?” Andy asked Denis.

“No, I heard he did that to put all the seniors in one apartment building and raise their rents,” Denis replied.

“Oh no,” Andy says sarcastically.

“What? They don’t have jobs, they’d go bankrupt,” Denis said as he covered the old man in the wheelchair’s ears.

“Old people can’t hear,” Andy said.

Conner and Andy walked away into the shadows where the wallflowers sat.

“So, it might be him,” Andy said as he stares at Conner. “What’s wrong?”

“If never had a case this big, it’s stressing me out. So many suspects, so many avenues,” Conner replied.

“Hey, I’m here to help, we’ll get through this. I bet dancing will take your mind off this.”

“I don’t know.”

Andy grabbed Conner’s hand and pulled him to the dancefloor. A Dean Martin song switched to a slow song. Andy pulled Conner in close, so close they bumped their foreheads. The music stopped and they fell to the floor.

One of the female nurses ran over to help them, “Are you two okay?”

Conner grabbed Andy’s wrist to help him up.

“What happened?” Andy asked as he held his forehead in pain.

“All I remember is we were dancing and then bam! I guess we got too close,” Conner said, also as he held his forehead in pain.

“I guess so, what are we even doing here?”

Conner shook his head, “We were here to investigate the death of Ed Colton.”

“Oh, right.”

“Maybe we could keep investigating tomorrow after the swelling goes down.”

“Agreed.”

The next day, they investigated Ed’s house in the suburbs.

The door was ajar and it creaked as Conner pushed it open. “Hello? Anybody here?”

They walked through the living room and into the kitchen. They found a passed-out woman on the floor with a knife in her hand. Conner removed the knife from her hand and tried to shake her awake. He checked her pulse in her neck.

“She’s dead, this goes deeper than we thought. She must have been his wife,” Conner said.

“What do we do now?” Andy asked

“Now we have two murder victims. We have to find the killer before they kill someone else. We just have to find out who is doing this and why.”

Andy looks around for clues, he found a note on the kitchen counter. It read:

“Honey,

I’m going out tonight.

See you later.

-Ed

“Where was he going? A club? A bar?” Andy asks.

“I don’t know, let’s check his closet in the bedroom.”

They walked back through the living room and upstairs to the bedroom. Andy tried to open the closet, but it was locked. Conner checked the bedside drawer and found a key, he unlocked the closet. They found a box of wigs, dresses hanging, and high heels on the floor. Maybe it was his wife’s closet, but why would she keep it locked?

“Maybe, Ed is not who we think he is,” Conner suggests.

“What do you mean?” Andy asks.

Conner opens a box full of photographs.

“I mean — just as I thought- Ed was a drag queen,” Conner says.

“What does this mean?”

“It means one of his fans or one of the other royals might have killed him.”

They walk out of the house and return to their cars.

Conner follows Andy to a little place in the outskirts of Loverton. A place called the Galbro Bar.

They walked in and heard the announcer say, “And next is Calista with ‘It’s Raining Men’.”

Conner and Andy sat down for the show.

A man dressed in drag and an umbrella came on stage and lip-synched once the song started.

Conner walked over to the bar and asked the bartender if he could speak to the owner. He said he’d go get him. The song ended and Andy walked over to the bar.

“We’re private investigators, Conner and Andy and we’re investigating the death of Ed Colton. Did he work here?” Conner asked as he showed his badge.

“Nicki is dead?” A man at the bar said. “I loved them.” He stirred his straw in his glass.

“Nicki was the best thing to happen to this place. Everybody loved them, except for Clarise,” Bobby, the owner of the bar said.

“Why Clarise?” Andy asked.

“She always had the performance after them, so she had to beat or outperform their performance,” Bobby replied.

“Is she around today?” Andy asked.

“She’s next,” Bobby pointed to the stage.

“Up next, Clarise with her rendition of ‘I’m Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman’ by Britney Spears.

Conner and Andy watched the performance from the bar.

“She’s good,” Conner shouts over the performance.

“I know,” the bartender said.

“What?” Andy questioned.

The performance ended and Teddy, the bartender said. “That’s my husband.”

“Oh, why didn’t you tell us sooner?” Andy asked.

“I didn’t want to seem suspicious and look like I was in cahoots with her,” Teddy admitted.

“Well, you do now,” Conner said.

Teddy darted his eyes left to right.

Conner busted his way backstage and found Clarise, a drag queen with blonde hair and in a crop top and jeans.

“Clarise?”

“It’s Britney, bitch,” she replies in a somber voice.

“Britney? Britney who?”

“Britney Spears, you straights don’t know anything.”

“I’m gay, but okay,” Conner revealed about himself.

“Sorry, I didn’t know.”

“It’s fine, why do you sound so sad?”

“I heard about Nicki’s death.”

“I’m sorry for your loss,” Conner said as he walked away.

She couldn’t have killed them if she just found about their death. Or maybe she was faking it and lied right to my face. I don’t know, Conner thought.

He walked back to the bar. “I got nothing out of her, except that she just found out about Nicki’s

death.”

“I — ”

“Sorry, Andy, I didn’t mean to interrupt your conversation.”

“Welcome back,” Andy said sarcastically.

“Sorry, I — ”

“It’s fine, I was just asking Teddy, how he and Clarise met. He told me — well, you told it better.” Andy pointed to Teddy.

“Well-”

Years earlier and after another nervous failure of a performance, she ran past the bar and to the vanity mirror in the back. She cried and Teddy came to console her. She took off her wig and wiped her makeup away.

“What do you want?”

“I wanted to see if you’re okay, this happens every night, but you never run off and cry.”

“Why do you care?”

“I don’t usually watch every performer, but I watch you. You deserve better,” Teddy said as moved her chin toward him.

“And how do you know what’s best for me? I love being humiliated every night,” she said sarcastically.

“I don’t, but I do know you deserve better than this place. Switch it up, do something drastic with your life.”

“This place is all I got going for me. What else is there?”

“There’s so much, you could model or act.”

“You really think they’d hire me, a drag queen from Loverton?”

“Of course and if I were a talent agent, I’d hire you on the spot.”

“I don’t think they’d hire a man dressed as a woman.”

“You never know.”

“Come on, I’ll pour you a drink. It’s on the house.”

Clarise aka Thomas without a wig followed Teddy to the bar.

They talked as Thomas or Tom drank.

They talked over the next few years, but Thomas was afraid he’d lose Teddy if he left Galbro Bar. Clarise continued to work there.

Teddy cleaned the shot glasses with a wet cloth.

“So, why didn’t she leave?” Andy asks Teddy.

“I guess she wanted to stay for me. I’m her number one fan,” Teddy replies.

Conner and Andy leave after asking a few more questions.

Conner called Andy the next morning.

“I think it might be Clarise or Teddy or both of them,” Conner said.

“Me too, I don’t think Clarise had the moxie to do it on her own. But then who killed Ed’s wife?” Andy asked.

“I don’t know,” Conner hung up.

Conner returned to Ed’s house to look for more clues, alone.

Andy drove up to Ed’s house right after him.

Conner returned to the kitchen, while Andy went back to the bedroom.

Conner opened every cabinet and drawer and found silverware, plates, and glasses. He did notice in the drawer under the microwave, a spot for knives, but all the knives were gone. One was in Ed’s wife’s hand. The others must have been in the sink or the dishwasher. He checked the sink, nothing. He checked the dishwasher, nothing. All the knives must have gone somewhere, but where? he thought. He opened the fridge and found food and wrapped up leftovers. No knives. He heard footsteps coming from upstairs and he thought it was a squatter, a robber, or Ed himself. Maybe it was a relative or friend.

He stepped up the stairs and turned the corner. The bedroom door was open, he pushed it and it creaked. He saw Andy rummaging in Ed’s secret closet.

“Andy, you’re here.”

Andy turned around and said, “Yes, what are you doing here?”

“Looking for clues, same as you,” Conner replied.

“I just had a thought, maybe it was his wife who killed him. The guilt got to her and she killed herself.”

“Maybe, but where’s the evidence?”

“Let’s try the auto shop,” Conner said as he walked out of the room.

They smelled the scent of gasoline, motor oil, and burnt rubber. They crouched under the garage door.

“What are two doing in here? Do we have a car ready for you?” the mechanic asked in confusion.

“No, we’re Conner and Andy, we’re private investigators,” Conner said as he showed him his badge.

“So, you’re cops?”

“No.”

“Get out, we don’t want cops in here,” the mechanic said as he pushed them out. He pressed the button to open the garage door fully.

“Wait, we just wanted to know about Ed’s car!” Conner shouted.

The garage door closed.

“What do we do now? We’ve hit a dead end,” Andy asked Conner.

“Maybe there’s something we missed, at the crime scene in the lake,” Conner replied.

“But we already pulled out the car and the body.”

“There must be something at the bottom of that lake we missed.”

“What? Could there possibly be?!” Andy asked as he flailed his arms in the air in anger.

“I don’t know, let’s go back and find out,” Conner said, raising his tone.

“I’m getting sick of running around, looking for nothing. I’m done, you’re on your own,” Andy ran off and drove away.

Conner drove to the lake and put on a wet suit. The sun started to set, but he was determined to find something, anything. But he came up empty even with a waterproof flashlight attached to his head. He resurfaced and looked around with another flashlight. He found rocks and sand. He returned to his car, thoughtful and mad. Displeased with the situation.

What am I missing? I know his headlight wires were cut by either Thomas or Teddy or Denis from the retirement center or maybe it was one of the customers at the flower shop. No, they didn’t know him, or did they? Ed had a lot of aspects of his life, no one knew about, not even his wife. Maybe he was also a fisherman. Where was he coming from that night on his way home? The bar, work, volunteering, or some other fourth option? he thought on his drive home.

The next morning, he went back to the retirement home, the flower shop, and the bar. He asked each person, was Ed there that night? No, he only volunteered there a few days a week, not that night. He had worked at the flower shop in the morning. And he had the night off from drag since the bar was closed for repairs.

Andy couldn’t stop thinking about the case, so he used the internet to search him up. He found some addresses, phone numbers, and a photo of him fishing at a nearby river. It was geotagged in Desiration River, which is connected to Montague Lake.

Andy called Conner.

“Hey, I’m sorry for yelling at you yesterday, but I found something online.”

“What is it, an article about how you hate me?”

“No, what? It’s a post online from Ed that night, he was at Desiration River, fishing.”

“I thought he might be a fisherman, but you think he’d be handier.”

“Anyways, meet me at the river at six,” Andy said before he hung up.

The hands on Conner’s watch struck six and he got out of his car. Andy pulled up in his car.

“Let me handle this. Excuse me, gentlemen, I’m Conner, a private investigator, and this is my partner Andy. Did any of you know Ed Colton?”

“I heard Ed died,” one fisherman said.

“He did die, do you remember if he was here that night?”

“He was, he caught a few little fish and had to send them back, then he went home,” a younger fisherman said.

“I saw something that night. I’ve been keeping it a secret because I thought the police would pin the murder on me,” another young fisherman said.

“What did you see?” Andy asked him.

“I saw someone in the silhouettes of the night. A figure walked up to Ed’s classic car and slid under his car,” the young fisherman strung together in his memory.

“Do you remember anything else? Like what they looked like?” Andy asked.

“No, it was too dark, but it was still dusk. There was just enough light to make out the figure,” the young fisherman named Dale said.

They thanked the gentlemen and walked away.

“We should talk to his family members to see if he has any past enemies,” Conner said to Andy.

“Right, but which of his family members live nearby? How do we find out? Ed and his wife are dead,” Andy questioned.

“He must have an address book or something in his house.”

They left in their cars and went home for the night.

They returned to Ed’s house and after they re-searched the kitchen and searched the living room, they finally found an address book. Conner found Ed’s brother’s (Carl’s) address, he lives in Easton. A few towns over.

Conner called Carl with the number in the address book.

“You don’t know me, but I’m Conner and I’m investigating the death of Ed.”

“Go on.”

“Do you know if he had any enemies?”

“He had a few bullies in his school days, but no recent enemies. Wait, he did have a crazy ex-boyfriend.”

“How crazy?”

“He tried to kill Ed a few times.”

“Why?”

“Mark, Ed’s ex was obsessed with him, he needed to be with him every moment of the day. And when he couldn’t, he stalked him. He hid in the bushes of his house and watched him from the windows. When he saw him with a woman, his current wife, he tried to kill her. Then when he broke up with Mark, he tried to kill him.”

“That is crazy, do you know where Mark lives?”

“He lives in Loathe on Cherri St. It’s the red house.”

Conner hung up.

“We’re going to Loathe,” Conner said to Andy as he walked out of the house.

“Why?” Andy asked as he followed Conner.

“That’s where our last suspect lives.”

Conner drove to Loathe and Andy followed in his own car.

Conner knocked on Mark’s front door, but no one answered. He knocked a few more times, but

no answer. They walked around the house, the grass was wet from the rain. Conner found the backdoor was unlocked.

“Should we be doing this?” Andy asked Conner before he pushed the door open.

“We’ve got nothing to lose,” Conner replied.

They entered the house and found it empty. All the lights were off, dirty dishes were in the sink. A bowl of cereal sat on the round dining room table.

Conner dipped his finger in the milk-filled bowl, “It’s warm.”

Conner and Andy continued to walk around the house, everything was either untouched or left behind. The video game system on, the couch cushions on the floor, and the bathroom faucet on. It was almost about to overflow until Conner turned the handles to turn off the water.

Andy walked past the bedroom and heard footsteps above. He looked up and saw a pull cord hanging from the ceiling. “What is that?”

He called Conner over and showed him.

“It seems to be a pull cord to the attic. Let me get a ladder,” Conner said.

A few minutes later, Conner returned with a ladder from the shed. He opened the step ladder, stepped up it, and pulled the cord. It opened but a huge dresser was over the square entry hole. He tried to push the dresser out the way, but it was too heavy. He yelled to anyone in the attic, “Hello, is anyone up there? We just want to help.”

No one answered at first, but then Conner knocked on the bottom of the dresser. He heard footsteps run away to the far wall of the attic. “I know you’re up there. Just let us in.”

He heard the footsteps move toward him. “I’m not comin’ out, ya the cops here to arrest me.”

“No, we just want to talk. I’m Conner from — ”

“I ain’t talking to no one.”

“Mark?” Andy asked as he stepped onto the ladder.

“Ed, is that you? I thought I — ”

“No, this is Andy…I mean yes, this Ed.”

“What are you doing?” Conner whispered to Andy.

“You’ll see,” Andy whispered back. “Mark, if you move this dresser, I can help you out of this.”

“Out of what?” Mark asked.

“Out of this attic and out of the craziness,” Andy/Ed replied.

“You’re not Ed, Ed was distant but loving. He didn’t need anybody to help him and neither do I.”

“Everybody needs help sometimes and it’s okay to admit it,” Andy responded.

“I will never admit to anything,” Mark replied.

Conner whispers something into Andy’s ear to say to Mark.

“I know this must be hard for you, but I can help. We can talk it out. We can get through this.”

“That sounds like something Eddy might say.”

“Ed, if that’s you. I’m sorry for everything. For all the pain and misery I caused you. Will you ever forgive me?”

“Yes, if you move this dresser, so we can be closer.”

Andy hears the dresser’s feet pushed on the wooden floor above. The screeching sound echoes. He can see the light, coming through the square hole.

“Hey, you’re not Eddy!” The crazed curly and frizzy-haired man, Mark shouted in confusion. “Where are your uniforms, cops?”

“We’re not cops, we’re counselors, here to help you,” Conner lied.

“What, we’re not — -” Andy whispered.

“Follow my lead,” Conner whispered back.

“You tricked me, I thought Eddy had come back to life somehow.”

“Sorry, we had or you might not have talked to us, otherwise.”

Conner and Andy climbed up the steps of the ladder, crawled into the attic, and sat next to Mark.

“We know what happened,” Conner said.

“What do you know?” Mark asked as he looked at his hands.

“We know enough. We know what you did. You got rid of Ed, so you could stop thinking about him, but it didn’t help. You still think about him.”

“No, lies! I didn’t do anything to Ed, I loved Ed.”

“You said ‘loved’, do you still love him?”

“Or was it obsession over someone you couldn’t have?” Andy asked Mark.

“No, no!” Mark held himself into a ball and cried.

Andy went over to console him. “It’s okay, let it out.”

“When I first met him, I was in love. I saw him volunteering at the retirement center while I visited my grandmother,” he wiped away his tear and sniffled. “It felt like love at first. I went over to talk to him, but he was uninterested. So, I followed him until he noticed me.”

“Then what happened?”

“Then he called the police and put a restraining order on me. I didn’t see him again until a few days ago. I was driving through Loverton to go to the supermarket and then I saw him with his buddies fishing. I had to do something quick, so I pulled over and — -” Mark held his forehead in pain.

“What? What’s wrong?” Andy asked as he set a hand on Mark’s shoulder.

“I want to remember, but I can’t!” Mark screamed and stood up. He paced around in a circle while he talked to himself. “I can’t, but I must. It’s been festering inside my head for so long.”

“It’s okay, you can tell me. I won’t tell anyone,” Andy consoled.

Mark bashed his head against the wooden wall and blood dripped from his forehead.

“I cut the wires,” Marks said before he passed out.

Andy called emergency services.

The ambulance arrived and took him to the hospital.

A few weeks later, the police arrested him for the murder of Edward Colton and his wife after he confessed.

Conner and Andy split the commission.

Andy found Conner’s private investigation office and knocked on the door. “We make a pretty good team, want to work together, permanently?”

“What do you mean?” Conner asked.

“I mean, start our own private investigation company.”

“Sure,” Conner said as he pulled out his hand for a shake.

Andy went in for the shake.

And Conner and Andy Private Investigations began and so did all the adventures they would have.