Baby Girl Book 3: City by the Bay

By Elle Klass

Follow Cleo, who has once again changed her identity, this time to Shanna Nu, an orange moppy-headed homely girl, or so she tries to portray, as she travels to San Francisco seeking employment with the La Tige Detective Agency to search for answers. La Tige, a hard, sloppy man, lacking in social graces manages to worm a way right into her heart. Finally entering adulthood, Cleo realizes who she is inside, and through La Tige and a few other friends, she finds that true affection is forcing her to desperately pursue the answers to the mystery surrounding her birth and biological family. She manages to tie up a few loose ends while unraveling a few more.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Elle Klass
• Release date: Oct 15, 2014
• ISBN: 9781310304637

Elle Klass

Elle Klass is an award winning author. She currently lives in Florida with her family. To date she has written and published over sixteen books, in varying genre's including mystery, suspense, psychological thrillers, fantasy, sci-fi and contemporary fiction. When she's not writing she's spending time with family or friends, traveling, relaxing at home watching ghost and horror movies or listening to an audio book. To sign up for Elle's mailing list and get updates on new releases, events and giveaways: http://elleklass.weebly.com Subscribe on Patreon for access to exclusive material!  https://www.patreon.com/Elleklass

Book preview

City by the Bay

Baby Girl Book III

Copyright © 2014 by Elle Klass

Published at Smashwords

All rights reserved

Cover art created by Manuela Cardiga

Editor Terri Klaes Harper/ Dawn Lewis

Photographer – Cleo A.K.A. Shannu Nu

For more information go to https://elleklass.weebly.com

Blog: http://thetroubledoyster.blogspot.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ElleKlass

Author’s Disclaimer

This book is entirely fictional. Any characters or events are purely figments of the author’s imagination. Many city and business names are fictional as well. No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted or redistributed either in its entirety or in part without the author’s express written consent.

Dedication

I dedicate this book to the wonderful City of San Francisco, to my favorite NFL team the Forty Niners, and to Candlestick- it will always be an icon to me that defined the city.

Author’s Note to Readers

I make a lot of references to tasty large burritos in this story. I spent nineteen years of my life living in the San Francisco Bay Area and in that time completely took large tasty burritos for granted. I learned this when I moved to the Southeastern part of the U.S. Now I have a mission to locate the hugest most mouth-watering burritos I can. Outside of California they are truly difficult to find.

Table of Contents

Moonlighting in Paris Recap

About the Author

Excerpt from Bite the Big Apple Baby Girl Book IV

Journey to San Francisco with Cleo

Other Books by Elle Klass

Baby Girl Trailer

Elle’s Book Store

Moonlighting in Paris Recap

Moonlighting in Paris Cleo takes on a new identity Justine Holmes. She travels to Paris and meets Didier, a rich hotel owner. In no time the two become very close. She gains information on her mother’s disappearance and Einstein’s death. Instead of answers she finds mystery and people who want her dead. Didier unaware of her shaded past but well aware of her strange behavior hires a body guard, Sam, to keep an eye on her.

As her and Didier’s relationship peaks a new threat appears, a warning written in lipstick, while she’s working in Aruba. Justine doesn’t know whether the threat is tied to her past or something in her present. Aware of the threat, unaware of her past, Sam and Didier keep her close. Didier proposes to her, excited she accepts. During their engagement party her new pursuer takes the threat up a notch attempting her harm.

Justine takes matters into her own hands stalking her stalker. Her lack of discussing her past with Didier and stubborn independence lead to the accidental death of her stalker. The guilt hanging over her head and the mystery of her birth family lead her to make a heart wrenching decision. She leaves Didier the night before the wedding, sneaking out through her terrace window, and heads home to the U.S. to solve her own family mystery.

Answers

My challenge of the day was moving through Paris undetected. I rolled my hair into a bun and wore a floppy dark green hat with a short brim over it. To further my disguise I considered wearing heavy makeup, using bold chunks of color, but feared it would bring too much unwanted attention. I needed to blend, not stand out, so I settled for no makeup. I arrived at the airport and boarded the plane without one paparazzo chasing after me and snapping pictures. Security had been an ordeal when I showed the security agent my ID - he asked for an autograph. I leaned towards him and asked him to keep it quiet, then I signed my John Hancock, or rather Justine’s. On the second flight into the U.S. a fellow passenger of male persuasion shouted, Hey, you’re Justine Holmes. Thank my goodies most passengers were sleeping.

I looked him square in the eye and said, Nope, but thank you for the comparison. Baffled, he scrunched his brows and pinched his lips. I ignored him and he went away. The next forty-eight hours I attempted to stay hidden, with a book in front of my face, in the most vacated areas of the airport.

I purchased a last minute flight taking me from Paris to Berlin then to Chicago. When I landed in Chicago I wasted no time in changing my appearance and identity. I stopped at a twenty-four hour drug store and purchased blond hair coloring and strange glasses. The glasses had thin round gold frames with tinted lenses to dull my eye color. They looked like reading glasses, but the lenses lacked magnification.

I checked into a low budget motel using cash under an assumed name. I didn’t want to leave a trail. In my room I pulled an old pair of scissors I found during my dumpster diving days out of my backpack and cut my hair, which reached to my waist. After I finished chopping, it reached to the bottom of my neck, just above my shoulders. I brushed out my hair and turned my head upside down to cut leaving it with short layers. Next, I bleached it turning it an orangey yellow. I didn’t look like Justine anymore. Mission accomplished.

I sat on my bed plotting out my next move and contacted my friend James, hoping to gain yet another ID, and catch up on his and LulaBell’s lives. Luckily, he still lived in the motel, hiding out, using code I explained what I needed, he seemed to understand. Got it! See you in a few days sweetie.

I planned on paying him generously for his assistance. Happy with my appearance, I left. The next few days I spent weaving around the country on busses until I reached my location. It was strange being back where I lost my love Einstein. Fear and sadness welled up in my belly, but I needed to do this.

I knocked on James’ door, he opened it wide, placed his large hands on my shoulders and widened his eyes scanning me head to toe with intensity. Wow! You have changed. I saw your picture on a magazine one day and I thought, ‘I know that girl’. You’re stunning even with that tangerine hair.

It looks like a straw mop, but I don’t look like the girl on that magazine do I?

No, you do not! He maneuvered his head back and forth as if to emphasis No. I followed him inside the room. Justine’s disappearance is going to break many a young man’s heart, he said with a softness in his eyes. The crow’s feet around them deeper and a few more wrinkles graced his forehead, but he still looked like James. He was the only person alive who understood anything about my woes.

They will have to miss her. Where is LulaBell?

She is taking classes at the junior college. She should be home within the hour.

College? She is only a couple years younger than me, but I can’t imagine her as old enough to of graduated.

"Dual enrollment, highschool