Chapter 1 Miss Page I leaned back in my chair as the door slowly creaked open. In she stepped, swaying on her heels as the current rocked the boat. She was a small frail girl, not much meat on her, but her bare arms showed there was some strength under that soft smooth pale skin. I motioned to the small camper chair with my hand, still holding my half smoked ciggerette. She sat down, fixing a stare on me with her deep blue eyes. Her face never twitched just stared into my eyes, like she expected to find all the answers to all her questions with in my soul if she stared hard enough. I finally broke the silence, unwillingly, I liked her searching look, made me think she might find something in there rather then the husk I think I am. "Miss Page, you have a job for me I'm told". The call had come through this afternoon at the bar were I pick up my calls, I told her to meet me at my houseboat. "Yes my good friend Miss Roxweell, tells me you're good, discreet, and trustworthy. I need that, I have.....a situation" It's true as a gumshoe I'm all those things, not much else, I can't solve a crime by studying a bank of pictures, gathering clues, or anything like that. But I'm loyal, trustworthy and can keep a secret. Might be all I have but it gets me work. I sat back, let her spill her guts to me, she didn't need me to interject now. She carried on with her staring and I met her gaze again, studying her face as she did mine. A delicate face strong with rich full lips, and the cutest little ears. Her strew blond hair cut short, I guessed to show those ears of. "An old friend of mine, has taken something of mine, I need it back, it's... how can I put it... its not valuable but it's very important to me". She struggled to get the words out, almost as if there was a weight pressing down on her. "Why do you need me then", I finally said breaking another perfectly posed silence. "Seems simple enough to me you ask your friend to give this thing back and that's it. You said it was old friend so what's the problem". "I can't" "Or won't?" "Both" "Fine I'll find what it is, if I can, $10 dollars a day, plus expenses, but there's one condition?". She sat there silent and motionless, like some sort of perfect statue. I almost wished she could stay that way forever so I could just gaze at her. Those eyes stared back so hard and deep like she was watching the latest Chaplin picture. "You tell me everything you know, you don't lie to me, you don't leave anything out, understand?" "Fine mister Morgan" "Call me Henry". "Fine mister morgan" I flicked my eyebrows up at her as she said that. What is it and who took it?". "It's a ring, a sapphire ring, White gold, a small one, it seems silly I know it not valuable, but it means the world to me" "And who?" "Juan" "Whose Juan"? " He was,......", again the pause, a flicker behind her eyes as she weighed up what I already knew. "He is....was my lover, he left a week ago, I had left the ring at his house. I went back there the day before last and he was gone". "Were does he live", she looked slightly lighter, like the effort of telling her tale had made her lighter. It should have as Miss.Page was married to one of the richest and by extension powerful men in Bay city. "Just past here near Sal Pinto on the drive at number 61, I went there, knocked but there was no answer. I looked in and the house was empty". "Apart from his name what else do you know of Juan" "Not much we met in a bar, one thing lead to another we saw each other on and off for a couple of months". She said this all calmly and casually as she drew on a ciggerate, she calmly told me she had been cheating on her husband for months. A husband who controlled most of the alcohol and gambling in this town, an elected official, a leader of the community, respectable and corrupt to the core able to have a man killed at the drop of a hat. I looked into those blue eyes stared at that face as she stared back into my eyes. This was all kinds of bad, a missing ring, a gangsters wife and a lost lover. This was going to end bad, it had hands off, back away all over it. But I looked at those eyes as they searched back into mine, how could I say no. "Miss. Page I'll get my hat, and I'll call you tomorrow".
This is the first part of a short story hope u like post ur feedback let me know what u think. A big and huge thanks to Rose for editing my crap spelling and bb for the title and all her support. Enjoy
Morgan you didn't think it would be that easy. My Oldsmobile purred its way along the coastal road, steadily eating up the miles til I arrived at Sal Pinto and Juans house. I cut the engine and walked up to the front door. As I did I felt that feeling in my guts, that cold hard feeling I get. Even as I knocked on the door I knew that Juan was dead. Of course there was no answer. It was 11pm and the moon was slight, I went back to the car and drove two blocks over and settled down waiting for the hour hand to move around to 3am, the witching hour. I grabbed my old burglars kit from the trunk and drove back around. I crept into the back garden and pushed the back door. I almost laughed out loud, it was unlocked, all that effort and endeavour and the back door was unlocked. I entered the room and stopped feeling so happy with myself. The smell hit me instantly. I clicked my pen light on and looked over the kitchen. There I guess was Juan, it was hard to tell his head was beaten so bad. Someone had gone over the kid with a baseball bat. His face was smashed to pieces his fingers cracked and twisted. I grabbed my hankie and put it to my mouth as I searched his pocket. A small paper square, I almost laughed again not this easy was it, no it was a strip of cocaine. The rest of his pockets were empty just a driving licence, showing a young debonair Latinion. "Cute kid," I said to juan as I looked over his face pre it's meeting with a heavy bat, I flicked the card into his lap. I slowly walked through the rest of the house getting my bearings and noticing that someone had already stripped the house clean. The place had been tossed from top to bottom even a couple of floor boards were ripped up. Shelves ripped clean, sofa cut open, there wasn't much in the house but what there was, was on the floor. That feeling in my stomach did a flip flop and I dived down on the floor as I heard a crack and the window break. The bullet lodged in the wooden wall panel just above my head. I looked around me the front door was in easy reach who ever my shooter was they were outside and to the right of the house. I heard a soft footstep, then another boom as they squeezed off another round. I crawled over the wooden floor catching my pants as I did, man I thought that's a silk wool mix. Just then another bullet slammed into the wall. Damn this for a game of soilders I thought to my self rather be alive with a ruined suit then a dead man with torn trousers legs, as i crawled faster tearing more material. I got to the passageway that lead to the door, got up and sprinted. I hit the door with all my weight and full force, it splintered open and I burst into the cold night air. There was another burst of gunfire, as the ground beneath me churned up. I dived into the front seet and fired the engine, as I did the side glass shattered and I swear I could feel the hot lead shot just past my nose. I got out of there quicker then Jesse Owens, I checked my mirrors there was nothing behind but a pale sorrowful moon and a black empty sky. Our boy Juan was dead beaten to a pulp with a baseball bat, beaten so bad his own mother wouldn't be able to recognise him. His place had been tossed and shredded. This damn ring meant a lot to our Miss. Page and obviously a lot to someone else. I pulled up to my house boat, thinking that my one lead was dead and I was lucky to get out with my head on my shoulders. This was going from bad to worse, little did I know it was about to go from worse to dead.
Chapter 3 Jenn I stepped into my office as I did her scent hit me, the mix of strawberries and honeysuckle. Then her eyes hit me her long black hair swept over one eye, just as her pearl handled 45 almost hit me as she put a slug into the wall next to me "Jenn you going to shot me or my boat." I said as I gave her a cocky look, I'd lost count of the bullets that had just missed my head tonight. "If I wanted you dead Morgan I'd have put it in your heart, if you still have one." "I think I do baby, it still beats if that's what you mean." "It's not now, sit down." I did as I was told, I always did what a dame told me to do, especially if she had a gun and especially if it was Jenn. She still looked good, too good. I remember I always thought she looked too good for me, I'm just a bum in a suit, I'm not saying I don't have my moments, but still truth be told I'm just a bum in a suit. She was something else, so feline, she moved with such a grace a pose, she carried that pretty head so well. Anywhere we went I always felt she was dancing on a stage the way she carried herself and me I was just a bum with two left feet trailing behind her. "Get off of the case Morgan." Her eyes looked me over. "You know I can't do that baby". "You can, you will and you must and you call me that again and I will shot you." "I can't you know that, I might be a lowlife bum in a cheap suit and a lousy attitude, but I can't back down, I got loyalty, not much else but I got that." "You stay on this andI can't protect you, you're on your own, and you never had any loyalty to me." "I understand." "I don't think you do Morgan." "Enlighten me." "This ring isn't supposed to be found Morgan, whatever misplaced loyalty you got to Page you need to drop it." "I can't ba.....Jenn." "This ring and Page are trouble, you know that, you know whose wife she is." "Yeah I know all that, and I know I got a job to do and I'm going to do it." "You always followed your trousers and not your head. What she promised you a better life to run away with you, you don't think she offered Juan all that. The womens poison, she give you a sob story and a look and that was it right?" "All it took was a look from you." "That was different that was the past and the past is gone Morgan." "I know that, I know I still wish it was the past." She looked at me, I mean really looked at me, I thought I could see her eyes water for an instant, but then it was gone. "Damn you Morgan, damn you for what you did, damn you for making me love you, damn you for everything." Her hand tightened on the trigger for a second. She looked away grabbed her purse and slipped the gun inside. "You're on your on Morgan, no help from me and if we cross paths again you're a dead man." She walked out the door leaving me with a bunch of memories and her scent. I remembered how I used to hold her in my arms at night how she would cry out in her sleep, and I would hold her tight to me til she stopped. I wanted to take away all her pain and hold it within me. If only she knew I killed myself the day when I broke her heart, killed myself and kept her alive.
Chapter 4 You ever dance with the devil? As I walked into Joes the morning light crept over the sea. I sat at the bar, O'neil glaced up at me, he knew instantly my mood. A good bar man is half psychic. He poured a Jack D, leaving the bottle and went back behind the bar as silent as the snow. I knocked one back the the heat from the liquor hitting me, quickly following it with another two. Before I knew it I had smoked a pack of Chesterfields and drank half a bottle. Hell of a way to start the day O'neil looked over at me and shouted something downstairs. Couple of minutes later he pushed over a plate of eggs and and ham. "You going to drink that much this early Morgan, you better eat." The other half of a good bar keep has to be a nursemaid. The case swelled around in my head as I slowly ate the eggs and ham. I had nothing now but a torn trouser leg and a smashed window. Juan the only lead, the last person with the ring would only be speaking to Saint Peter now. I chewed on the ham and stuck another Chesterfield in and took a long drag. As the sun raised it began to fill the old bar with a luminous shine. I slowly got to my feet a little unsteady. As I grabbed my cigs and hat O'neil pushed a black coffee in front of me, "Drink up Morgan." I made my way into town the sea breeze blowing softly on my skin, the sun warming me up. I started with the first pawn broker I found, it was a million to one shot, but if Juan was a dope head then maybe he sold the ring for a fix. The old man behind the counter must have smelt law or something on me as he gave me the fish eye from behind the counter and stood motionless. "You had any rings sold to you past couple of days ago by a mexican male, named Juan". I got a cold hard stare and a shake of the head. "You had any sapphire rings in recently?," another shake of the head. "Has anyone been in asking about any sapphire rings," another shake of the head. "You don't talk much do u pap's", another shake of the head. "Pap's anyone ever tell you not to dance with the devil, cause a dance with the devil can last forever", another shake of the head. "Well now someone has, see you later old timer." I made my way across the whole damn town one jewellers or pawnbrokers at a time. One silent head shake after another. It was dark and cold now the sea breeze begain to bite, my feet hurt and my stomach growled as I traipsed back to O'neils. He brought me a mug of hot coffee and a plate of mackerals and potatoes which I devoured instantly. "Any luck Henry?" "Not a god damn sniff of what I need Joe." He gave me his broad smile. "Well I'm not sure what your looking for Henry but I tell you what you need", his red Irish face cracking into a grin. I knew what was coming or a deviation of it anyway. "What's that Joe.?" "Betty's opening up her club again sure you can get what you need there." "And what's that Joe?" I asked already knowing his answer "Laid", he said unable to contain his laughter now as he almost slapped the counter. This was Joes answer to everything, get laid. Money worries, get laid, family worries, get laid, problems at work, get laid, trouble getting laid, he'll get laid. "Joe one day I swear.......", I grabbed my hat and coat and got to my car, that Irish genius, I mumbled to my self as I started the engine, that god damned Irish genius.