Oceans of Brass (Dapper Luoo Book 2) by John Triptych

Author:John Triptych [Triptych, John]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: private eye, philip marlowe, dasiell hammett, raymond chandler, chinese american, hard-boiled, Detective, james ellroy, walter mosely, ross macdonald, lew archer, maltese falcon, big sleep
Publisher: J Triptych Publishing
Published: 2021-08-30T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 27

I SAT IN THE MIDDLE of my own car’s backseat, wedged in between two tong associates who watched over me like little vultures. The derby hatted man sat in the front seat, and a fourth individual drove. Staying quiet, my eyes focused on the road, and I could tell we were headed northwest, past Downtown.

When we drove along a road bordering what looked like a reservoir at first glance, I realized we were now in the affluent Silver Lake district. The neighborhood houses were much larger, with walled lots that afforded more privacy than the generic open bungalows of the middle classes.

My car soon turned into a hilly incline, and the gate leading up to a large Spanish Colonial styled villa instantly gave me a sense of déjà vu. I was back in Edendale, at the exact same mansion where I had once gone undercover in as a bartender.

We stopped at the middle of the driveway, and I was escorted past the foyer and into the temple-like main hall by the derby hatted man.

The horseshoe shaped stairwell remained to greet me, but the once ubiquitous bronze statues of naked youths and satyrs were gone, replaced by lacquered wood paneling and cabinets. The Ming vases lining the walls were big enough for me to hide in and the hexagonal lanterns hanging from the high ceiling made the whole place a monstrous chimera of mismatched styles.

The derby hatted man pointed towards the long corridor beneath the main stairs. “That way.”

I figured out where he was going to lead me. Walking briskly, I strode past the entryway to my left until I got to the library room facing the back garden and turned right into it, throwing the door open and stepping inside before my escort could react.

The room I walked into now looked completely different. The shelves of books once lining three out of four walls were gone, having been replaced by kesi silk tapestries. A brand new Zenith Porthole television set sat in an alcove that was once adorned with old photographs.

The large ornate desk occupying the middle of the room still remained, and the all too familiar face of Clarence Chu sat behind it. He was busy reading from a newspaper when I suddenly barged in, looking up at me in complete surprise as a copy of the Times nearly flew out of his hands.

Derby Hat reacted quickly, and I was stopped in my tracks the moment I felt the keenly sharp edges of a knife blade along my throat. “One more step, and the servants will be mopping your blood from the floor,” he hissed.

Clarence Chu recovered quickly. He raised his hand and gestured at his enforcer to cease. “That’s enough, Sai. I’m sure Dapper here has no intentions of trying to attack me. He can’t be that foolish.”

With a sneer, the man named Sai withdrew his blade from my throat. “You try anything brash again, and you’ll be dead before your corpse is on the floor,” he whispered in my ear before backing up a few steps and then bowing to his master.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.