Tall Dark Heart by Chris Krupa

Author:Chris Krupa
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Australia, murder mystery, crime thriller, private detective, hardboiled detective, high society
Publisher: Evolved Publishing LLC
Published: 2019-10-06T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 18

The constant back and forth between The Gong and Sydney started to take a toll. My shoulder ached from the wound, and the muscles surrounding it worked overtime to protect it. Chinatown restaurants held fish tanks overloaded with red emeralds and lobsters, and reminded me of my bucket list item: impressing a woman by selecting the biggest one, sharing it with her, then engaging in rambunctious sex.

Keep dreaming, Kowalski.

I almost missed my phone over the commotion of shoppers and tourists around me.

‘Matt, Evelyn.’ Her voice came in faint.

‘Evelyn. Hi.’

‘Can you hear me?’

‘I can only just hear you.’

I heard a rustle, then her voice came back strong. ‘Is this better?’

‘Yeah. Good. Better.’

‘Sorry. Jeff’s settled, and Caitlyn from the office is taking some pajamas and a book for him, so I’m getting a cab back into the city. Are you still around?’

‘I’m in Chinatown.’

‘Oh, okay.’

‘Look, I don’t know about you, but I could eat the crotch out of a horse. You hungry?’

‘I missed lunch because of the whole thing with Jeff.’

‘Well, I’m not too sure where to eat.’

‘I can show you a fantastic place in Chinatown,’ she continued. ‘Very cheap and very delicious. What do you say?’

Soon we were in a food hall eating chili flounder, a share plate of broccolini in oyster sauce, green curry beef with rice, and ice-cold beers on the side. We clinked bottles and Evelyn took a long pull.

‘Jeff’s fine,’ she said. ‘He looks like nothing’s happened to him. It’s unbelievable. Thank you for looking out for him. I mean it.’

I raised my bottle and winked. Despite the tired lines on her face, and the extra loose strands hanging out of her bun, she still looked great. Better than great.

She peeled some flesh off the flounder and ate it with some rice. ‘What did you think of my twisted sister and her Neanderthal husband?’

‘I thought they were very nice people.’

She laughed, and a little bit of fish flew out. We both ignored it.

I said, ‘Zara told me Tamsin visited her two weeks ago.’

‘Shit. I can only imagine how that went.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘The two haven’t been on talking terms for years. What happened?’

‘Hard to say. Zara said Tamsin showed up at six o’clock and went upstairs for a while. She was pleasant, and they talked. Zara said the conversation didn’t make any real impact. After an hour, Zara turned around and Tamsin was gone.’

‘That doesn’t make any sense. She’s bullshitting. They can’t stand to be in the same room together. There’s no way my sister would forget that.’

‘You think maybe Zara got worked up and kicked her out?’

‘I’d put money on it. They could bring the house down with their screaming, those two. Each of them always wanted to have the last word. Drove me insane.’

She took a pull on her beer and stopped mid-swig. ‘Why the hell would Tamsin go there in the first place?’

‘Get something off her chest? Or talk about something important.’

Evelyn went quiet and ate three forkfuls in quick succession.

I said, ‘You okay?’

‘Remind me to tell you later.

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.