The Contract: A Lou Fleener Mystery by Duane Lindsay

Author:Duane Lindsay [Lindsay, Duane]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-12-05T16:00:00+00:00

32

The old Con Ed building in Danbury, Connecticut, near the Bear Mountain Reservation, is harder to find than they expected. They stop at a pair of Sinclair Oil gas stations to buy gas and maps, but those only cover New York and take them as far as Croton Falls before giving up.

The stations, with large green dinosaur statues out front, are modern, with four pumps and no service bays. They sell chips and hot dogs and soda but can’t fix a leaking radiator.

The new interstate highways are under construction, but they’re not ready yet, and the local roads are thick with traffic on this hot summer day. The drive has already taken four hours and a stop at a Texaco station, where a man in a brown uniform smiles and points and says, “You can’t miss it!”

Which isn’t true, because they do, somehow winding up at the reservation rather than the town. An Indian at a gift shop offers to sell them souvenir junk and Cassidy buys a jade necklace while Lou plays with an authentic Indian drum made in China. The Indian gives more directions, this time back the way they came, and they stumble into Danbury, tired, thirsty and frustrated.

It’s getting close to six by the time they finally find the Con Ed building. The sun is still hot, the day still bright, but the building itself seems perpetually gloomy. They sit in the shade of an old elm and sip Pepsi Cola in glass bottles dredged from an ice box at the last filling station, that one made as a bathroom stop.

“Depressing place, isn’t it?” says Cassidy.

“My father worked at a place like this,” says Thom. “Thirty years at a Ford plant, a dim, murky place. Loud machines, bad ventilation, no safety standards. When he got too old to work they fired him. Gave him a gold watch and a pat on the back.”

“Sounds grim,” says Lou.

“Not really. He got union benefits, they bought a small house in the new suburbs and he gardens. Loves flowers, drives a new Ford every couple of years. Never liked it that I drive Chevrolets.”

He smiles. “We had it pretty good, growing up. Mom stayed home with me and my sister, we took vacations every summer. Dad saved enough to put me through college.”

“You went to college?” says Cassidy, surprised. She doesn’t know many people who did that. “Did you graduate?”

“Of course. I have a degree in political science.”

“But you’re a private eye,” says Lou, equally surprised. “Why aren’t you working in an office somewhere?”

“Because I don’t want to. I like being on the streets, dispensing justice.”

“You’re an impressive guy, Thomas Braverman,” says Cassidy. She looks at Lou, and grins. “But I like you better.”

The old brick building stretches three long blocks, surrounded by a tall chain link fence. Inside the fence are piles of old electrical equipment, trucks on flat tires, wood pallets and debris. It looks likes it been deserted for years.

“There’s cars down on that end,” says Lou, pointing.

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.