The Irrepressible Peccadillo by Fletcher Flora

Author:Fletcher Flora
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: murder, mystery, crime, noir, detective
Publisher: Wildside Press LLC
Published: 2015-05-21T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 10

It was raining when I woke the next morning, the morning of Sunday, and it rained gently without stopping until about five o’clock in the afternoon, and in the meanwhile, between waking and five, it was a quiet and undemanding day that Sid and I spent pleasantly in various ways without intrusions. After the rain stopped, between five and six, we considered going out somewhere to get something to eat, but we decided that going out was something we didn’t particularly want to do, having had a pretty good time staying in, and so we found some cold chicken in the refrigerator, which we ate at the kitchen table with bread and butter and beer. It was clearing and cool outside after the rain, and we went out onto the back terrace before dark and sat there while darkness came, and the stars were out among what was left of the clouds. I went to sleep in my chair and woke up after ten, almost eleven, and Sid was asleep in her chair beside me. I woke her, and we went inside and had a drink and went to bed and to sleep after a while. What I’m trying to say is that it was a good day of its kind, and I was glad to have it to remember later, for the next one was bad.

It started out all right, a brisk walk to the office and Millie already there in a good humor with her bright head cocked like a woodpecker’s, and it stayed all right, if not exceptional, until mid-morning, which was about the time that Millie took a call from the county attorney, who wanted to talk to me. The county attorney’s name was Hector Caldwell. We were about the same age, and he had always been a friend of mine, which he was still, so far as I knew, but he was compelled in his professional capacity, as it turned out, to treat me in an unfriendly fashion. When Millie announced who it was wanted to talk to me, I took up the phone and said, “Hello, Hec,” and he said, “Hello, Gid,” and I said, “What can I do for you?” and he said, “I wonder if you could get over to my office right away,” and I said, “Well, I don’t think I can make it right away,” and he said, “I think maybe you’d better,” and I knew in an instant, although his voice was pleasant, that I damn well had no choice one way or the other. I did have the alternative of leaving town in a hurry, of course, but the alternative did not appeal to me, hurried or not, and so I left my office on the way to Hec’s and was almost to the hall when Millie stopped me.

“You be careful what you say to that Hector Caldwell,” she said.

“You’ve been listening on the extension again,” I said.

“Don’t admit anything,” she said.

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“I don’t trust that son of a bitch.

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