Top Suspense by Top Suspense Group

Author:Top Suspense Group
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: FICTION / Thrillers

The Jade Elephant was originally published in Bleak House Books' Expletive Deleted Anthology in 2008. In 2010 it was republished in Nice Girl Does Noir, Vol. 2. It has also been optioned for film. Libby Fischer Hellmann is the award-winning author of Set the Night on Fire, the Ellie Foreman series, and the Georgia Davis crime fiction series.

THE JADE ELEPHANT

By Libby Fischer Hellmann

Gus stared at the jade elephant in the window of the pawnshop, wondering if it could be his salvation. A soft translucent green, about ten inches tall, its trunk curled up in the air as if it was trumpeting the joy of existence. Charlieman, his fence, said that meant good luck. Charlieman was Chinese.

Gus folded his newspaper under his arm. Charlieman's pawnshop was pretty much the same as all the others. Tucked away in a building with an illegal gambling operation upstairs, it was a grim and dingy place. Faded yellow Chinese characters — who knew what they said? - covered the window. A shabby dragon sat above the door spitting imaginary fire.

Gus trudged down chalky cement blocks and pushed through the door of the restaurant. One of the few that hadn't fled to the suburbs, it had dim lights, but that wasn't all bad — at least you couldn't see the yellowed napkins and the stains on the tables.

Pete was in the second booth, slurping his soup. The only other customers were three Asian men at a back table. The Chamber of Commerce claimed Chinatown was bustling with commerce, but much of that commerce was conducted by dubious "businessmen" in alleys or street corners or greasy Chinese spoons like this. Rumor was the mayor had slated Chinatown for urban renewal. Then again, that was always the rumor.

Pete stopped slurping and looked up. "What kept you?"

"Traffic." Gus slid into the seat across, wondering why they still came here at all. Habit, he figured. Inertia.

His partner grunted and went back to his soup.

"How is it?"

"Like always."

A waiter came over and offered Gus a laminated plastic menu whose edges curled away from the page. Gus waved it away. "The usual, Chen."

"You want egg roll or soup?" he asked, rolling his "r's" so they sounded like "l's."

Gus pulled his coat more tightly around him. The December cold had seeped into his bones. "Soup."

Chen nodded and disappeared through a swinging door that squeaked when it flapped.

Pete looked over. "So?"

Gus leaned his elbows on the table. "It was benign."

Pete cracked a smile. "Attaboy!"

"I was lucky."

"It's all that clean living." Pete laughed. "What'd the doc say?"

Chen came out from the kitchen, carrying a steaming bowl of soup. He set it down in front of Gus.

"That it happens when you get old."

"Who's fucking old?" Pete sounded defiant.

"You're pushing sixty, and so am I," Gus said. "He said I could get another in a couple of years. With the stress and all."

"Stress causes tumors?"

Gus nodded. "Said I should take better care of myself. Build up my immune system."

"Eat your vegetables," Pete snorted.

"That's what he said."

Pete took a bite of his egg roll and chewed slowly.

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