Death Sting by Bob Liter

Author:Bob Liter [Liter, Bob]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 1588731596
Published: 2019-12-28T22:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

It was my week for being summoned before the authorities. Now it was the mayor's turn. His secretary, Miss Suzette Simmons, called and asked, "Would it be convenient for you to come to the mayor's office this morning. Before eleven, please, because he'll be going to lunch after that."

"What does he want?"

"Oh, Mister Bancroft, I have no idea. He just asked me to call and see if you were available. Shall I tell him you'll be here?"

"Are you doing your nails as we talk or, maybe, plucking your eyebrows?"

"Whatever do you mean?"

"Nothing, forget it. Yes, I'll be there. I'm curious. I'll bet you do know what he wants. You know what's going on."

I had used this conspiratorial approach with her before when I was trying to get information. It didn't work then, and it didn't work this time either. The first time I saw Mayor Luke Ledbedder, I laughed. However, I soon learned he was not the joke I thought in spite of his bib overalls and red and white bandanna around his neck. He established an image and it got him elected. He kept the streets repaired, the garbage collected and, in spite of his cozy arrangement with his secretary – she drove a city-owned Mercury as if it were her own – voters re-elected him.

"You should see his secretary," I told Maggie as we talked during breakfast the next morning. "She is plump, to put it kindly, and she thinks she's oh so cute. Does nothing much all day but look at herself in a hand mirror. But she's no dummy. I've tried to pry information out of her. She keeps her mouth shut."

"Maybe she doesn't know anything. Is she as "plump" as the mayor?"

"No, he must weight close to three-hundred pounds. Still, she carries a good deal of weight. I've wondered how they join, if you know what I mean."

At the mayor's office Miss Simmons' pouty red lips parted in a smile. She apparently was pleased I had shown up.

"The mayor is on the phone. I'll tell him you're here as soon as he hangs up."

"Gosh, I hope I'm not in trouble. Hope I didn't break any laws. I was arrested by the sheriff, you know."

"Yes, I ... what I mean is ... I don't know why his honor wants to see you but I'm sure..."

Her voice trailed off. I sat down. She picked up a nail board and flicked it at the end of a pinkie. The mayor appeared in the doorway to his office. His expanse filled it and his stomach extended into the reception area.

"Come in, Mister Bancroft. I appreciate you taking time from your busy schedule. This won't take long."

His office was as lean as he was fat. It consisted of a cleared-off desk, his chair, a couple of visitor chairs, three file cabinets and a wooden floor. He often pointed out that he wasn't wasting taxpayers' money on fancy fixin's. And, as far as I had been able to tell, in my brief probes in the city's activities since he had been mayor, the city was run the same way.

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