Into the Marrow by GW Allison

Author:GW Allison [Allison, GW]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Jankowski's Porsche was at SeaLand Properties. I parked next to it and had an impulse to ding his door when I got out of my car. I felt good about myself, and my entire mood was an impulse. Carl had given me some pieces to my puzzle rather easily, notwithstanding the whole murder vibe he had. He was an unwilling and ignorant participant in the bigger picture. General labor, no more. Either stupid or lucky—I bet a little of both—Carl was too dumb to ask the right questions, so therefore, he was also lucky. But Dan had never been stupid, nor had he ever been lucky.

Carl had put on a good show at the beginning, though, but that was just Carl fearing a big black man on his boat. I can be rather intimidating when I want to and even when I don’t want to. My size and how I carried myself went a long way as a cop and even helped as a private investigator. Isn’t much help shopping or standing around and minding my own business, though. Sometimes, you just want to be another face in the crowd, if you know what I mean. That is the good, the bad, and the ugly.

SeaLand Properties was a small office. When I walked into the closet reception area, I was already standing at the counter. A well-dressed twenty-something man in a white sport coat, pink shirt, and green bow tie sat behind the counter. He had one of those pencil-thin beards and mustaches that look more ridiculous every time I see somebody with one. His hair was black and had so much goop in it, he looked like he was wearing a helmet. He texted on his phone as I stood there waiting for an acknowledgment. I cleared my throat, and he looked up at me, assessed my attire, and smiled. I'd seen that smile before.

“Easy, honey. I'm taken.” The poor guy looked disappointed. “Mr. Jankowski in?”

“May I ask who's inquiring?”

“Inquiring? Yes, I’m Curtis Mayfield. I'm with United Insurers of America, the UIA. I'm sure you've heard of us. We specialize in tropical protection. We're throughout the Caribbean.”

“Then why don't you call yourselves United Insurers of the Caribbean?”

“I'll be sure to bring that up at the next meeting. I’m here about a claim filed by a former client of SeaLand Properties.”

White Coat rolled his eyes, stood, and sashayed down a short hallway to a back room. I was here against my better judgment, but I wanted to stick the knife in just a bit, let good old Petey know he could start living that paranoid life now.

I heard Jankowski say, “Who? All right, send him back.”

He didn't sound happy. I knew that was nothing compared to how he would feel once he saw me standing at his door.

White Coat sashayed back to his reception desk and sat down. He picked up his cell phone and began texting again.

“Well?” I asked.

“Oh, you can go back. Office on the right,” he said, without looking up at me.

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.