Murder in Manhattan: An utterly gripping Golden Age cozy murder mystery (A Lady Eleanor Swift Mystery Book 14) by Verity Bright

Author:Verity Bright [Bright, Verity]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781837905508
Publisher: Bookouture
Published: 2023-06-28T16:00:00+00:00

25

Eleanor was grateful it was Iver at the wheel of the taxi. In Clifford’s absence, Iver’s familiar world-weary face and monologue of never-ending opinions on every subject felt comfortingly grounding in this alien city. And, she had to admit, much as she wanted a companion to discuss what she’d learned about Wyatt, Gladstone was a lousy listener. Unless, that was, the conversation revolved around sausages.

‘Where on earth are we now?’ she called over the raucous din of blaring horns and yelling voices. She peered through the windscreen. ‘Oh, my! There’s more commotion in this one place than the rest of New York put together!’

‘Ha!’ Iver called over his shoulder. ‘Thought you ain’t been to Times Square yet, lady. So I brought ya this way round. No extra charge.’

‘I would never have suspected you of trying to overcharge, Iver,’ she said with a poker face that would have done Clifford proud. She stuck her head out of her window to take in the incredible spectacle. Far from being an actual square as she’d imagined, it struck her as the busiest and most disorganised intersection of roads she’d ever seen. Hordes of people shuffled between a sea of trolley buses, vans, cars, carts and horses in an area designed for not even half the number. From every inch of pavement, monolithic buildings towered up to the sky, many thirty or forty storeys. That many sported advertising boards at least four floors high she found staggering. Life in New York had done the impossible. Suddenly, it had become even busier, noisier and bigger!

Feeling her neck crick, she dragged her head back in. ‘Oh gracious, Iver! Just look how packed even the road itself is with pedestrians.’

She pointed at the jostling sea of men sporting pale-grey fedoras with wide, almost uniformly black bands. In contrast, the women wore a rainbow assortment of hats but were equally treating the road as if it were the pavement. Much to the irritation of the fist-waving drivers of the many taxis, horse-drawn wagons and overloaded open-topped double-decker buses all caught up in the jam.

‘Everyone’s headin’ for Broadway, ’course,’ Iver said. ‘Don’t you realise you’re almost in the heart of theatreland?’

She sat back. ‘Please take your time, Iver. I’m not due at Mr Wyatt’s place for a while yet and I’d like to do a little sightseeing as we drive.’

‘Like I got any say in that!’ He leaned out of his window and hollered pointlessly at the seething crowd, ‘Sidewalks are on the sides of the street and are for walking on! Clue’s in the name!’

Eleanor, however, was delighted their progress had been reduced to a crawl. Save for the choking vehicle fumes, that was. The extra time gave her the perfect chance to drink in every inch of Broadway, the very area which seemed to have become central to the investigation. Although how it might relate to Marty’s murder, she was at a loss.

Her hungry gaze was drawn to the seemingly only stationary person on a street corner.

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.