The Nudger Dilemmas by Lutz John

Author:Lutz, John [Lutz, John]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Mystery & Crime
Publisher: Crossroad Press & Macabre Ink Digital
Published: 2012-06-28T16:00:00+00:00

The Thunder of Guilt

It didn't begin as anything unusual. The big guy, Arthur Leland, came into Nudger's office and hired him to follow his wife, Beatrice. Nudger got a lot of that kind of work; his seedy address seemed to attract it. Even if clients had plenty of money, like Leland, and lived in a good part of town, also like Leland, they seemed to think they should hire a private investigator they considered to be from the unwashed underside of life to follow an errant spouse. Dirty folks for dirty work.

Leland owned and managed a construction company specializing in commercial projects. There was real agony on his veiny, ruddy face as he told Nudger, "Bea is a good woman. She's had some strain lately. We're both forty-one, Nudger. She became pregnant six months ago and had an abortion. It went against her grain, and I guess I talked her into it. A week later our youngest child, Alice, was killed in an automobile crash. She was our last child at home. It . . . ruined both of us for a while. We didn't know what to do. The church didn't seem to help. I tried to talk Bea into professional counseling, but she wouldn't go. We suffered a lot. We came out of it different people."

"And now you think she's seeing another man," Nudger said. He picked up the pity in his voice and was embarrassed; he felt sorry for both the Lelands, with their dead child and their dead or dying marriage. He didn't like the idea of following the wife to some motel, where she'd meet a man, they'd have a few drinks in the lounge, and then rent a room at the four-hour rate. The prospect of watching and reporting that made Nudger feel like the cheap goods Leland probably thought he was.

"She goes out at odd hours during the day, doesn't tell anyone where she's going. And she lies to me at times; I know because the odometer on her car doesn't register the mileage it would if she was telling me the truth." Leland shifted his husky frame awkwardly. "I'm not looking for ammunition for a divorce, Nudger. I'm worried about Bea; I just want to know what's going on. I need to know, damn it!"

"And you will know," Nudger told him, trying to spike the man's anger with the old positive approach.

He thought Leland was going to snap the ballpoint pen in half when he signed a contract for Nudger's services. Leland's jaw muscles were working as if he were chewing raw leather, and when he leaned near, he smelled like desperation. It was tough, the tricks love played on some people.

The big man counted out the retainer in cash almost absently and left it on Nudger's desk, then buttoned his overcoat to the neck and left the office.

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