The Newell Murder serialization begins again 2
“You can’t be serious, Dave,” he
heard Edwin Waters snap (a sure sign that vehemence was coming) behind him.
“Just what did we say? Short
legs, wasn’t it? You believe us now?” a voice he felt was Jay Fox’s said in the
joy of victory.
He was at the door with one foot
out when someone called his name after him. He turned and saw Al Burdett, art
critic, gesturing to him to wait as he came fast toward him.
He leaned on the wall and waited
for Al to catch up.
And when he had: “What’s it,
pal?”
“I need you, Dave,” Al answered.
“You got a story you wanna go catch?”
Lauren resumed walking. “Nope.
Just wanted to drop in at the precinct to see if anything’s cropped up.”
Al lit a cigarette. Camel Light.
He offered Lauren one but it was declined with “you know I don’t smoke in the
morning, Al.”
Al looked at him pitifully. “You
don’t know what you’re missing, man.”
Lauren just shrugged. He wondered
what one could miss by not smoking in the A.M period.
“Well, Dave, my car has a fault
and it’s in the garage and I got this important story to catch. Could you drop
me off?”
Lauren couldn’t refuse, even if
he had wanted to, because he knew when Al was calling in a favour and Al had
done plenty of that for him. “No problem,” he had to say. “Where do you want to
go to?”
Al kept pace with him. “The
Bolognese Gallery. Know the place?”
“Yeah. Who wouldn’t know a place
where the stars frequent?”
“Sure. On Sunset.” Al dragged
heavily on his cigarette and then blew out a plume of smoke that soon faded
from his vision into the atmosphere.
They reached Lauren’s car then, a
two-door Vauxhall Nova GTE 1.6i, red, bucket seats, blue leather upholstery.
They settled in its two front seats, Lauren behind the wheel.
He kicked the car alive and eased
it into the traffic. They were halfway to the gallery when Al said, “There’s
this honey from out of town coming to spend the weekend with me and I got to
drive her around, show her the famous studios, Bel Air, Beverly Hills, the J.
Paul Getty Museum and all those other tourist attractions that we really don’t
see as a big deal anymore but the out-of-towners do.”
Lauren could sense what was
coming. “Oh! Good for you … and her of course.”
“So I know you, and I know you
know what I’m driving at.”
Note: This is the second page of the Oseyiza Oogbodo book, The Newell Murder. More excerpts to
follow on this blog. Its weekly serialization began some weeks ago but began
again due to some hitches. It's also available on Amazon and many other stores
through the links below. Other Oogbodo books available on Amazon, Barnes &
Noble, Dang Dang and other stores are Short
Story Galore, and The Good Life,
with Dedication To The Ugly to be
available soon.
www.amazon.com/dp/B07DMNYVS8
www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07DMNYVS8
www.amazon.de/dp/B07DMNYVS8
www.amazon.fr/dp/B07DMNYVS8
www.amazon.it/dp/B07DMNYVS8
www.amazon.es/dp/B07DMNYVS8
www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B07DMNYVS8
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