My Kind of Town
Blind luck
>> 2002 Wilder
Doing exactly as she'd been instructed by HPD Detective Sherlock Gomes, Dr. Laurie Tang waited until she was in the elevator and going down to call the direct number he'd given her for HPD dispatch. But her cell wouldn't work in the elevator. She'd have to wait 15 floors.
Laurie was amazed that Sherlock had first noticed the curtains in her condo had been partially closed while they'd been up at the pool. Curtains were not the kind of thing most men paid attention to. Either Sherlock was a closet Martha Stewart freak or he had incredible powers of observation. She was betting on the latter.
The elevator seemed to stop every other floor, and when at last it reached the lobby Laurie dashed outside and nearly ran over the elderly Mr. Young, walking his weekly 20-year-old hooker to the door.
>> Upstairs in 1527, the sound of running water in the kitchen sink drew Salvatore Innuendo from the shadows of the guest bathroom. The clock was running too. Gomes would return in two minutes, max. Innuendo did not have time to wait for Dr. Tang to finish the dishes. She would have to die in her kitchen. Then it would be Gomes' turn.
Innuendo silently stepped to the edge of the doorway that opened into the living area. As the doc washed dishes, Innuendo would be coming at her from over her right shoulder. He crouched, knees and hips flexed, staying low, ready to pounce through the doorway, his modified 9mm HK P7 drawn. He would shoot as he moved, before she saw him.
>> Dangling a 5-foot beach towel tightly rolled into a rat-tail whip in his left hand, Gomes took a deep breath. He would aim as much for shock as for debilitating effect, at you-know-wheres, and follow with the Glock.
He drew his hand back, then quickly forward and flicked his wrist. The rat-tail sailed out, disappeared around the corner. Gomes snapped his wrist, heard the rat-tail crack like a bullwhip, and a man cry out in shock and pain a heartbeat before Gomes saw the barrel of a very large pistol pointing from around the corner.
Innuendo literally did not see it coming, even as the rat-tail hit him in the right eye and ripped through his soft contact lens into his cornea. The rebound hit his left eye, causing no permanent injury but enough to make it tear up so thick he couldn't see. The shock, the pain, the sudden blindness, Innuendo lost all sense of direction, then felt the wall. Blinking hard and wiping at the involuntary tears, he pointed the pistol at where it seemed the doctor should have been and fired twice.
Don Chapman is editor of MidWeek.
His serialized novel runs daily in the Star-Bulletin
with weekly summaries on Sunday.
He can be emailed at dchapman@midweek.com