Claire buried her face in her hands. Her whole body shook under the sobs. “You need to get yourself together,” Evan said. “The police will be here soon, and we still don’t have the story straight.” She turned to look at him. “Why are you accusing me?” “Because we’re both looking down the barrel of…
As soon as the door latch clicked closed, Evan rushed to the telephone. His fingers quickly and deftly circled the rotary until all the numbers were dialed. At the same time, he saw Claire trying to make a quick escape from the apartment. Evan grabbed her by the elbow and held on tight. He looked…
“Katherine, what are you doing here? This isn’t a good time.” Evan said, grabbing his wife by the elbow. “Who are your friends?” Katherine said, looking at all of the new faces gathered in her husband’s apartment. “It would take too long to explain.” It was then that Evan realized Katherine wore the pearl pendant…
“Now that that’s settled,” the stranger with the silver eye patch said, glaring his one good eye at Evan, “where is the pearl?” “Yes, I was just coming to that,” Evan said. “But first, I want to talk about the money.” “This again!” the stranger growled. “My patience is wearing more than a little thin,…
“It’s going to be very important we get our story straight, so when the police come calling, we’re not found out in moments.” Evan brushed his hands together and walked back over to his chair. “That was a good job you did laying out all those clues back at Claire’s apartment. Problem is the trail…
Evan stepped further into the room, his arm still around Claire’s shoulder. “Well, come in. Don’t mind me,” he said, his eyes bouncing off his three unexpected guests. “Take a load off. Mi casa es tu casa.” “I can tell that this serves as an adequate dwelling, Mr. Gold,” Eye Patch purred, “but home is…
Evan ran the four blocks south on Commercial until he reached the front door of The Walnut Grove Apartments. Before opening the door, he stopped and took a breath in the vain hope of composing himself and not raising suspicion. He nodded at the desk clerk as he hit the stairs and climbed up to…
The fog had changed from burned orange to ghostly white by the time Evan made his way back to the Agency. He lumbered past Sophie without so much as a hello and entered his inner office. Evan loosened his tie and rubbed his throbbing eyes and temples. A minute later, Sophie charged in, looking helpless….
Back out on the street, Evan noticed the unrelenting fog swirling around the streetlamps as they popped on one by one. He shook his head at this unexplained phenomenon and closed his eyes as the damage from the night before surged momentarily behind his eyes. Evan found the nearest payphone and called The Webster. He…
Evan entered his apartment and met Mrs. Logan on the steps. “Good morning,” Evan said and tipped his hat. Mrs. Logan stared at Evan’s bruised face with disapproval. “I assume the police were here to visit you the other night? I heard all the screaming and scuffling. It was like you were going to come…
