The two watchmen were still at the main gate when Thaddeus and Constance drove out of the compound. Neither man waved a hand or gave an acknowledgement gesture as Thaddeus drove out of the compound into the night; neither appeared to suspect anything. Constance gave him directions as they made their way along the lonely dark road that didn’t seem to end till they found themselves out on the turnpike heading towards the city. Neither said anything for a while. Constance rested her head on her arm with her elbow reclined against the window. The wind ravaged her hair and every now and then she lazily pushed locks of her hair from her face. It wasn’t until they got closer to the city that Thad figured it was time he got some answers.
“So,” he began, “are you going to tell me about it?”
She turned away from the window to look at him. There was a benign concerned look in her eyes that
It was past midnight on Green Street, located across from downtown Biloxi Avenue. The night time bars and Korean shops remained open with customers spewing in and out. The potholed streets were wet with grim as if it had rained all through the day in this neighbourhood. Thaddeus parked the car a block from the red brick apartment building where the actual John Elwood resided. The same building he had visited in the afternoon pretending to be a city councilman. He hadn’t had time to dig up enough information about the guy to figure out how his world came to cross that of the Loftus.They got out of the car and sauntered towards the building. Thad gripped Hilda’s .38 pistol in his jacket pocket, his eyes darted everywhere as they walked. Constance tried not to appear nervous as she walked beside him. Few people passed them on the street; hardly anyone bothered looking at them.They pushed pas
Past an hour later the scene outside the apartment building hadn’t calmed down; it was just as chaotic as when gunshots had shattered the quietude of the neighbourhood. Police vehicles cordoned the street from two blocks down while officers struggled to keep the curious crowd at bay. An ambulance had pulled in front of the building to cart away the corpse. John Elwood had been revived sporting a protruding bump on his head and as well a deep cut on his arm due to a struggle he’d had with the deceased butler. He too rode in the ambulance but not before getting a hug from Constance and a handshake from Thad and thanking them for arriving at the nick of time. A night crew press van was there too, not wanting to be excluded from the fanfare. They too added further unrest to the crowd of onlookers turning the neighbourhood into a bedlam of noise and movement. Thaddeus was detailing the night’s event to several plai
Four days later.Thaddeus was in his office in the afternoon perusing leftover paperwork that had for days gathered on his desk when Sarah stuck her head through his door and made a hissing noise. He looked up at her and mouthed, ‘what?’“There’s a lady here to see you,” she said then opened the door further for his guest to enter.Thaddeus dropped the papers he had in his hand and stood up as Constance strolled into his office. She looked smart and breath-taking in a snappy high-neck cream blouse and jacket with a skirt to match, with a handbag slung over her shoulder. Her blonde hair flowed behind her shoulders; its lustre matched the warmth of her smile as she approached his desk with cat-like grace. Thaddeus swallowed and tried not to blush as he felt a sudden stirring in his pants as she came round his desk to kiss him on his cheek.“I finally get to see what your office looks
Dark grey sky. Repeated groans of thunder interspersed with brief flashes of lightning rumbled from within its underbelly. A spatter of rain fell upon the world. Constance Loftus stood five feet away in solemn silence staring at the open grave that was her husband’s final resting place. She was dressed in black with a shawl over her face; her earnest driver stood behind her holding an umbrella to her head. Rain drops splattered all around them. The wind kicked up and ruffled their clothes.The ceremony had come to a quick end. Most of the invitees had their umbrellas open and sauntering steadily towards their parked vehicles. Not Constance though. She remained where she stood staring at the grave site. Her eyes gave off no tears but in her heart, she cried. In her heart, she mourned and cried. There lay her husband Emmett G. Loftus in his coffin. Sixty-one years old, dead of a cardiac
Thaddeus Black lounged backwards in his chair with his hands wedged behind his head and thought, “Fucking arrogant ass!” at the impetuous-looking man who sat across his desk wearing a pin-striped grey suit that looked like it had been cut from glass. From the moment the man entered his office having shaken hands and offering him a seat to him then opening his mouth and making a remark about the filthiness of his office, Thad had summarised just about everything he could about him, neither of which sounded pleasant. The man rambled on and on while his eyes darted about making surreptitious glances about his small office if he noticed a monster lurking about. At one time he unfurled a handkerchief out of his pocket to shield his nose. Thad knew the bastard couldn't wait to get done with dispatching whatever message had brought him here to deliver so he could flee from this dump. He could almost read the man’s thoughts well
Thaddeus had enough time to tidy up his desk and open back his windows then went into a small room situated down the corridor leading to his office which served as a urinary and a bathroom to clean himself off. Sarah went with him to wash her face and fix her hair as well reapply make-up on her lips. She inquired if this was his typical mode of searching out someone to do secretarial work for him and Thaddeus replied yes, it was. She said she couldn't wait to begin actual work for him.Thaddeus told her he would make requirements to fix her with a separate desk and chair. For the time being, he took a while to explain the nature of his business before then handing her several of his recent files and told her to index and square them away and to report for real work the following morning at seven. He gave her spare keys to the office as well as his cell phone number should she want to reach him anytime. He took down hers as wel
The limousine was idly waiting to drive Thaddeus back to the city though he instructed the driver to take him someplace else instead. His actual destination was Main City precinct situated on Maynard Avenue, the city’s head department which oversaw all felonies, crimes and misdemeanours that poured in from surrounding counties. He would have preferred visiting the Sheriff whom Constance had talked about regarding her son’s disappearance but he surmised that his presence there might set off an alarm by cops wondering what his business there might be. Hundreds of questions would fly once cops got wind of how much he knew about the lonely rich widow in their county and her missing son. Since beginning his foray as a private eye, Thaddeus Black had come to realise that the second thing despised by cops beside criminals was snooping private detectives; sometimes it usually overlapped whom they tend to hate the most. She wanted discr
There wasn’t anyone following him when he arrived at his work building. He had made few stops along the way to carefully look and hadn’t picked out anyone suspicious. For all he knew it was another jolly hot afternoon with people going about their business, cars honking their horns, music blasting out of open doorways . . . almost all the music he heard sounded Caribbean. Brothers owning the street corners glanced his way with bleary eyes, some clutching and sipping malt liquor in brown paper bags while others flung dice on the kerb, nothing to do besides hustle their way through life.Thaddeus listened to the noise coming from his shoes as he walked down the kerb. His clothes felt damp with sweat; he sighed with relief as he took a turn into B Street and saw his building across from him.He went inside and almost immediately the air felt different. He took the elevator instead of the stairs and knocked on his out