Friday, August 5, 2016

Free Fiction: Runaway Bride Part Five (A Lenny Parker Serial) by Jochem Vandersteen

Hired by a young man to find out why his fiancee ran away roadie / PI Lenny Parker finds her quickly and sees her drive away with a big black man who turns out to be a pimp called Larry Thunder. For earlier episodes click here.

FIVE



Lenny managed to work out a plan with Casey. She had nothing to do that morning and offered her help. Like most of the others in the band she liked the excitement of helping a real PI with his work. Since Lenny was the closest to one they knew they chipped in every now and then when Lenny needed some help on a case.
Lenny had parked his car across the street from Larry Thunder’s place, a bungalow in the heart of Northpark. The neighborhood didn’t look like it had a lot pimps living there. Obviously, Larry was a very successful pimp.
Lenny was watching the bungalow from the car, using the powerful zoom lens of his Nikon. Casey was sitting next to him, eating a bag of Cheetos.
“I can see Larry is in there. Looks like he’s playing around with an iPad. No sign of Jill but it’s hard to look inside,” Lenny said.
“That’s where I come in, right?” Casey said.
“I’m not really sure if it’s such a good idea you suggested. Thunder is a really nasty guy, you know. And he’s got a history of hurting women. Also, I’m not sure he’s going to believe you in the role you want to play.”
“Trust me. I can take of myself and I’m probably a better actress than you think. For one, I’ve been pretending to be straight for the first sixteen years of my life with big success.”
She wiped her Cheetos-stained hands on my jeans and left the car. Lenny watched her walk over to the door to Thunder’s bungalow and ring the bell. It took a few minutes before the door was opened and Thunder appeared in the doorway. He was shirtless, his muscles impressive. A gold chain was around his neck. Lenny watched Casey do her act, playing the part of a beauty product saleswoman, asking for the lady of the house.
Thunder just shook his head. Casey brushed a hand through her hair and change her posture, sticking out her boobs, her shirt lifting just high enough to show her belly button. The full charm offensive. Lenny worried Thunder might want to put Casey into his stable so to speak.
After a brief conversation the door was shut and Casey was left alone on the doorstep. She walked back to the car and got in.
“Maybe you should have thought about bringing some samples or something to sell the act a little bit better,” Lenny suggested.
“Fuck that. He told me there were no ladies in his home. When I flirted with him a bit, suggesting he’d offer me a drink he didn’t blink. Guess he’s not straight either,” Casey said.
“I think he’s just used to seeing a lot of hot women, being a pimp and all. Don’t take it personally.”
Casey leaned back. “Right. So now what do we do?”
“I guess we wait. He has to leave the house sometime. We try and find Jill then,” Lenny said.
“Cool. Put on some Death Angel then,” Casey said.
“Sure,” Lenny said and fiddled with the buttons of the car stereo, looking for the right MP3.
“Lenny?” Casey said.
“Yeah, just a minute,” Lenny said, continuing to search through the playlist of his stereo.
“Lenny?”
“Yeah, yeah. Hang on.”
“LENNY!” Casey yelled.
“What?” Lenny said, slightly annoyed and looked up at Casey. Casey was pointing out the window.
Lenny looked out of the window and say Larry Thunder walk over, a big gun in his hand. Lenny knew it was a Desert Eagle from one of his favorite PS4 games.
“Shit! Shit!” Lenny said.
Thunder pointed the gun at the car and yelled at them. Lenny was pretty sure it was something like, “Get the fuck outta here.”
Maybe it wasn’t the smartest move to park in front of Thunder’s home in the same car he used when he first encountered the pimp. Lenny thought it best to follow Thunder’s advice and indeed got the fuck out of there, driving away with rubber burning.


Stealling the Countess (Rush McKenzie) by David Housewright

The McKenzie series I've been constantly enjoying for years now. Like clockwork there's a new book every year that may not be very surprising but very entertaining. I compare it to the first few Elvis Cole novels before Crais felt the need to experiment with different ways of telling the story.
Although a hardboiled detective novel there is a certain lighter mood to this series that makes it an enjoying read for all mystery fans.
Ex-cop McKenzie is rich enough to be able to spend time taking on some unofficial PI work. He is asked to find a stolen Stradivarius, a mission that takes him to a small time. There he meets semi-regular Heavenly, a Travis McGee like salvage consultant but with a more criminal bend who's got the same mission. She's becoming more interesting with every novel. Beautiful and smart, I wouldn't be surprised if she's going to star in a novel of her own soon as David Housewright seems to lover her so much as any man she meets.
The chemistry between Heavenly and McKenzie is fun to read, the mystery entertaining and McKenzie one of the most likable PI's out there right now.