What hope do you have? he asked the man holding the sacrificial lambâit was spotless not a mark, virgin fleece white as god-damned snow. I know. Youâve heard it all
before.
It curled at the corners, pirate mapânot Where to pillage, loot, and rapeâ subscriptio, titulusâthose kinds of things (there may have been an exchange of old coins)âand ink, not blood, something darker, licked the pageâpitch or tar, acrid smoking a mile underneath the dead forest floor where things grew once, but not
ZdzisĹaw BeksiĹski was a Polish painter, photographer and sculptor, specializing in the field of dystopian surrealism. BeksiĹski did his paintings and drawings in what he called either a ‘Baroque’ or a ‘Gothic’ manner. His creations were made mainly in two periods.
Publisherâs Note
Books in the Gaslight Series
Introduction
It Is Not the Cold Which Makes Me Shiver by Charles Prepolec
The Cuckooâs Hour by Mark A. Latham
The Spirit of Death by David Stuart Davies
Father of the Man by Stephen Volk
The Strange Case of Dr. Sacker and Mr. Hope by James Lovegrove
The Ignoble Sportsmen by Josh Reynolds
The Strange Adventure of Mary Holder by Nancy Holder
The Lizard Lady of Pemberton Grange by Mark Morris
The Magic of Africa by Kevin P. Thornton
A Matter of Light by Angela Slatter
The Song of a Want b Lyndsay Faye
About the Editors
About the Cover Artist
Need something New to Read
Detail
Not Exactly a Ghost Story by Mary Louisa Molesworth
A Bristol Ghost Story by Alice Horlor
The American Ghost by Lucretia P Hale
The Ghostly Lady by Harriet Elizabeth Prescott Spofford
The Room with the Staircase by Mrs E Fitzmaurice
Miss Tweedâs Ghost Story by Sarah Doudney
A Night in a Haunted House by (Mattie) May Jordan
The White Priest by HÊlène Gingold
Grannieâs Ghost Story by Lucy Hardy
The Ghost of My Dead Friend by Wilhelmina Fitzclarence, Countess of Munster
Playing the Ghost by Mrs Edith E Cuthell
A Chestnutting Ghost by Margaret Barringer
The Phantom Ride by Lyllian Huntley
About the Book
Following the success of A Suggestion of Ghosts, British Fantasy Award-winning editor J.A. Mains presents a second all-female anthology of ghost stories written between 1876 and 1902. Mains has once again been trawling the archives to find another fifteen tales, fourteen of which have not been anthologised since their original publications.
Featuring cover art from multiple time British Fantasy Award-winner Les Edwards, and an introduction by Melissa Edmundson, AN OBSCURITY OF GHOSTS will be another important volume for those interested in the Victorian era of supernatural tales.
This hardback edition of AN OBSCURITY OF GHOSTS will be limited to 50 numbered copies, each signed by editor J.A. Mains and artist Les Edwards.
Click link following the list below to read the original post from HorrorDelve.com…
I’ve added below, beneath the story names and blurbs,, a link to where you can read the stories online–if they are in the public domain or available free to read elsewhere on the Internet. If not, I’ve added a link to where you purchase a book the has the story in it.
âThe Story of the Spaniards, Hammersmithâ by E. And H. Heron (1898) â Legendary occult detective Flaxman Low investigates a friendâs haunted house. The spectral entity seems to take an odd, amorphous form which attempts to suffocate people who sleep in one of its rooms. The house is called the Spaniards, and when Flaxman sleeps in its haunted room, he experiences the ghostâs attack first hand. You can listen to an excellent reading of this one over at the Hypnogoria podcast: http://hypnogoria.blogspot.com/2018/07/great-library-of-dreams-57-story-of.html
âLook Up There!â By H.R. Wakefield (1929) â While attempting to convalesce away from work on orders from his doctor due to mental stress, a man encounters a strange pair of men, one large and the other small. The small one keeps looking high up on the wall of any room heâs in, even though thereâs nothing there. He eventually learns the smaller manâs story of the time when he spent New Yearâs Eve at a house rumored to be the site of a terrible ghostly manifestation on that night every year. What he saw there has deeply scarred him ever since. This is another fantastic ghost story by Wakefield.
âThe Fly-By-Nightâ by R. Chetwynd-Hayes (1975) â A fatherâs adult daughter becomes attached to a strange, bat-like little creature their cat brings into the house. The father notices the creature seems to enjoy whenever he argues with his daughter. He tries to convince her to get rid of it, but she refuses leading to another big fight. The creature quickly grows larger and flies into the town where acts of violence skyrocket. This is a fun tale which introduces a unique monster.
âLonely Train AâCominâ by William F. Nolan (1981) â This story follows a rugged cowboy whoâs driven to discover what happened to his beloved younger sister who disappeared just after sending him a letter excitedly telling him about the old steam locomotive she was about to board on her way to the big city. No one else seems to have seen this train and no one uses steam powered engines anymore either. His investigations into the case leads him to discover a series of strange disappearances. Heâs able to determine when and where this mysterious train will appear again in its search for new prey and positions himself to ensure he can board it when it returns. This is a fantasticly creepy tale which would have made for a fun Night Gallery or Tales From the Darkside adaptation.
âMasksâ by Douglas E. Winter (1985) â At the funeral for his mother, a young boy insists that the body in the casket isnât really her but something masked to appear as her. After his father meets and marries someone new, the boy struggles with her demanding rules and the way she treats him. As Halloween night roles around, he finds himself confined to his room while his father is working late again and his brother is out trick-or-treating with friends, leaving only he and the new woman who insists he calls her Mom, in the house. When repeated knockings at the door go unanswered, he investigates, finding the house empty and no one at the door, but eventually he learns that something is indeed actually there.
âHappy Hourâ by Ian Watson (1990) â Two married couples meet with a beautiful but secretive woman named Alice at an old bar called The Roebuck every Friday night to share drinks and jokes with each other. The men of the group suspect Alice is something more than human â an ancient supernatural being, such as a fae, or a witch, or perhaps a lamia (a female spirit that preys on travelers), but she never uses her powers on them because she likes them. The group sits beneath a device in the ceiling called an Xtractall which activates to suck up cigarette smoke out of the air. It also isnât what it seems to be. In my opinion, this is a true masterpiece of horror. It starts off as a subtle, but intriguing exploration of ancient forces exerting their influence on a modern world that has largely forgotten them, but it quickly becomes a terrifying story with a truly horrific monster.
âTreatsâ by Norman Partridge (1990) â A mother lives in fear of her son whose eyes have gone black and who now leads an army of tiny creatures intent on carrying out an evil plan during Halloween night.
âHalloweâenâs Childâ by James Herbert (1991) â After struggling for years to have a child together, the day finally arrives when a man has been sent home from the hospital to await their call, as his wife is in labor, but the birth is still several hours away. Itâs late on Halloween night when he gets the call to head back for the delivery. On the frantic drive, he has a terrifying encounter on the road with a hideous goblinoid creature that threatens dire things to come to for him.
âHer Faceâ by Ramsey Campbell (2015) â A young boy is sent by his mother to help a woman named June whoâs taken over running her family store following the recent death of her mother. Itâs close to Halloween, so there are several creepy masks in the front window that sometimes appear to move of their own accord. June seems unnerved in the place and somewhat frightened to be left alone as she deals with not having her domineering mother to rule things anymore. This is a good, creepy Halloween tale that incorporates the inherent creepiness of masks.
âWhite Mareâ by Thana Niveau (2018) â After being forced to move from her hometown in America to a remote village in England for a few months with her father, Heather struggles to be accepted by the locals. She and her father, whoâs been raising her alone following the mysterious disappearance of her mother, are only going there for a few months to sell an old farmhouse full of antiques they inherited from a recently departed aunt. Heatherâs misgivings about the move are swiftly eased once she discovers the place has a beautiful horse with which she instantly falls in love. When she asks around about Halloween, she is mocked by the local kids and is told that what they have is very different than what sheâs used to, but that sheâll find out for herself soon enough. The arrival of Halloween night brings a terrifying horde to their door, where a bizarre ritual takes place. This is another great story with a superbly eerie play-on-words involved which I donât want to give away here.
Click on the original post’s link below to see links to other reading recommendation lists from HorrorDelve …
As the season of my favorite holiday rolls around again, another list of fitting suggested stories has been assembled for your enjoyment. Each of these tales captures the spirit of Halloween, even if some may not be set during it. The final two selections on this list can be found in the recent anthology The Mammoth Book of Halloween Stories edited by Stephen Jones ( The Mammoth Book of Halloween Stories ).
THE STORIES:
âThe Story of the Spaniards, Hammersmithâ by E. And H. Heron (1898) â Legendary occult detective Flaxman Low investigates a friendâs haunted house. The spectral entity seems to take an odd, amorphous form which attempts to suffocate people who sleep in one of its rooms. The house is called the Spaniards, and when Flaxman sleeps in its haunted room, he experiences the ghostâs attack first hand. You can listen to an excellent reading ofâŚ
Babadook
The Conjuring 1 and 2
Insidious 1-3
Delirium
The Pact
Pet Sematary
Children of the Corn
The Shining
Dead Zone
Poltergeist 1-3
Halloween Town High
The Brood
The Devilâs Candy
The Haunting (of Hill House)
Hell House (Roddy McDowell)
Fright Night original and remake
Wake Wood
The Wicker Man
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (Sutherland)
Letâs Scare Jessica to Death
The Watcher in the Woods (Betty Davis)
Burnt Offerings
The Reincarnation of Peter Proud
Julia (Mia Farrow)
The Changeling (George C Scott)
Witches of Eastwick
Escape to Witch Mountain
Hush
I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House
Where do you search for a guy who was never there to begin with?
Cover of the original hardback edition (Pinterest).
Iâve been wanting to read this for years. You should join me! I found the very affordable Kindle edition (link below) and decided itâs time. Hereâs a sample of the prose and some info on the book and the creepy 1987 film it inspired Starring Mickey Route, Lisa Bonet, and Robert DeNiro (as the Devil)…
Click thumbnails below to enlarge…
Following is a short writeup from toomuchhorrorfiction.com…
Hard-boiled crime writers like Dashiell Hammett, James M. Cain, and Raymond Chandler were vastly influential on a whole range of 20th century literature, except, I think, horror fiction. With their post-Hemingway style of terseness and understatement they seem to be the antithesis of horror writing. While these authors got their start in the pulp magazines of the pre-WWII era just like H.P. Lovecraft, it’s only been within the last 10 or 15 years that Lovecraft has been taken seriously by more mainstream academics, literary critics, and taste-makers, while those crime novelists have been lauded for decades.
The original hard cover edition from 1978. Finding a copy in good condition is quite rare today (Pinterest).
But I don’t think it was until Falling Angel (Fawcett Popular Library 1982 edition above) that the genres of hardboiled crime and horror met, thanks to author William Hjortsberg. He has said he came up with the idea when in high school, winning an award for a short story whose first lines were “Once upon a time, the devil hired a private detective.” Brilliant.
The Author William Hjortsberg, 1978.
Set in a wonderfully-depicted New York City 1959, Falling Angel is the story of hard-boozing private detective Harry Angel (“I always buy myself a drink after finding a body. It’s an old family custom”), hired by the mysterious Mr. Cyphre to find the missing ’40s crooner Johnny Favorite, a big band star very much like Sinatra. Horribly injured physically and psychologically while serving as an entertainer in the war, Johnny ends up in a VA hospital, but then disappears one night…
Inside the 1979 UK paperback edition. Artist unknown (toomuchhorrorfiction.com).
Angel tracks down Johnny’s former doctor, who then turns up dead; next Angel speaks to an old band member of Johnny’s, “Toots” Sweet (but of course) who tells him Johnny was mixed up in voodoo and the black arts, can you dig it, and crossed ethnic barriers no one dared cross in the 1940s when he became the lover of a voodoo priestess. Toots ends up dead too. Horribly dead. You get the picture. Angel ends up involved with the priestess’s daughter, Epiphany Proudfoot, a carnally-driven young woman who believes acrobatic sex is how we speak to the voodoo gods. Awesome.
The 1986 Warner Books paperback edition was a bit more frightening and less ânoirâ than earlier editions (toomuchhorrorfiction.com).
There’s more; much more. Falling Angel is, in a word, spectacular. It’s inventive while playing by the “rules” of detective fiction; it’s appropriately bloody and violent; its unholy climax in an abandoned subway station is effectively unsettling and graphic.
Click on thumbnails below to enlarge…
Original Cinema Quad Poster – Movie Film Posters
Hjortsberg knows his hard-boiled lingo and the New York of the time and makes it all believable. This is no humorous pastiche or parody; it’s a stunning crime novel bled through with visceral horrors of the most personal and, in the end, damning kind.
IT WAS FRIDAY THE THIRTEENTH and yesterdayâs snowstorm lingered in the streets like a leftover curse. The slush outside was ankle-deep. Across Seventh Avenue a treadmill parade of lightbulb headlines marched endlessly around Times Towerâs terra cotta façade: ⌠HAWAII IS VOTED INTO UNION AS 50TH STATE: HOUSE GRANTS FINAL APPROVAL, 232 TO 89; EISENHOWERâS SIGNATURE OF BILL ASSURED ⌠Hawaii, sweet land of pineapples and Haleloki; ukeleles strumming, sunshine and surf, grass skirts swaying in the tropical breeze.
I spun my chair around and stared out at Times Square. The Camels spectacular on the Claridge puffed fat steam smoke rings out over the snarling traffic. The dapper gentleman on the sign, mouth frozen in a round O of perpetual surprise, was Broadwayâs harbinger of spring. Earlier in the week, teams of scaffold-hung painters transformed the smokerâs dark winter homburg and chesterfield overcoat into seersucker and panama straw; not as poetic as the Capistrano swallows, but it got the message across. My building was built before the turn of the century; a four-story brick pile held together with soot and pigeon dung. An Easter bonnet of billboards flourished on the roof, advertising flights to Miami and various brands of beer. There was a cigar store on the corner, a Pokerino parlor, two hot dog stands, and the Rialto Theatre, mid-block. The entrance was tucked between a peep-show bookshop and a novelty place, show windows stacked with whoopee cushions and plaster dog turds.
My office was two flights up, in a line with Olgaâs Electrolysis, Teardrop Imports, Inc., and Ira Kipnis, C.P.A. Eight-inch gold letters gave me the edge over the others: CROSSROADS DETECTIVE AGENCY, a name I bought along with the business from Ernie Cavalero, who took me on as his legman back when I first hit the city during the war.
I was about to go out for coffee when the phone rang. âMr. Harry Angel?â a distant secretary trilled. âHerman Winesap of McIntosh, Winesap, and Spy calling.â
I grunted something pleasant and she put me on hold.
Herman Winesapâs voice was as slick as the greasy kid stuff hair oil companies like to warn you about. He introduced himself as an attorney. That meant his fees were high. A guy calling himself a lawyer always costs a lot less. Winesap sounded so good I let him do most of the talking.
âThe reason I called, Mr. Angel, was to ascertain whether your services were at present available for contract.â
âWould this be for your firm?â
âNo. Iâm speaking in behalf of one of our clients. Are you available for employment?â
âDepends on the job. Youâll have to give me some details.â
âMy client would prefer to discuss them with you in person. He has suggested that you have lunch with him today. One oâclock sharp at the Top of the Sixâs.â
âMaybe youâd like to give me the name of this client, or do I just look for some guy wearing a red carnation?â
âHave you a pencil handy? Iâll spell it for you.â
I wrote the name LOUIS CYPHRE on my desk pad and asked how to pronounce it.
Herman Winesap did a swell job, rolling his râs like a Berlitz instructor. I asked if the client was a foreigner?
âMr. Cyphre carries a French passport. I am not certain of his exact nationality. Any questions you might have no doubt heâll be happy to answer at lunch. May I tell him to expect you?â
âIâll be there, one oâclock sharp.â
Attorney Herman Winesap made some final unctuous remarks before signing off. I hung up and lit one of my Christmas Montecristos in celebration.
Chapter 2
666 FIFTH AVENUE WAS an unhappy marriage of the International Style and our own homegrown tailfin technology. It had gone up two years before between 52nd and 53rd streets: a million square feet of office space sheathed in embossed aluminum panels. It looked like a forty-story cheese grater. There was a waterfall in the lobby, but that didnât seem to help.
I took an express elevator to the top floor, got a number from the hatcheck girl, and admired the view while the maĂŽtre dâ gave me the once-over like a government-meat inspector grading a side of beef. His finding Cyphreâs name in the reservation book didnât exactly make us pals. I followed him back through a polite murmuring of executives to a small table by a window.
Seated there in a custom-made blue pin-stripe suit with a blood-red rosebud in his lapel was a man who might have been anywhere between forty-five and sixty. His hair was black and full, combed straight back on a high forehead, yet his square-cut goatee and pointed moustache were white as ermine. He was tanned and elegant; his eyes a distant, ethereal blue. A tiny, inverted golden star gleamed on his maroon silk necktie. âIâm Harry Angel,â I said, as the maĂŽtre dâ pulled out my chair. âA lawyer named Winesap said there was something you wanted to speak to me about.â
âI like a man whoâs prompt,â he said. âDrink?â
I ordered a double Manhattan, straight up; Cyphre tapped his glass with a manicured finger and said heâd have one more of the same. It was easy to imagine those pampered hands gripping a whip. Nero must have had such hands. And Jack the Ripper. It was the hand of emperors and assassins. Languid, yet lethal, the cruel, tapered fingers perfect instruments of evil.
When the waiter left, Cyphre leaned forward and fixed me with a conspiratorâs grin. âI hate to bother with trivialities, but Iâd like to see some identification before we get started.â
I got out my wallet and showed him my photostat and honorary chiefs button. âThereâs a gun permit and driverâs license in there, too.â
He flipped through the celluloid card holders and when he handed back the wallet his smile was ten degrees whiter. âI prefer to take a man at his word, but my legal advisors insisted upon this formality.â
âIt usually pays to play it safe.â
âWhy, Mr. Angel, I would have thought you were a gambling man.â
âOnly when I have to be.â I listened hard for any trace of an accent, but his voice was like polished metal, smooth and clean, as if it had been buffed with banknotes from the day he was born. âSuppose we get down to business,â I said. âIâm not much good at small talk.â
âAnother admirable trait.â Cyphre withdrew a gold and leather cigar case from his inside breast pocket, opened it, and selected a slender, greenish panatela. âCare for a smoke?â I declined the proffered case and watched Cyphre trim the end of his cigar with a silver penknife.
âDo you by any chance remember the name Johnny Favorite?â he asked, warming the panatelaâs slim length in the flame of his butane lighter.
I thought it over. âWasnât he a crooner with a swing band back before the war?â
âThatâs the man. An overnight sensation, as the press agents like to say. Sang with the Spider Simpson orchestra in 1940. Personally, I loathed swing music and canât recall the titles of his hit recordings; there were several, in any case. He created a near-riot at the Paramount Theatre two years before anyone ever heard of Sinatra. You should remember that, the Paramountâs over in your part of town.â
âJohnny Favoriteâs before my time. In 1940, I was just out of high school, a rookie cop in Madison, Wisconsin.â
âFrom the Midwest? I would have taken you for a native New Yorker.â
âNo such animal, at least not above Houston Street.â
âVery true.â Cyphreâs features were shrouded in blue smoke as he puffed his cigar. It smelled like excellent tobacco, and I regretted not taking one when I had the chance. âThis is a city of outsiders,â he said. âIâm one myself.â
âWhere are you from?â I asked.
âLet us say Iâm a traveler.â Cyphre waved away a wreath of cigar smoke, flashing an emerald the Pope himself would have kissed.
âFine with me. Why did you ask about Johnny Favorite?â
The waiter set our drinks on the table with less intrusion than a passing shadow.
âA pleasant voice, all things considered.â Cyphre raised his glass to eye level in a silent European toast. âAs I said, I could never stomach swing music; too loud and jumpy for my taste. But Johnny sounded sweet as a caroler when he wanted to. I took him under my wing when he was first getting started. He was a brash, skinny kid from the Bronx. Mother and father both dead. His real name wasnât Favorite, it was Jonathan Liebling. He changed it for professional reasons; Liebling wouldnât have looked nearly as good in lights. Do you know what happened to him?â
I said I had no idea whatsoever.
âHe was drafted in January â43. Because of his professional talents, he was assigned to the Special Entertainment Services Branch and in March he joined a troop show in Tunisia. Iâm not certain of the exact details; there was an air raid one afternoon during a performance. The Luftwaffe strafed the bandstand. Most of the troupe was killed. Johnny, through some quirk of fortune, escaped with facial and head injuries. Escaped is the wrong word. He was never the same again. Iâm not a medical man, so I canât be very precise about his condition. Some form of shell shock, I suppose.â
I said I knew something about shell shock myself.
âReally? Were you in the war, Mr. Angel?â
âFor a few months right at the start. I was one of the lucky ones.â
âWell, Johnny Favorite was not. He was shipped home, a total vegetable.â
âThatâs too bad,â I said, âbut where do I fit in? What exactly do you want me to do?â
Cyphre stubbed out his cigar in the ashtray and toyed with the age-yellowed ivory holder. It was carved in the shape of a coiled serpent with the head of a crowing rooster. âBe patient with me, Mr. Angel. Iâm getting to the point, however circuitously. I gave Johnny some help at the start of his career. I was never his agent, but I was able to use my influence in his behalf. In recognition of my assistance, which was considerable, we had a contract. Certain collateral was involved. This was to be forfeited in the event of his death. Iâm sorry that I canât be more explicit, but the terms of our agreement specified that the details remain confidential.
âIn any event, Johnnyâs case was hopeless. He was sent to a veteranâs hospital in New Hampshire and it seemed as if he would spend the remainder of his life in a ward, one of the unfortunate discards of war. But Johnny had friends and money, a good deal of money. Although he was by nature profligate, his earnings for the two years prior to his induction were considerable; more than any one man could squander. Some of this money was invested, with Johnnyâs agent having power of attorney.â
âThe plot begins to grow complicated,â I said.
âIndeed it does, Mr. Angel.â Cyphre tapped his ivory cigar holder absently against the rim of his empty glass, making the crystal chime like distant bells. âFriends of Johnnyâs had him transferred to a private hospital upstate. There was some sort of radical treatment. Typical psychiatric hocus-pocus, I suppose. The end result was the same; Johnny remained a zombie. Only the expenses came out of his pockets instead of the governmentâs.â
âDo you know the names of these friends?â
âNo. I hope you wonât consider me entirely mercenary when I tell you that my continuing interest in Jonathan Liebling concerns only our contractual arrangement. I never saw Johnny again after he went away to war. All that mattered was whether he was alive or dead. Once or twice each year, my attorneys contact the hospital and obtain from them a notarized affidavit stating he is indeed still among the living. This situation remained unchanged until last weekend.â
âWhat happened then?â
âSomething very curious. Johnnyâs hospital is outside Poughkeepsie. I was in that vicinity on business and, quite on the spur of the moment, decided to pay my old acquaintance a visit. Perhaps I wanted to see what sixteen years in bed does to a man. At the hospital, I was told visiting hours were on weekday afternoons only. I insisted, and the doctor in charge made an appearance. He informed me that Johnny was undergoing special therapy and could not be disturbed until the following Monday.â
I said: âSounds like you were getting the runaround.â
âIndeed. There was something about the fellowâs manner I didnât like.â Cyphre slipped his cigar holder into his vest pocket and folded his hands on the table. âI stayed over in Poughkeepsie until Monday and returned to the hospital, making certain to arrive during visiting hours. I never saw the doctor again, but when I gave Johnnyâs name, the girl at the reception desk asked if I was a relative. Naturally, I said no. She said only family members were permitted to visit with the patients.â
âNo mention of this the previous time around?â
âNot a word. I grew quite indignant. Iâm afraid I made something of a scene. That was a mistake. The receptionist threatened to call the police unless I left immediately.â
âWhat did you do?â
âI left. What else could I do? Itâs a private hospital. I didnât want any trouble. Thatâs why Iâm engaging your services.â
âYou want me to go up there and check it out for you?â
âExactly.â Cyphre gestured expansively, turning his palms upward like a man showing he has nothing to hide. âFirst, I need to know if Johnny Favorite is still aliveâthatâs essential. If he is, Iâd like to know where.â
I reached inside my jacket and got out a small leather-bound notebook and a mechanical pencil. âSounds simple enough. Whatâs the name and address of the hospital?â
âThe Emma Dodd Harvest Memorial Clinic; itâs located east of the city on Pleasant Valley Road.â
I wrote it down and asked the name of the doctor who gave Cyphre the runaround.
âFowler. I believe the first name was either Albert or Alfred.â
I made a note of it. âIs Favorite registered under his actual name?â
âYes. Jonathan Liebling.
âThat should do it.â I put the notebook back and got to my feet. âHow can I get in touch with you?â
âThrough my attorney would be best.â Cyphre smoothed his moustache with the tip of his forefinger. âBut youâre not leaving? I thought we were having lunch.â
âHate to miss a free meal, but if I get started right away I can make it up to Poughkeepsie before quitting time.â
âHospitals donât keep business hours.â
âThe office staff does. Any cover I use depends on it. Itâll cost you money if I wait until Monday. I get fifty dollars a day, plus expenses.â
âSounds reasonable for a job well done.â
âThe job will get done. Satisfaction guaranteed. Iâll give Winesap a call as soon as anything turns up.â
âPerfect. A pleasure meeting you, Mr. Angel.â
The maĂŽtre dâ was still sneering when I stopped for my overcoat and attachĂŠ case on the way out.
Links
To Read the rest of this book, you can grab a copy at the link below! (And remember the Kindle reading app is free for PC, tablet, iOS, and Android.)
Great film review of Angel Heart (Watch the Filmâs Trailer at the end of this post.)
The Sanguine Woods 