“I saw you fight once,” said the gentleman. Apparently he was a friend of the bride’s family. “After the war … here.”
“Yeah?” McCloskey was feeling a bit exposed. Nice people, but not his people.
“You took him in the first round, as I recall,” the gentleman said, smiling.
The memory was slowly coming to surface. More fights than I can remember, thought McCloskey.
“Summer,” said the gentleman with his pointed finger, “now I recall. It was behind a garage and a pile of lost pieces.”
“Lost pieces?” repeated McCloskey.
“What do you mean lost pieces?”
“Nothing,” said McCloskey. He thought the gentleman might be slightly touched.
“Are you still in the fights?”
“No, no I’m not.”
“Not even for a prize?”
“I’m sorry, I don’t think I caught your name.”
“Fortescue,” said the gentleman, extending his hand, “John Fortescue.”
“Well, Mr. Fortescue, it’s been a pleasure, but I really should look in on the kitchen.”
“Certainly, my good man.”
After the meal and the toasts and the embarrassing, impromptu speeches, the newlyweds made off and the party dispersed to parts unknown. McCloskey had assigned a few crew members from Wrecking and Salvage to put Shady’s back in order. He and Vera Maude retreated to his apartment, where they spent a relaxing late-summer afternoon.
“Jack, it’s for you.”
“Maudie, I told you about answering my phone.” He had just come back from fetching them some dinner and a copy of today’s paper.
“The ring sounded important.”
“Give it to me.”
She was still holding the earpiece.
Click.
“So who was it?”
“I asked him and he said, ‘McCloskey’s assassin.’”
“My what?”
“Do you know anyone named Charlie Baxter?”
“Couldn’t be,” he said, going over to the window overlooking the intersection.
“Jack?”
“Did he say anything else?”
“Yeah, he asked me if I had read any good books lately.”
“Jesus, Maudie.”
“Wait … why do I know that name?”
If he could, McCloskey would be pacing right now, but he couldn’t take his eyes off the window. “The guy who tried to kill me last summer.”
“Jack, when you say things like, the guy who tried to kill me, my first thought is always going to be, you’ll have to be more specific.”
“How’d he sound?”
She finally hung the earpiece after letting it dangle for a moment. “Come to think of it … he sounded a little disappointed.”
“You gave me away.”
“All I did was answer the phone. It sounded like it might be important. I can always tell by the ring.”
He turned from the window. “By the ring?” He turned his focus back on the intersection. “I guess he’s got my number now … and yours.” He paused; wheels were turning. “I’ll have to tell Pearl.”
“Tell her what?”
“That her boyfriend’s back in town.”
“You mean this Charlie and Pearl, they were …?”
“Yeah, they were. I’m going to need help getting you home. I can’t do it myself, not now.”
“Wait, what are you talking about, Jack? Who …”
“I don’t know their names, and you can’t ask them.”
“Why not?”
“It's best that way.”
“You’re sending me away in a car with some men and you don’t even know their names, or —”
“Yeah.”
“What if I don’t want to?”
“It’s just a precaution.”
“Jack, if you’re trying to frighten me …”
“I’m succeeding?”
“How do you find the … them?”
“They come to me.”
“How?”
“A signal.” McCloskey was already moving a narrow chest of drawers to the left of the window. He removed a mostly red folded piece of cloth and gently shook it open.
“A flag?”
“The colours of the 99th Battalion.”
“You got a flagpole on the roof?”
McCloskey hung it, sideways, from two hooks in the window frame. He then moved the side table over, positioned it behind the flag and removed the shade from the lamp.
“Couldn’t you just call them?”
“Their number is unlisted, and for good reason. The gang doesn’t even know about them. It’s better that way.”
“Who are they?”
“My operatives.”
Contents
Cover
Riverside Drive Title Page
Dedication
Acknowledgements
False Starts — Chapter 1 —
— Chapter 2 —
— Chapter 3 —
— Chapter 4 —
— Chapter 5 —
— Chapter 6 —
— Chapter 7 —
First Gear — Chapter 8 —
— Chapter 9 —
— Chapter 10 —
— Chapter 11 —
— Chapter 12 —
Second Gear — Chapter 13 —
— Chapter 14 —
— Chapter 15 —
— Chapter 16 —
— Chapter 17 —
— Chapter 18 —
— Chapter 19 —
— Chapter 20 —
— Chapter 21 —
— Chapter 22 —
— Chapter 23 —
— Chapter 24 —
— Chapter 25 —
— Chapter 26 —
— Chapter 27 —
— Chapter 28 —
— Chapter 29 —
— Chapter 30 —
— Chapter 31 —
— Chapter 32 —
Third Gear — Chapter 33 —
— Chapter 34 —
— Chapter 35 —
— Chapter 36 —
Postscript
More Historical Crime Fiction from Dundurn
Maiden Lane Title Page
Dedication
Epigraph
Table of Contents
Part 1 — Chapter 1 —
— Chapter 2 —
— Chapter 3 —
— Chapter 4 —
— Chapter 5 —
— Chapter 6 —
Part 2 — Chapter 7 —
— Chapter 8 —
— Chapter 9 —
— Chapter 10 —
— Chapter 11 —
— Chapter 12 —
— Chapter 13 —
— Chapter 14 —
— Chapter 15 —
Part 3 — Chapter 16 —
— Chapter 17 —
— Chapter 18 —
— Chapter 19 —
— Chapter 20 —
— Chapter 21 —
— Chapter 22 —
Part 4 — Chapter 23 —
— Chapter 24 —
— Chapter 25 —
— Chapter 26 —
— Chapter 27 —
— Chapter 28 —
— Chapter 29 —
— Chapter 30 —
— Chapter 31 —
— Chapter 32 —
— Chapter 33 —
Part 5 — Chapter 34 —
— Chapter 35 —
— Chapter 36 —
— Chapter 37 —
— Chapter 38 —
— Chapter 39 —
— Chapter 40 —
Part 6 — Chapter 41 —
Acknowledgements
Also by Michael Januska
Copyright
Prospect Avenue Half Title
Other Border City Blues Books
Title P
age
Dedication
Contents
Act One — Chapter 1 —
— Chapter 2 —
Act Two — Chapter 3 —
— Chapter 4 —
— Chapter 5 —
— Chapter 6 —
— Chapter 7 —
— Chapter 8 —
— Chapter 9 —
— Chapter 10 —
— Chapter 11 —
— Chapter 12 —
— Chapter 13 —
Act Three — Chapter 14 —
— Chapter 15 —
— Chapter 16 —
— Chapter 17 —
— Chapter 18 —
— Chapter 19 —
— Chapter 20 —
— Chapter 21 —
— Chapter 22 —
— Chapter 23 —
— Chapter 24 —
Act Four — Chapter 25 —
— Chapter 26 —
— Chapter 27 —
— Chapter 28 —
— Chapter 29 —
— Chapter 30 —
— Chapter 31 —
— Chapter 32 —
— Chapter 33 —
— Chapter 34 —
— Chapter 35 —
— Chapter 36 —
Act Five — Chapter 37 —
— Chapter 38 —
— Chapter 39 —
— Chapter 40 —
— Chapter 41 —
— Chapter 42 —
— Chapter 43 —
— Chapter 44 —
— Chapter 45 —
— Chapter 46 —