Undertow

By Lee Conrad

Novellette. It's 1939 in Parlor City in upstate New York and private investigator Mike Brady finds the rumblings in Europe are causing problems in his city. A missing husband, suspicious characters, and more keep Brady busy and looking over his shoulder. With his childhood friend, Jimmy Cronin, a Spanish Civil War veteran, the two seek out the answers to a killing and the dark forces behind it.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lee Conrad
• Release date: May 5, 2020
• ISBN: 9780463682036

Lee Conrad

Lee Conrad lives in upstate New York. He is a Vietnam era veteran who was anti-war while serving. He worked at IBM and was a rabble-rousing union organizer. All in all just a bit of a trouble maker. His work in the labor movement took him all over the country and the world. He is retired but not inert. His stories have appeared in Down in the Dirt, Fiction on the Web, Literally Stories, Weatherbeaten, Fear of Monkeys, Longshot Island, Commuterlit and The Magazine of History and Fiction.

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Undertow

By Lee Conrad

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This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to persons living or dead, business, companies, events or locations is strictly coincidental.

Leeconrad49 @ gmail.com

https://leefrederickconrad.wordpress.com/

Photo by Chris Arthur Collins

Copyright 2020 Lee Conrad

All rights reserved

Parlor City was coming alive after its overnight slumber as I pulled my 1935 Ford coupe into a parking spot on Court Street. It was early in the morning but the Planters Peanuts store had been roasting since dawn. I could never pass by without grabbing a bag and saying hi to Saul.

The newspaper boy on the corner near Fowler’s department store called out to me. He handed me a paper and I gave him a nickel with a dime tip. I went up the stairs to my second-floor office and unlocked the door as the phone started ringing.

Michael Brady, Private Investigator, I answered into the mouthpiece. How long has he been missing? Kroehler manufacturing on the Eastside? Come down to my office Mrs. Schmidt at noon. We will talk over the particulars. Yes, good day, Mrs. Schmidt.

I loosened my tie and opened the window to let some air in. July mornings in the city can choke a person in these closed up brick buildings after a night of summer heat. Even the shade of the Dutch Elms didn’t help.

Across the street, the Fair Store and Royal Shoes were just opening up and extending their awnings. A few customers were already waiting.

I went back to my desk, put my feet up on it, lit up a Chesterfield and read the Morning Sun. President Roosevelt and Secretary of State Cordell Hull warned that a war in Europe was imminent. There was a crisis in Danzig, wherever the hell that was, and the summer of ’39 looked to be one of turmoil with strikes breaking out across the country. The good news? The Triplets beat Hartford 6 to 4.

A little after nine my secretary Carol Dabrowski came in.

I scowled over the paper at her. Late night at the Pavilion?

Sorry I’m late, Mr. Brady, and no we were at Yonda’s.