Lee Hacklyn Private Investigator in High Marx: Lee Hacklyn, #1

By John Leister

New York City.  1976.

 

Lee is hired to investigate the murder of gym teacher Timothy Atherson.

And what is the secret of...The Recruitment Project?

• Language: English
• Publisher: John Leister
• Release date: Sep 16, 2023
• ISBN: 9798215670514

Book preview

CHAPTER ONE

New York City. 1976.

What are the odds of an impromptu brawl breaking out amongst a bunch of young, middle-aged and elderly women, at a toy store?

On this snowy day in November?  Better than average.

I was Roy’s and Joy’s toys in downtown Manhattan, shopping for a birthday present.

My niece, Gretchen, was turning three.

Her mother, my sister, Ann, was two years older than me, I was twenty-five, at that time; and she’d assigned me the task of procuring a Briar Patch doll from noted establishment.

As I entered the place, I felt like I’d been transported, Scotty-style to Madison Square Garden, where an All-Women WWF match was in progress.

Don’t touch me!

Bitch!

Cow!

Slut!  You’re mother, too!

And so forth.

There was a bar across the street.

The temptation to U-turn myself towards it was magnetic.

There must have been around thirty women in the melee, pulling each other’s hair, rolling on the floor, tearing at each other’s skirts, and the spitting!

Holy moley!

Like a display of shooting stars!

A man, the manager, I presumed, um, All-Inclusive-ager, I guess, in present day parlance, valiantly leapt into the feminine fray.

He was a pudgy penguin of a man and he attempted to push the women apart, his hair-rug fell off.

I have no respect for men who wear those things.

You were bald when you were a baby.

Were you complaining then?

He was bouncing around like a pinball, trying to prevent a potential massacre.

Getting drunk off my ass right now sure felt like an alluring alternative way of spending my day next to this.

Ladies, please!  We’re getting a new shipment of Briar Patch Dolls, tomorrow morning!

No wonder Ann sent me here instead of coming herself.

Thanks for the warning, sis!

Of course, as often happens to well-meaning peacemakers, the mob of anarchistic shoppers turned on him.

I drew my Browning and fired into a display of stuffed animals.

I