This is my contribution to the Mickey Spillane HAMERRED series. Anyone who has ever read any if the Mike Hammer novels knows that they are gritty and often predicated on characters and situations that are morally ambiguous. All of the characters in this story are morally reprehensible. I have eagerly embraced this tradition in a satirical farce that I hope will be humorous. I've melded inspirations from other fictional detectives that I hope will add to the humor.
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It was another scorcher of a day in the city. Looking down through whirling fan blades from my opened window, I watched a group of kids literally frying eggs on the sidewalk. My air conditioner would have picked this day to die on me, but I didn't have an air conditioner. Ordinary people like private dicks can't afford air conditioners. An electric fan was all that I could afford. The marquee on the theatre across the street didn't bother to announce what movie they were showing. It just reminded everyone that the theatre had air conditioning. I'd have to go see some B movie if I wanted to get cool. I felt around in my pocket in a futile search for enough loose change to buy a ticket to the movies.
Fortunately; I did have ice in my refrigerator. I rummaged around in the sink to find a glass that wasn't to filthy then dropped three cubes into it. Just to keep myself honest, I measured in two fingers of rye whiskey using my index finger and little finger. I then added another finger of water to fill the glass.
As I looked down on the street through the whirling fan blades, sipping my whiskey and waiting for my newest client to show up, I had a hunch that the shit was about to hit the fan. A sizzling sound then a puff of foul smelling smoke heralded the death of that feeble reprieve from the heat. Maybe the shit wasn't going to hit the fan, at least not today.
I was on my second cigarette and halfway through my whiskey when I was alerted to the arrival of my prospective client by the clicking of her high heels as she walked down the full length of the long hallway from the stairs. The elevator was on the fritz, again. The slow rhythm of the clicking conjured up images of a woman who had legs all the way up to her armpits.
I reluctantly buttoned my shirt up and straightened my tie so as to look at least somewhat presentable to my newest client. The feel of stubble on my neck reminded me that I hadn't shaved, again. It was too late to worry about that. When she phoned me, she had sounded to desperate to care about how presentable I wasn't anyway. I knew that I wasn't going to turn her away, even if she turned out to be trouble. I had bills to pay.
The Blonde that finally walked through my door was not a disappointment, but she was a mystery. While her legs didn't go all the way up to her armpits, they stopped at a spectacular pair of wide hips that flared from a narrow waist that only accentuated her amazing breasts. The obvious impressions of her nipples through the fabric of her dress combined with the gentle swinging and swaying revealed that those magnificent mammaries were unrestrained by a bra. That was a reasonable compromise with the heat. The unfastened buttons of her normally demure dress that revealed the white lace bodice of her slip as well as her stocking tops was also a reasonable compromise. I sure as Hell wasn't going to complain about it anyway.
In spite of the enticing expanse of deep cleavage that the woman presented to me, she looked respectable enough. A rather impressive diamond glittering on her left ring finger proclaimed that she was not only married but married to serious money. Her wide hips combined with her gently rounded belly and somewhat pendulous breasts revealed that she had rewarded her rich husband by birthing a baby or three.
I gestured towards the only empty chair in my office as I invited her, "have a seat. Make yourself comfortable." I thoughtfully pushed my glass of whiskey across the desktop, silently offering her a drink.
The dame sat down like a lady. However; as she demurely crossed her legs, her partially buttoned dress and the lace hem of her slip revealed not just a not so brief glimpse of her stocking tops and garter belt but confirmation that her carpet matched her drapes. I found myself regretting the vast expanse of my Partners Desk that blocked me from getting a closer look. The lack of panties was no slander to her virtue in my book. I private dick has to be an astute observer of details. It had become obvious to me in recent days that most of the dames in town were going commando, just to beat the heat you understand.
The high class dame eagerly took a long sip from the glass that left it only a quarter full before she spoke. "Mister Mallet, I need your help," the dame pleaded. "My husband is plotting to kill me."
I asked the doubly obvious question. "Why would any man who is married to a dish like you want to kill her?"
Perhaps she was desperate, but the dame ignored my vulgar observation. "My husband suspects that I am cheating on him. He has hired private detectives to follow me to get proof, real or fabricated. He has told me that if I ever cheated on him or tried to leave him, he would have not just the other man but me buried alive."
I asked the next obvious question. "So what do you want me to do about it?"