Bloodstains On The Wall / Three Stories From The Dark Side

By Mike Dennis

"Dennis writes true noir."--Vicki Hendricks, author of Cruel Poetry

"Noir with panache." -- Charlie Stella, author of Johnny Porno

FULLY LOADED / It's 1984 and Biloxi, Mississippi has seen better days. Sherry Lamar, used car saleswoman extraordinaire, is feeling the pinch. Then one day, a stranger walks onto her small car lot and ushers her into a world of steamy sex and murder.

THE DEVIL DRIVES A BIG MERCEDES / A seven-year-old boy is playing with his two younger sisters when a minor accident occurs. One of the sisters is to blame, but she blames the boy and their mother believes her, punishing the boy. This starts him on a downward spiral into self-doubt and later, depravity, that will last his entire life.

BLOCK / A famous crime fiction novelist thinks the current book she's working on will revive her sagging fortunes. Halfway through it, however, she develops writer's block and is unable to continue her story, until a mysterious early-morning phone caller claims to have the answers.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Mike Dennis
• Release date: Feb 12, 2011
• ISBN: 9781465716682

Mike Dennis

Mike Dennis is Professor of Modern German History at the University of Wolverhampton. He is the author of several monographs on the GDR, including Social and Economic Modernization in Eastern Germany from Honecker to Kohl (Pinter, 1993) and The Rise and Fall of the German Democratic Republic 1945–1990 (Longman, 2000). He has co-edited numerous books on modern Germany, notably, with D. Steinert, Deutschland 1945–1990 (Wochenschau Verlag, 2005), and is currently engaged on a research project on elite sport in the GDR.

Book preview

BLOODSTAINS ON THE WALL

Three Stories From The Dark Side

by Mike Dennis

This collection is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. All rights reserved. No part of this publication can be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without permission in writing from Mike Dennis.

Published by Mike Dennis

Smashwords Edition

Collection copyright 2011 by Mike Dennis

Fully Loaded copyright 2010 by Mike Dennis

The Devil Drives A Big Mercedes copyright 2011 by Mike Dennis

Block copyright 2009 by Mike Dennis

Formatted by Jenna Lundeen

http://www.lundeenliterary.com

Cover designed by Ronnell Porter

http://ronnelldporter.blogspot.com/p/book-cover-design.html

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

CONTENTS

Fully Loaded

The Devil Drives A Big Mercedes

Block

FULLY LOADED

The rain finally stopped. It was the middle of the afternoon, nearly three, and it had been coming down since nine this morning.

Thank God for small favors, Sherry thought. At least there were a few hours left to try to make some money.

Because nobody, but nobody, went shopping for a used car in the pouring rain.

Through the window of the sales trailer, she saw slivers of sunlight cutting through the gray clouds. Out on the lot, the water beaded up on all the freshly-waxed cars. Nothing made a vehicle look better than that. Dings and dents always faded away under the silvery droplets, as did any evidence of body work, and even the back line cars looked good.

She looked down at the ashtray in front of her. Her cigarette burned itself out. She thought about lighting another one.

Quitting smoking would save her around two hundred a month. These days, she needed every penny she could lay her hands on.

It wasn't always that way.

Up until a couple of years ago, if you were talking used car sales along the Mississippi Gulf Coast, the name of Sherry Lamar was always at, or very near, the top of the page. You had to look pretty hard to find anyone between New Orleans and Mobile with better numbers.

These days told a different story.

Tourism in the area had been slipping for years now, taking the convention business down with it. Weekend visitors from New Orleans, spring breakers, they were all staying away. Even people from upstate were selling their long-cherished vacation homes down here at bargain prices. That worn-at-the-heels look had set in like grape juice on white linen, and the Coast was now a faded remnant of its earlier, swinging self.

Because of all this, not much money was circulating, so the hard-goods businesses felt it. Oh, there was some loose talk floating around about legalizing gambling, but that was a pipe-dream if ever there was one. Mississippi had about as much chance of getting legal gambling as Mondale had of beating Reagan in next week's election.

She was seriously debating whether or not to light another cigarette when she saw a customer wander onto the lot.

Kenny was up. She called to him in the bathroom.

Kenny. You got a customer.

Go ahead and take him, Sherry, he replied from behind the closed door. I'll get the next one.

As she stepped out of the trailer, the sun finished shoving the clouds aside. A slight breeze began drifting in from the Gulf, trying to temper the sultry air. It didn't do the job.

He stood near the front line, by the blue '81 Cutlass.

Hi, she said. Looking for something special today?

Hey, he replied, turning his attention from the car to her. About time this rain stopped.

He was dressed in a nice shirt and pants, and was maybe a little older than she was, around thirty-five, but that was all she noticed. She never got past his dark brown eyes. They held her still in the middle of the hot, sunlit lot.

Is...is there...something particular I can help you with?

Now he smiled. She liked that, too.

Well, if I wanted to buy a car, I'd certainly want to buy it from you, lovely lady.

She accepted the compliment gracefully. What can I show you, then?

You can show me the manager. I'm looking for a job.

A—a job?

Yes. A job. Selling.

"Well...I don't think we have any openings. Things