The Cold Hard Cases of Duke Denim: High Notes, Low Blows

By Guy A. Sims

The music business is a killer and nobody knows it better than Big City’s newest singer, Songbird Gates. Nervous nightclub owners…shifty agents…greedy gangsters…all stand in her way as she climbs the scales to stardom. Duke Denim returns to take it to the flipside and finds out what puts the hit in a hit song. While Songbird belts out the high notes, Duke’s in for some low blows. It’s a calloused concert of crime and calamity. Duke better be sharp or somebody’s going to be flat.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Jul 13, 2016
• ISBN: 9780989281928

Guy A. Sims

Guy A. Sims is a poet and fiction writer as well as the cocreator of Brotherman Comics. He is the author of Living Just a Little: A Novel; The Cold Hard Cases of Duke Denim; The Kwanzaa Handbook; and The Kwanzaa Kids Learn the Seven Principles.

Book preview

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party Web sites or their content.

THE COLD HARD CASES OF DUKE DENIM:

HIGH NOTES & LOW BLOWS

Copyright © 2014 by Guy A. Sims.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form without written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotation embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Published by BCE Pressworks: Blacksburg, VA

A subsidiary of Big City Entertainment

First Edition

Front and Back cover designs by Dawud Anyabwile

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.

The Cold Hard Cases of Duke Denim

HIGH NOTES & LOW BLOWS

OTHER WORKS BY

Guy A. Sims

FICTION

The Cold Hard Cases of Duke Denim: Hold’em Close

The Cold Hard Cases of Duke Denim: Silver Roses

Living Just A Little: A Novel

Brotherman: Dictator of Discipline Comic Series

The Kwanzaa Kids Learn the Seven Principles

NON-FICTION

The Kwanzaa Handbook

Contents

HIGH NOTES & LOW BLOWS

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

13.

14.

15.

16.

17.

About The Author

HIGH NOTES & LOW BLOWS

TWO DAYS OF RAIN turned the potholed streets into a polka-dotted pattern of deceptive puddles. The moisture hung heavy in the air with unpredictable cloudbursts catching unprepared pedestrians in quickly drenching showers. Even those armed with umbrellas were assaulted by the tidal waves of pooled water churned up by car as they motored through drenched intersections. At the height of day, heavy dark clouds hovered stagnant in the sky, allowing only a few streaks of sun to reach the streets of Big City.

The already shadowy alleys of Shallow Valley were ominous enough without the darkening shroud of foul weather. Most reasonable citizens peered cautiously down the intimidating brick-faced channels as they passed, prepared for flight at the slightest sound. There were a few unreasonable souls who viewed these alleys simply as a natural break in the fabric of the city. They were oblivious to the dangers because their focus was on something else; where they were going, whey they were coming from, or merely about themselves. Limpstep Sellers was just one of those persons. He slowly pushed his umbrella-covered cart of balloons, stuffed animals, flowers, snacks, and other doo-dads down the uneven sidewalk. The Shock Street Fair, a weeklong rain or shine community event, was due to begin in a couple of hours and he wanted to get the best spot to sell his wares.

I’m gonna make a killin’! Limpstep mumbled to himself as he struggled to free the front wheel of his cart from a crevice in his path. As he shifted the weight of the cart so as not to topple his goods a series of deep grunts echoed from the alley away adjacent to him. Limpstep paused just enough to gather his senses, realizing he needed to move along quickly. Instead of pushing, he anchored himself and began to pull with the hopes of dislodging the cart. It was the clamor of crashing trashcans that caused Limpstep to stall his breathing. The sudden thud tightened the muscles in Limpstep’s legs and spine. Gripping the handles of the car, he lifted the back wheels, almost spilling the bank of stuffed animals into the street.

Whew. The cart was free, and Limpstep leaned forward to get as far away from the escalating noise in the alleyway. Seeing his items were secured, Limpstep pushed.

It was a blur as a large figure sailed through the air, crashing squarely onto Limpstep’s cart--toppling it over the curb with all of the items dumped into the street. Limpstep grabbed at his thinning hair as he could only watch his potential profits become strewn, soaked, and soiled throughout the street. The painful wheezing of the large man shifted Limpstep’s attention from a smashed bag of blueberry bubblegum to the large man’s bruised and bloodied face.

The large man groaned as he turned toward Limpstep as if to call out to him, to plead for help--or mercy. Just as the large man lifted his arm, reaching out to Limpstep, three figures emerged from the dusky trench between the buildings. Limpstep, too terrified to run or speak, stood silent as he watched the three hover over the body of the large man. The three men turned and