Midnight

By H.L. Sudler

Jonathan Hammond is handsome, well-off, professionally sound, and desired. But he is unhappy with his life, and as fate would have it, it's about to take a turn for the worse. Today is Jonathan Hammond's birthday, October 31. And despite a large party with lots of food, drink, music, and people, he becomes a target for murder. On his birthday. T

• Language: English
• Publisher: Archer Publishing
• Release date: May 24, 2021
• ISBN: 9781735199399

H.L. Sudler

H.L. SUDLER is the author of six books, including Patriarch: My Extraordinary Journey from Man to Gentleman, CafeLiving's Favorite Cocktails (with Keith Vient), Man to Gentleman: A Beginner's Guide to Manhood, his short story collection The Looking Glass: Tales of Light and Dark, and his thriller novel series Summerville and Return to Summerville. His short story The Way of All Flesh was selected for the PATHS Humanitarian Writing Award. He has served as a magazine publisher, a newspaper editor, and a contributing writer to numerous anthologies and periodicals. He was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and currently lives in Washington, DC.

Book preview

MIDNIGHT

_______________________

H.L. Sudler

An Archer Publishing Book

Washington, D.C.

logo-web-bw

Return to Summerville

Published by Archer Publishing

P.O. Box 21843, Washington, DC 20009

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either 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. 

Copyright © 2021 by H.L. Sudler

Portions of this story originally appeared in the Rehoboth Beach Gayzette, in somewhat different form.

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any printed or electronic form. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights.  Purchase only authorized editions.

ARCHER PUBLISHING is a registered trademark of Archer Media Networks LLC.

The ARCHER PUBLISHING logo is a registered trademark of Archer Media Networks LLC.

Archer Publishing ISBN

978-1-7351993-9-9

Books by H.L. Sudler

Patriarch: My Extraordinary Journey

From Man to Gentleman

Summerville

From Man to Gentleman:

A Beginner’s Guide to Manhood

Return to Summerville

The Looking Glass: Tales of Light and Dark

CafeLiving’s Favorite Cocktails

Stories by H.L. Sudler

The Looking Glass

Blood Moon

You Won’t Forget Me

Blood Moon

Sandman

Night As We Know It

Daytrippers

If you live every day as if it were your last,

someday you’ll be right.

Steve Jobs

_____________________________

Midnight

So you shot him in the head? You’re admitting that?

  Yes. And yes, I’m admitting that.

  Jon Hammond looked up at the clock that hung on the wall. All white wall.  Black and white clock. A very simple clock. One that looked as if it belonged in a school. Numbers in Helvetica. A second hand that ticked audibly.

  And you shot him because…?

  He tried to kill me. Jon looked down at the table before him.  Metal colored in titanium green. A hideous and discomforting color. He looked up at the clock again.

  You got somewhere to be?

  Jon looked at the detective. I’m sorry, what did you say?

  You got someplace to be? You keep looking at the clock. The detective used the pen in his hand to point to it. He had a mustache, thick and brown. A no-nonsense face, a body stocky and intimidating. His steel-blue eyes bore into Jon, looking at him as if he were looking over glasses despite the fact that he wore none. He looked like either a high school shop instructor or a gym teacher. To Jon, he seemed as if he had been a parole officer in a previous life.

  No, I’ve got no place to be. Jon dropped his eyes back down to the table. Better here than a morgue. He looked at the clock once more. Appreciative this time. You see, today is my birthday. It’s five to twelve, which means I’ve got five minutes left in this day.  I spent all last week trying to forget my birthday. And I’ve spent most of tonight trying to survive it.

  How old are you?

  Forty-five.

  You look good for forty-five, the detective said. Happy Birthday.

  Thank you.

  There was quiet a moment as the detective looked at Jon’s bloody left hand that sat resting on the table. He then looked up to Jon’s wavy brown hair, his beard, his dark eyes, sexy, and hiding a world of emotion, of history, of secrets behind them. The detective was confident Jon had broken many a heart, he was that handsome.

  You want to tell me what happened?

  Yes. Jon took a deep breath, as if recollecting the last six hours. It started with a birthday party I didn’t want.

  Why didn’t you want a party?

  I didn’t, Jon said, defensively.