Lee Hacklyn 1970s Private Investigator in Internal Affairs of The Heart: Lee Hacklyn, #1

By John Leister

New York City. 1975.

 

Who killed NYPD Internal Affairs Officer Jack Hale?

His brother, security guard Elmer Hale, suspects that Jack was killed

by the officers he was assigned to investigate.

He hires Lee to uncover the truth.

• Language: English
• Publisher: John Leister
• Release date: Jun 24, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223477334

Book preview

Queens, New York City, 1960.

CHAPTER ONE

I hate a rat.  There’s nothing worse than a rat, Lee.  A rat is the lowest scum of the earth.  That’s what my old man told me and he’s never wrong about anything.  Ever.

I was sitting at the school cafeteria nerd table, eating my lunch.  I was ten.  My lunch today was a peanut butter and banana sandwich, Elvis-style.

I ate even though I had no appetite, because I was nervous about that afternoon’s math test, which I was doomed to fail.

Like spiders, I was positively phobic when it came to numbers.

All of my fellow nerd buddies were sitting with me.  For reasons known only to him, Wade Warwick, our requisite bully, was gracing us with presence.  More like terrifying us.

He was sitting next to me and he was pressing his fat body against me and he smelled like a rotten egg.

Puberty had hit him early.  Apparently, he was unaware of the existence of deodorant.

All of my friends ate their lunches in a collective, uncomfortable silence.

Meanwhile, Wade was helping himself to whatever he like and nobody objected, at least, not out loud.

There was a Snickers bar on my lunch bag.

I wondered what I would do if Wade took it.

CHAPTER TWO

As it turned out?  When he did?

Nothing, except try not to cry.

Wade reached into his admittedly cool-looking leather jacket and pulled out three sheets of paper.

He said, Check it out, losers.  These are the answer sheets to today’s math test.  I’ve already got the answers written on my arm.  See?

He showed us.

Ernie Dupres was a very earnest boy who was always getting sent to the principal’s office, for reading the Bible during class.

Don’t you know the Ten Commandments, Wade?  Thou shalt not steal.  Those answer sheets don’t belong to you.  They belong to Mr. Wilkins.

Wade snarled and said, You wanna know where my fist belongs?  It belongs in your face.

Wade stood, moved his thick body around