Lee Hacklyn Private Investigator in The A-Plus Team: Lee Hacklyn, #1

By John Leister

New York City.  1986.

 

Lee is hired to investigate the murder of Athena Private School for Girls student,

Sophia Corleone.

 

• Language: English
• Publisher: John Leister
• Release date: Sep 24, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223684329

Book preview

NEW YORK CITY.  1986

CHAPTER ONE

When you hear screams at an amusement park, they tend to be happy ones.

Zoos?

Not so much.

I was with my mother, Alison, she who birthed me, and frequently liked to remind me of this:

They had to cut my stomach open, you know.  I nearly died giving birth to your heartless, cold-blooded murderous self.  It would behoove you to keep that in mind, if you want your inheritance.

She tried to slap my face when I replied, You might as well give it all to Ann, Mom.  I’ll just squander it on booze and smokes.

Ann was my sister, older than me by two years, I was thirty-three and the years were starting to feel like months.

We were having a family outing at the New York Zoo on a balmy, heh, ball me, sorry, Dear Reader, but my development is somewhat arrested, nothing more than that in the foreseeable future, fingers crossed, Sunday in June.

––––––––

Ann was with us, and her husband, Geoff, they were corporate lawyers; and their daughter, my niece, Gretchen, all of thirteen and already entrenched in hatred and contempt for all things American; and all points-of-view that were a hair to the right-of-center.

I loved her, I was her Uncle, but her hugs weren’t quarter-hearted, they were half-hearted.

The grounds were jam-packed with locals, tourists and plenty of potential pickpockets.

I was ever aware of my two best friends in the whole wide world, sorry, Lassie and Benji, Mr. Browning and Ain’t-It-Great .38, nestled in my shoulder-holster and ankle-holster, respectively.

I never leave home without them.

Mom!

Heads turned towards the lion’s den like a collective chorus line.

I pushed my way through the crowd and spotted