Hunter B’s Back: Hunter B. Phillips Private Investigator, #2

By SA Andrews

Hunter B's Back - The Alley

No one knew Hunter B. Phillips, until  they cracked a big one. Hunter's only problem was death. A tough go for a detective in the top team of the Metro Police Homicide department. His senior partner Lattish helped the younger Phillips learn the ropes. "Look at the body and learn the victim's life story and behavior." At the top of his game, Hunter resigned and went private. He thought it would get him out of the death business. The biggest case in his life sent him back to the alley to find killer or killers of the killer of a young socialite. Neat and tidy cuts did not make the victim any less dead. The prize for the case would make him the top private dick in the City. Money wasn't his issue. He wanted to find the killer or killers.

murder - romance - crime - noir - detective

25K plus words

• Language: English
• Publisher: SA Andrews
• Release date: Aug 15, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223033349

SA Andrews

Fiction works in series. Short stories . Novels and Novellas

Book preview

Hunter B’s Back

The Alley

By

SA Andrews

Private Detective - Murder  – Mystery - Noir

Approx. 24,000 words

Copyright © 2023 Sean Andrews

Cabin

Hunter B's Back

Chapter-One

New Case

HE KNEW HE NEEDED TO settle the dispute with the city over his license. Hunter hated the power of big city government. They could grind the nubs off anything that crossed their path. He'd been clean. Never had a case go sideways in all the years he worked at that dump they called a police department. Lattish was the only straight cop he ever met. They were the best.

Not only did the city want his hard-earned cash, his secretary needed more than the meager paycheck she got working for him. She had a new desk in a new office and the building had great bug control, so she couldn't complain about cockroaches or rats. He'd deal with the human kind of varmint.

She wanted him to come for dinner Saturday night. He'd dodged that invitation for months. He knew it would be a great meal, some 5 Star she bought just for him and she'd get sloshed and take off her panties and he'd have to go in. Not that he didn't like Gina Charles, she was swell in all departments. Dressed the best she could on the meager payroll of a P.I. secretary. She was built in all the right places and had a killer smile. Hunter could not figure why she wasted time on him. She could have any guy and with her brains and experience she could land one of the hack lawyers who chased ambulances and have a house full of kids. Of course, most of those guys were skirt chasers. He had little room to talk.

The phone rang. 'Who'd be calling at seven a.m.?'

Phillips?

Sir, I'd like to apologize but I'm getting on a bus for Philly and won't be around for a while. I just got a great job with a travel company working booths at shows. The pay is great, and I get free travel if I sell enough packages.

‘He listened. Waiting for the dagger.’

So, I guess you and I are kinda off for a while. I am sorry. I will miss you and our thing. It was great fun. You are a swell guy and I'm sure you can find someone to fill in until I get back.

‘That was, as they say, it. The sayonara phone call guys like him eventually get.’ Finally, she took a breath.

Sorry to hear about you not being around, Suzie. I'm sure gonna miss you and those great meals and shows, and things we had. You are the best.

I know, Hunter, me too. You're the best. But, I gotta run. My bus pulls out in a few minutes. Love you.

‘There was the dagger finally seated fully into his heart. The one they kept hidden under their mattress. Love you up, then dump you like a bad catfish meal they saved for you when you missed a date.’ Hunter hated reheated catfish. The smell ruined his mood for the whole night. Suzie was great. Second maybe to Anita. But Anita wanted one thing and that was a husband. Hunter had done that deal and didn't need any more kids to worry about. Suzie was a replacement for Anita. Friends with benefits, she called him. Which translated to him going over to her place when he had the time to slip it in. Oh, well. He'd need an alternative if he were going to dodge Gina for long.

Phone rang again. What the F...?

Phillips.

Hey, B, how you are doing?

So, so, what's up, Lattish?

I got a case for you. Rich guy's daughter got it last night in an alley a couple of blocks from the last one. He wanted someone who'd do whatever it takes to find her killer. He has a beef with the Chief, so he thinks we won't work to find her killer. You interested?

I could use the dough. City's trying to hold up renewal on my license.

Why's that?

One of those husbands of the Poodle bitches filed a complaint. Said I did his wife. Good thing she was not the redhead.

You didn't?

No, I didn't. First for me, eh?

You'll grow up one of these days, B. I'll tell him you'll take the case. Be a good distraction and he can afford to pay.

Thanks, Lattish. I'll be around. You want lunch?

Thanks, but we're stacked up. With this new case on top of that alley one, I'm buried. I'll have Mickey call you with the details when she gets in.

Later. Hunter said.

Be safe Hunter. This killer may be our worst psycho.

That meant one thing to Hunter. A case they had five years ago, which started when a beat cop discovered a young woman from the suburbs with her insides removed. Roughly the same area of the city in a blind alley, but the cuts appeared surgical. That old case involved a yet unknown person or persons removing babies from young unwed mothers. In all the cases, lab results indicated they were pregnant. Two were Amish, two Mormon. A summation of the F.B.I. pointed to a person or organization hired to remove the babies to avoid scandal or possibly to cover a crime such as rape or incest. In the current case Hunter’d seen in the alley, the cuts showed signs of resistance to the blade. A minor thing, but something he learned from the M.E. If it was the same ‘perp’, he might not have the cash for Swedish steel. He may have been in the joint for another crime. The slash of the throat may have symbolized a threat to silence someone. The previous crimes showed no signs of struggle. If Lattish caught the case, he’d look at all angles like that. As with innocence of a woman, the killer was always a man. Hunter’s mind flipped sideways. ‘I wonder if we missed some because a woman was the killer. It did not fit. The profile was always the default. ‘A man did it.’

The four that followed were copycats, but in the suburbs. Two years he and Lattish worked with the F.B.I. One day they stopped. Those were the only killings that escaped he and Lattish.

Phillips wondered what case awaited him. The pit of his stomach told him; he’d be in the alley.

Hunter looked back on his recent payday. Large enough to keep the wolf away. The case presented an odd twist. Phillips was a suspect in wife tampering. Which meant the little red headed Poodle tart was off limits. He loved red heads. His wife Alice and Anita both had beautiful red hair. He'd have to get his need filled at some other spot.

The phone rang. He looked at it. Thought about not answering it, then he did.

Phillips.

Hey dad, how are you doing? His daughter asked.

Great, Mary Alice how are you and the kids?

We're great, dad, Bill got some tickets to the game and wanted to know if you wanted to go with us. Big family thing. His mother's going too. All the kids, it will be great. I'll make sandwiches. You and Bill can get a little sloshed. Please. Kids haven't seen you in months.

"I had plans, Mary Alice. Gina wants me to go for dinner. (That was Sat. Night and the game was on Sunday. But if Gina's plans played out, he'd still be in bed by game time.)

Oh, dad, please. The kids really want to see you and hear about the Royal Army and all. They love your stories.

'It wasn't the Royal Army. That was his father. Hunter was in the U.S. Air Force. Four years he