Marked Man (A Victor Carl Novel Book 6)
William Lashner
Language: English
Pages: 432
ISBN: B000GCFX6I
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
It must have been a hell of a night. One of those long, dangerous nights where the world shifts and doors open. A night of bad judgment and wrong turns, of weariness and hilarity and a hard sexual charge that both frightens and compels. A night where your life changes irrevocably, for better or for worse, but who the hell cares, so long as it changes.
It must have been a night just like that, yeah, if only I could remember it.
All Victor Carl knows is that he’s just woken up with his suit in tatters, his socks missing, and a stinging pain in his chest thanks to a new tattoo he doesn’t remember getting: a heart inscribed with the name Chantal Adair.
My apartment is trashed, my partnership is cracking up, I’m drinking too much, flirting with reporters, sleeping with Realtors. Frankly, I’m in desperate need of something hard and clean in my life, and finding Chantal is all I have.
Is Chantal Adair the love of Victor’s life or a terrible drunken mistake? Victor intends to find out, but right now he’s got bigger concerns. His client, a wanted man, needs to come in out of the cold, and he’s got a stolen painting for Victor to use as leverage.
But someone is not happy that the painting has surfaced. Or that the client is threatening to tell all. Or that Victor is sniffing around for information about Chantal Adair. The closer Victor comes to figuring it all out, the deeper into danger he falls, as the ghosts of the past return to claim what’s theirs.
He wanted to make a movie.” “Who doesn’t?” said Skink. “I got this idea myself. It’s about a private dick in Fresno what brings down a motorcycle gang to help a damsel in distress. Turns out the damsel ain’t so much in distress and ain’t so much a damsel. All I needs to do is write the screenplay. What’s it take to write a screenplay anyway?” “Just a few free hours, I’m sure,” I said. “You spent some time in Fresno, didn’t you, Phil?” “So he’s out west, is that it?” said Skink, quickly
fought a smile for a moment and then picked up her fork. “Maybe I will have one,” she said as she speared a dumpling. TRIANGULATION IS as easy as one, two, three. We had the numbers from Stanford Quick’s cell phone, we had the name from Sheila the Realtor, and we had an intriguing piece of information picked up from Skink’s contacts in Savannah. Our friend Lavender Hill had mentioned something to one of his more sinister associates. Lavender had said he was thinking of getting into the film
mom’s an actress, she’s always playing a part.” “And she acts for Uncle Theodore?” “When she’s not too busy at the office.” “I see. Where is everybody?” “In the screening room. Downstairs, just across from the billiards room. Theodore’s showing his newest film.” “Why aren’t you there?” “I’m not allowed. Theodore’s very strict.” I took a step forward, stooped down to speak with her at eye level. “How is he strict?” “He takes care of me, he looks out for me. I don’t know. He’s very nice to
Let’s go.” We piled into the cab, Joey and I in the front seat, Charlie sitting in the back next to Monica, and headed out of Ocean City. We drove around the traffic circle at Somers Point, with its bars and liquor stores. Signs pointed toward the Garden State Parkway, which led to the Atlantic City Expressway and straight to the heart of Philadelphia. “Let’s go back the way we came,” I said. “That’s way the hell out of the way,” said Joey. “So it is, but we have another stop to make.”
feet for the second time. The cop was young, his hat was tilted low over his eyes. “Oh, look,” I said, standing a little straighter. “A nice policeman. Why don’t you boys ask him to help you find Charlie?” “Don’t even try,” said Fred. Louie grabbed the collar of my shirt and pulled me down to his level. “Don’t even try, boysy.” “Should I call the nice policeman over?” Fred looked behind him, did a double take, then tapped Louie on the shoulder. Louie turned, went wide-eyed. Without taking