Come Hell or Highball (35 page)
Read Come Hell or Highball Online
Authors: Maia Chance
“So you didn't suspect I bopped off Alfie?” I asked.
“Admittedly, the thought
did
â”
“Could we talk later, Mother? I've got the most awful headache.”
“But Iâ”
“Later,”
I said.
“I shall be at Amberley.”
And
I'd
be anywhere
but
Amberley.
No sooner had Mother left than the door burst open again. In came Miss Ida Shanks, wrapped in her mangy fox fur.
“Burn the photographs you snapped of my underpants,” I said.
“Not on your nelly.” Ida grinned. “Treasure beyond price.”
“What if I told you I've got exclusive evidence of a bootleg operation that implicates not only Lem Fitzpatrick, but also Horace Arbuckle
and
Eloise Wright?”
Ida's grin dropped off. “What sort of evidence?”
“Goodness, Miss Shanks, don't start
drooling,
” I said. “Photographs. The film is still inside the camera.” I pointed to the Brownie on Berta's table. “Only promise that you'll write up the story, and give Mrs. Lundgren and me full credit for narrowing down the suspects and pressuring the murderer into a full confession.”
“Deal.”
“Splash our story across the front page, Miss Shanks,” Berta said, “and we shall also give you dibs on the story of every new case we crack.”
Ida cackled. “Come, now, I don't write for the funny pages. âCases'? âCrack'?”
“Berta and I are setting ourselves up in business,” I said. “As detectives. No more murders, or anything like that. Only ⦠retrieving things.”
“Ah,” Ida said. “Two Labrador retrievers, are you? Yes, I can see that. The breed does tend toward pudge and a certain intellectual ⦠density.”
“Fine.” I slumped back into my pillows and folded my arms. “No deal.”
“Wait,” Ida said.
I lifted my head to look at her.
“Deal,” she said.
Berta rifled through her box of chocolates. “As Thad Parker has often commented,” she said to me, “welcome to the big time, kid.”
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MAIA CHANCE
was a finalist for the 2004 Romance Writers of America Golden Heart Award and is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Washington. She is writing her dissertation on nineteenth-century American literature. She is also the author of the Fairy Tale Fatal mystery series. You can sign up for email updates
here
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Also by
Maia Chance
FAIRY TALE FATAL MYSTERIES
Snow White Red-Handed
Cinderella Six Feet Under
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Contents
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This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously.
COME HELL OR HIGHBALL
. Copyright © 2015 by Maia Chance. All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin's Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.
Cover design by David Baldeosingh Rotstein
Cover images: woman © Incomible / Shutterstock; dress © Helen Lane / Shutterstock; bullet holes © Maxim Ibragimov / Shutterstock; crowd © Fears / Shutterstock
The Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.
ISBN 978-1-250-06787-6 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-1-4668-7654-5 (e-book)
e-ISBN 9781466876545
Our e-books may be purchased in bulk for promotional, educational, or business use. Please contact the Macmillan Corporate and Premium Sales Department at (800) 221-7945, extension 5442, or by e-mail at [email protected].
First Edition: September 2015