Catch a Falling Clown: A Toby Peters Mystery (Book Seven) (26 page)

“I want your help,” Phil said softly. He bit his lower lip.

“Sorry?” I said innocently.

“I need your damn help,” he repeated in a shout.

I looked at him and saw a face full of fury. He didn’t want to do this, but it was something that had to be done. He might hate-love me, but he trusted me, trusted me more than his partner or maybe even his wife and three kids.

“You want me to help you? With what?”

It was coming hard, but he was determined it would come. “A friend is in trouble, needs help, a friend I used to know before I met Ruth.” He had spit part of it out, and it tasted bitter. I knew he would hate me more when he was done, but trust was more important to him now, and he trusted me.

“She came to me for help, knew I was a cop,” he said. “I can’t help her. She has no case, no evidence. She needs … hell …”

“A private investigator,” I supplied without a smile.

Phil turned his back and sighed deeply. “Right,” he said.

“And do I know this person who needs help?” I prompted.

He said nothing, and I repeated my question.

“Mae West,” he said. “It’s Mae West.”

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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

copyright © 1981 by Stuart M. Kaminksy

cover design by Mumtaz Mustafa

This edition published in 2011 by
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