Clark of Words

Arthur and Taylor sauntered back to his apartment from Baritimo’s, happy in each other’s company. To Arthur, the stress of the previous two weeks had lifted like a veil. He sought for Taylor’s hand and held it as they walked. The holiday he’d planned would be great now they’d cleared the air. He caught her…

Manny was in his cell. It was his good fortune to be in one on his own. All the other inmates shared, but he’d turned up lucky, somehow: each time the authorities told him he was due a roommate something happened to prevent it. Mostly, it was on account of his new lodger being innocent…

Arthur woke with eyes welded shut by grit. He’d slept little, his mind replaying the newscast of the shredded awning at The Regency and the three women passengers he’d driven to that hotel. There wasn’t a single part of him that wanted the new day to arrive: the prospect of ferrying the women around made…

Manny breathed in the warm summer air, puffed out his chest, and curled the smile of a free man. Behind him the gates to the prison swung shut without a word of farewell. No one waved him goodbye or wished him a safe journey, and his travels were to begin with only a few coins…

An hour later Arthur cruised to a halt beside the entrance to a lengthy Westchester driveway located several miles north-east of Yonkers. The sun was low in the sky but the morning heat rippled across the tree-lined lane ahead of him. He stepped out and opened his passenger door, allowing the ladies to exit his…

Manny had never enjoyed the heat. He was conscious that he was perspiring freely as he stood waiting for the coach to arrive. The day had turned humid and sticky. Sweat created patches of damp across his top and around the crotch of his pants, and he would stink of its staleness later. Even though…

There were double doors into Erica’s office consisting of hand-crafted polished mahogany panels made to glisten by the strenuous efforts of her housemaids. The doors’ brass handles gleamed, as did the other metal artefacts dotted around the room. Indeed, every expensive fitting, every fixture and ornament, from the bookcase that covered one wall from floor…

The police cars didn’t pay Arthur’s cab any attention as they passed him and skidded to a halt in front of Juliet’s guard house. ‘We cut that fine,’ Tina said. ‘Not at all,’ Chloe said. ‘We had plenty time to spare.’ Arthur was alarmed. What on earth had the women done? His foreboding returned. Unconsciously,…

The journey to Paris, NY had left Manny over-hot, irritated and bored. The trip was short but the coach was slow and its progress ponderous. Or at least, that’s the impression it left Manny with. Worse, when he finally got to the town, he found himself stuck in the open beneath the blazing sun with…

The women had relented in the end and given Arthur a few hours off. It was as well they had. Adrenaline pumped through him, making his heart pound and his hands shake. As he’d driven back from Erica Barnes’s mansion his mind had raced over what he’d witnessed and panic had threatened to engulf him.…