5 Client Read online

  And it bothers me that I ride the subway and am annoyed by homeless beggars, and then get home to find my wife has received a dividend check. And what bothers me is the fact that it doesn’t bother me, that I accept these things as a matter of course. And I have to ask myself, Jesus Christ, how far has this hippie from the sixties come?

  And I don’t really know. The word liberal doesn’t embarrass me the way it embarrassed Dukakis, but as I get older and try to raise my family and make it in the outside world, I have to stop and look around every now and then and wonder just how hypocritical I am. I think I still have the same values that I had back then, back in the Age of Innocence, the age of peace marches and brotherhood, the age of Beatles and Dylan, the age of youth. It’s just the money thing that gets in the way.

  So it bothers me, the satisfaction I get out of the Marvin Nickleson/Carlton Kraswell thing. Out of having had my first real paying client. And the thing is, despite how badly the whole thing went, despite being lied to, set up, framed, arrested, cheated, squeezed and mooched, I have a feeling if another chance came along for me to make two hundred bucks a day plus expenses, I’d probably jump at it.

  And it bothers me that I feel that way. And I question my motives and I question my values, and I try to justify my feelings, and all in all I have to admit, no matter how hard I try to rationalize, the fact is I can’t do it. In point of fact, I have no excuse.

  But I have bad teeth.

  Books by Parnell Hall

  Stanley Hastings private eye mysteries

  Detective

  Murder

  Favor

  Strangler

  Client

  Juror

  Shot

  Actor

  Blackmail

  Movie

  Trial

  Scam

  Suspense

  Cozy

  Manslaughter

  Hitman

  Caper

  Stakeout

  Puzzle Lady crossword puzzle mysteries

  A Clue For The Puzzle Lady

  Last Puzzle & Testament

  Puzzled To Death

  A Puzzle In A Pear Tree

  With This Puzzle I Thee Kill

  And A Puzzle To Die On

  Stalking The Puzzle Lady

  You Have The Right To Remain Puzzled

  The Sudoku Puzzle Murders

  Dead Man’s Puzzle

  The Puzzle Lady vs. The Sudoku Lady

  The KenKen Killings

  $10,000 in Small, Unmarked Puzzles

  Steve Winslow courtroom dramas

  The Baxter Trust

  Then Anonymous Client

  The Underground Man

  The Naked Typist

  The Wrong Gun

  The Innocent Woman

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Books by Parnell Hall