Wading Into War: A Benjamin Wade Mystery by Scott Dennis Parker

rubbed her thumb and index finger together in the
universal sign of money.
    With their backs to her, Haldeman and Smith
were unable to see Martha. I smiled and nodded once, then gestured her out.
    I sat and leaned my elbows on the desk. “What
brings you into my office?”
    “Chickens,” Smith said.
    I looked to Haldeman for confirmation. He
nodded in assent.
    “Chickens,” I said. “I can’t say I’ve ever had
a case involving chickens.”
    “Judging from how long you’ve been doing this
little job,” Haldeman said, “I’d have to agree with you. But, nonetheless, we
are here on account of chickens.” He reached into his suit and pulled out a
pack of cigarettes. He shook one out, put it between his lips, and lit up.
“Tell him, Elmer.”
    The farmer cleared his throat. I got the
impression he wasn’t used to speaking in public. “Well, you see, Mr. Wade, the
agriculture man, the health inspector man, wants to condemn all my chickens and
kill’em all.”
    I waited for additional details. Smith, his
mouth a thin line with almost no upper lip, sat there as if he had just spoken
a fact, like the color of the sky or the humidity level in town that day.
Turning to Haldeman, I raised my eyebrows. “Burt?”
    Haldeman smiled. “It’s true. Mr. Smith’s entire
brood of chickens has been declared unsanitary by the health inspector. They’re
scheduled to be slaughtered in the next few days. I got Judge Briscoe to put a
temporary injunction on the slaughter, but we’re running outta time.”
    “I’m still not seeing where I come in.”
    Smith frowned. “Ain’t it obvious? I need you to
investigate that bastard inspector and figure out why he’s trying to kill my
livelihood.”
     
    Now available
at Amazon .

 
     
    THE
PHANTOM AUTOMOBILES: A Gordon Gardner Investigation
     
    You met him as a co-star in Wading Into War .
Now, Gordon Gardner stars in his first feature story.
     
    Gordon Gardner, Ace Reporter!
    There’s not a story he can’t crack. He’s got
his finger on the pulse of his town. His dogged tenacity means no politician is
safe. Even the U. S. Army keeps tabs on him to ensure he safely harbors
national secrets. And he looks smashing in a tux.
    His latest assignment is a basic police blotter
piece: a pedestrian struck dead by a car. As a reporter who is second to none,
Gardner’s disappointed. How could a simple accident be worthy of his
considerable talents when there are so many other more interesting stories to
cover? Even his pairing with a beautiful photographer doesn’t lighten his mood.
    His editor wants the piece yesterday. The
police already closed the case. But then Gardner asks a simple question: why
would a seemingly normal person willingly dive in front of a speeding car?
Witnesses said the man went crazy just moments before he leapt to his death.
What he alleged made no sense: he said the cars on the street didn’t exist and
there was only one way to prove it.
    He was wrong. Dead wrong.
    Now, Gordon Gardner, in defiance of his editor
and the police, resolves to investigate the mysterious circumstances behind the
dead man’s life and uncover the real truth behind the phantom automobiles.
     
    Excerpt:
     
    Chapter One
     
     
    “I’ve got two dead bodies," Elijah Levitz, the editor of the Houston
Post-Dispatch , said, flipping two pieces of paper between the fingers of
each hand, “and I’m gonna let one of my two junior ace reporters pick first.”
    Gordon Gardner inwardly bristled at the word junior but knew that he'd
one day be the senior ace reporter. He stood in the main newsroom with the
other reporters and hoped he got first pick. Having successfully flirted with
the editor's secretary long enough to get the gists of both stories, Gordon
knew which one of the stories would have the privilege of bearing his personal
“Gordon Gardner” stamp.
     But which one would he get?
    When the editor called a meeting, the news hounds had gathered liked
sheep to a shepherd around