Free Six Crime Stories by Robert T. Jeschonek

him square in the jaw. As the gorilla-man went down , Carver whirled , expecting an attack from another direction. Instead , he heard someone clapping beyond the spotlit stage.
    Carver shaded his eyes from the spotlight with one caramel-brown hand. Squinting at the shadowy tables , he saw that one woman was doing the clapping...and he recognized her. As she rose from her seat , the folds of her red satin dress draped over her voluptuous body , highlighting every curve. Her long red hair seemed to catch fire when she glided into the blazing spotlight.
    Her name was Sheila Venus , and she was the leader of the Dreamboats. She was the one Carver had been playing piano for when the three men had attacked him.
    " Congratulations , " she said in a throaty , sultry voice. " You passed the audition. "
    Carver looked around at the three men scattered on the dirty dance hall floor. " That was part of the audition? " " I don ' t want another piano player who gets himself killed , " said Sheila.
    Carver nodded. He knew all about the piano player who had gotten himself killed. That man was the whole reason Carver was here , undercover , using his classical piano training to win a spot in a crooked big band.
    That man , the dead piano player , had been Carver ' s brother , Lee.
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    *****
    " Hello , Bud , " said Trudy Moreau as she shook her husband Carver ' s hand. " It ' s very nice to meet you. "
    " Likewise , Tanya. " Carver smiled and made a little bow. While working undercover to infiltrate the Dreamboats , Mr. and Mrs. Carver Moreau--both agents in the secret crimefighting Order of Sister Mayhem--were going by the names " Bud Gulliver " and " Tanya Hamilton. "
    " Do you know , ' Someone to Watch Over Me? '" said Trudy.
    Carver nodded. " Good luck , " he said , and then he sat down at the piano and played the song she ' d requested.
    Trudy cleared her throat , smoothed her white dress , and started to sing. Beyond the rim of the dance hall spotlight , Sheila Venus sat at a table , smoking , drinking , and listening.
    As Carver ' s fingers caressed the chipped piano keys , he looked around the smoky hall. He felt strange being there in his brother Lee ' s place , playing the same song Lee must have played hundreds of times.
    This was how it must have looked to Lee--same piano , same smoke , same Sheila--but Carver knew there was more beneath the surface. He wondered what lurked there , just beyond the spotlight , just out of sight. He wondered what had taken his brother ' s life.
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    *****
    " Let me help you with your bags , sir. " The man from the Dreamboats ' road crew reached for Carver ' s suitcases. " This way to the bus , if you please. "
    " Thanks , " said Carver. " What did you say your name was? "
    " Leonard. " The man smiled. He had a face like a horse--long skull , sunken eyes and high cheekbones , teeth like flagstones. His hair was jet black , and his nose was cut in a sharp crescent wedge like the blade of a hatchet.
    To Carver , there was just one thing that revealed him as anything other than a complete stranger: the tiny , cross-shaped birthmark at the corner of his left eye.
    Leonard was far more than a lowly laborer. In fact , he was not even a man.
    Underneath the elaborate costume--the putty and makeup and hair dye and padding--Leonard was a woman. Carver was actually talking to Kay Swann , the undercover crimefighter who called herself Sister Mayhem.
    Kay was a master of disguise--also a master of investigation and gamesmanship and justice. She commanded a crackerjack network of like-minded knights called the Order of No Mercy , a network that included Carver and Trudy.
    Within the Order , Kay went by the name Sister Mayhem. It suited her , as she had once been a nun; the execution of the Sisters in her convent by cold-blooded criminals had set her feet on the path of justice in the first place.
    Outside the Order , however , her deeds were credited to Mister Mayhem. Kay thought she could create more fear