Free Castle Murders by John Dechancie Page A

trousers, and black patent leather shoes. A white carnation boutonnière adorned the jacket's left lapel. His dark hair was slicked back, highlights glistening in the track lighting.  
    He looked sharp as a tack and twice as jaggy.
    The office was lavishly furnished in blond wood and chrome, the floor a meadow of plush white carpeting. He sat at the expansive oval desk and reached for a silver box, from which he withdrew a cigarette. Lighting it with a silver lighter, he inhaled deeply. He shot smoke into the still air.  
    He lifted the receiver of a white desk phone and dialed three numbers. After waiting a moment he said, "I'm here. What's up?"
    He listened.
    "Where? At the bar? Uh-huh. Who is she?"
    He nodded.
    "Right. I'll be right down."
    He got up and went to a bar that fronted a mirror. Selecting a bottle of whiskey, he poured himself two fingers, then hit the stuff with a shot or two of seltzer. He swished the mixture around, then drank it off.  
    He put the glass down and took a look at himself in the mirror, angling his head one way, then the other. Satisfied, he left the room, closing the door behind him.  
    Â 
    The piano player was on between sets, doggedly plugging away at standard ballads. Nobody was listening. There was a big crowd, and they were noisy, awash with drink, giddy with laughter. Wreaths of smoke hung in the air. Smells of liquor and perfume and cigarette butts. Ice tinkled, silverware rattled. Busboys bused, and waiters waited.  
    He came down the curving staircase slowly, one hand in his pocket. He paused midway, took the cigarette from his mouth, and surveyed the floor.  
    A woman waved. He flashed a smile and raised the cigarette hand.
    A man shot his arm up. "Johnnie!"
    He waved back. There were several tablefuls of people he knew. He came down the stairs and wound his way over.
    The woman who had waved met him halfway. She had short dark hair and a pale complexion.
    "Dara, darling."
    "You big lug. Where have you been sequestering yourself?"
    "Don't ask personal sequestions."
    "Ho-ho, you're fast tonight. Always the verbal quick-jabber, aren't you? I like the way you handle your litotes, kid. How'd you like to fight for me?"  
    "Would I have to take a dive?"
    "One and a half gainer into a dry witticism."
    "It seems to me I haven't seen you around here lately."
    "Too fucking busy and vice versa," she said.
    "Still writing for the magazine?"
    "On and off. Book reviews, the occasional casual, or the casual occasional. Not much, really. Mostly I drink and stare out windows."  
    "How's that novel coming?"
    "I did three whole pages two years ago. I'm a sprinter, John."
    "Some of those shorts of yours are superb."
    "I'm blushing. But what's this 'some' stuff?"
    He laughed.
    She pecked him on the cheek. "Everybody's here tonight," she said. "Too many friends in one room is boring. There's no one to talk about behind his back."  
    "I'm glad I'm here."
    "You I say only good things about. I'm going to apply some powder to this hooter of mine. See you later."
    "It will be my pleasure, Mrs. Porter."
    "Don't go sappy on me."
    He walked over to a group of tables, recognizing many faces: Gerald and Izzy Goldfarb, Oliver Lebanon, Rafe Larimer, Geoffrey S. Katzman, Monk Calahan, Rupert Bartleby, Walston Alcott, and Ephraim Skye Fitzhugh and his wife, Selma, among others.  
    "Hi, everybody!"
    "John Carney, as I live and breathe," the rotund Walston Alcott said.
    "Don't hold your breath," Katzman said with acerbity.
    "No winter tan," Alcott said, scrutinizing Carney through small round spectacles. "You weren't in jail, so far as I know. Did you join a monastery?"  
    "No," Carney said. "But I hid out in a big castle."
    "I've heard you're having problems."
    "That's why I came back, not why I hid out. Everybody enjoying themselves tonight?"
    Yeas all around.
    "Except for that funeral music," Jerry Goldfarb said, scowling.
    "You think you can do better?" Carney scoffed.
    "Does a