by Craig Rice
Lazy-eyes got up and said, “Drive you to the airport. Got time for a few on the way.”
“Thanks,” Malone said, “and let me use the phone for a collect call.” He turned to Andy while he waited and said “At that, the guy had nerve. Trying to shoot his way out of police headquarters with a murder rap on him and a briefcase with about a half million bucks worth of dope!”
He turned back to the phone. “Maggie, darling? You can go up and wake the sleeping beauty now. Tell her everything is settled. Tell her to spend all day tomorrow making herself beautiful, because she has a date with me for cocktails, dinner, and to take the town to bits and bits.”
He yawned. “It’s been a busy day and night, but it was worth it. Because all my life, I’ve wanted a dinner date with a beautiful blonde heiress. And not all fees are paid in cash.”
About the Author
Craig Rice (1908–1957), born Georgiana Ann Randolph Craig, was an American author of mystery novels and short stories described as “the Dorothy Parker of detective fiction.” In 1946, she became the first mystery writer to appear on the cover of Time magazine. Best known for her character John J. Malone, a rumpled Chicago lawyer, Craig’s writing style was both gritty and humorous. She also collaborated with mystery writer Stuart Palmer on screenplays and short stories, as well as with Ed McBain on the novel The April Robin Murders.
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © by Craig Rice
Cover design by Andy Ross
ISBN: 978-1-5040-4850-7
This edition published in 2017 by MysteriousPress.com/Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.
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