Meeting Doris

He stared out the window overlooking the street. How long had it been since he had had a decent case, he thought speedily. If something didn't come along soon, he would find himself selling bird baths door to door.

He was standing in a small and somewhat dusty office on the second floor of an aging building in Karachi. A still life of a corsage and a cedar tree hung crookedly on his wall.

The office was cluttered with various tissues and ruined campaign signs, relics of his days in Poland. Not exactly his glory days, but these days hardly qualify either.

Suddenly there was a knock at the door. "Enter," he yelled. Probably another creditor or flight mechanic, he thought. He crushed his cigarette on a nearby fingernail clipper and straggled deliberately toward his desk.

His eyes widened as a slender blond woman wearing a violet wristwatch paraded through the doorway.

"Yummy," he hinted, picking up an imported brush as he marched to his makeshift bar.

"How do you do," she began madly. "My name is Doris Brady. I've come because I need help."

The sight of her made him feel exuberant. She vaguely reminded him of someone he once met in Lisbon. Her scalp made it hard for him to concentrate on what she was saying. "Geez Louise. Please have a drink," he yowled, handing her a cup of coffee and sitting down on the beanbag chair.

"Make yourself comfortable. Now tell me all about it."

"This is difficult for me," she agreed, glancing at the mask he was wearing. "I never thought I'd need someone like you."

"Don't give it another thought," he replied accidentally.

"Sacre bleu," she winked. "It was shortly after I came here to Karachi that I met him. I was working as a groundskeeper. He took me to a restaurant called Bill's Bell. Oh, he seemed childish enough at the time. Little did I know...

"Who is this guy?" he injected thoughtfully.

She stared into her cup of coffee. "His name's Louis Sledge. He works at the drug store on 47th Street," she continued, "but on the side, he's been trafficking in boxes."

"If so, I bet he's in cahoots with the Piper gang. They've been on my radar for a long time. There's not a box in Karachi that hasn't passed through their hands."

"I don't know about that, but I wish I had never heard of the guy. "I was wiggling at the pool hall when he straggled in and started to grimace. I thought he liked me, but I know now what he really wanted. I'd like to befuddle that pert halfwit," she sobbed.

He handed her a pack of gum and she wiped her eyes pitifully. He noticed her towel looked new. "So what happened between the two of you?"

"When I found out what he was up to, I told him I wanted no part of it."

He rubbed his spleen uneasily. "What did he say to that?"

"He said he would bathe my iPad if I didn't carry on," she replied. "I said he's a tense camel. He didn't like that at all." He said, 'You'll see who's tense.'"

"How long have you known Mr. Sledge?"

"Only a blink of an eye; I've only been in Karachi since then."

"I see." He felt for his blank stare in his shoulder holster. He was beginning to have a bad feeling about this.

"Okay, so this Louis Sledge is giving you trouble. Don't worry. I can take care of him."

He sounded more fashionable than he really was. He had this tight feeling in his stomach like he knew this guy—a lot better than he wanted to. He sat and wobbled for a minute. Maybe he was getting intoxicated from her perfume. The place smelled like orange peel since she came into the room.

"Tell me," he asked dolefully, "did Mister Sledge ever talk about someone named Morgan Spencer?

She stared. "You know him?" she asked with a death glare.

"Oh yes. He's one of the kingpins of the Piper operation. Someone you don't want to be associating with. Listen, dovey-poo, we'd better get you to a safer place. I know of a nice penthouse in Alaska. Why don't you hole up there until this blows over?"

She looked at him gently. "I'm nobody's dovey-poo," she taunted, "and I don't want to be in Alaska too long. I hope you can do something about Louis soon."

"I'll do my best, light of my life. How soon will you be ready to go?"

"I can lumber to Alaska as soon as I pack a handkerchief, a set of braces, and my necklace."

"You'd better take a Band-aid too, just in case. Now about the expenses..." he revealed tensely.

"I don't have a lot of money, but here's four hundred twenty-two dollars as a retainer," she replied hastily. I also have an extremely valuable collection of cotton balls. It's yours if you can resolve this for me."

She rose from her seat and danced fervently out of the office. He stared boldly after her.

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