About The Retrieval
by Lucius Parhelion
62 pages / 16300 words
ISBN: 978-1-61040-229-3
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It's 1932, and Hollywood is entering its golden age. Charlie Hunter, veteran of the Algonquin Round Table, has just arrived to start his new contract as a scriptwriter. Jake Mor, an old friend and protégée, planned to help Charlie with his house-hunting. Unfortunately, Laura Moore, Jake's twin and Charlie's other protégée, has asked them to pick up her gifts for a studio bigwig first. Worse, she needs Charlie for an escort to the bigwig's birthday party.
Antique hunting equipment is an odd gift. A rare, pedigree Weimaraner is a surprising gift. But what Jake has learned about his preferences in Hollywood is the most startling gift of all. In just one day a swimming pool, a predatory studio executive's wife, a hand-carved teal decoy, and Ducky the dog lure Charlie and Jake into unwrapping what has been hidden between them for far too long.
Sample
When he got into the '32 roadster, Charlie turned
around to check on Ducky the dog, who sat tall in the rumble seat next to
the upended wicker basket, examining his new surroundings with interest,
"You're doing well. Good boy."
Ducky received his due accolade graciously. Charlie turned back to ask Jake,
"Where to next?"
Jake gazed at him silently, all of the wariness returned to his features.
"Oh, don't give me that look. You're the one who just now confirmed you've
been busy changing teams." The traffic was light and the sidewalks were
empty now that Burke was returning inside. "If you believe I didn't have my
suspicions even without meeting one of your recent playmates, I think I'm
insulted."
"Really? If you suspected, I wish you'd told me." Jake glowered even as he
started the car. "I could have used the news a lot earlier than I got it,
and it's not like you didn't have a great chance to say something right
after we first met."
"What? You mean after that proposition of yours?" On some level, Charlie was
amazed to hear himself raise his voice in public. "Are you mad? Jake, you
were sixteen!" Then he craned around to check their surroundings again. No,
they were driving through a quiet Hollywood neighborhood.
But Jake still had to raise his voice right back, even if it was only to be
heard over the engine. "So what? You were, I don't know, twenty-five?"
"Twenty-six, as opposed to sixteen. I was too old for you even if you hadn't
been offering up your all merely to keep your sister from having to do
likewise with my fellow backer because of his moronic ideas about how to
cast that insipid rooftop review."
"Trust you to get that said in one breath." Jake snorted. "And, let me point
out here, The Nighttime Chorale not only paid back the stake you inherited
from your uncle, it made Laura's career. Once you forced Kimble and the
producers to cast her."
"Because she could sing, and because Kimble, the producers, and I had all
agreed not to use the casting couch. He deserved any frustration he got
after trying to cheat on our deal."
"Doesn't change the fact you made them cast her. I would have come across,
you know. Fair's fair."
"Sixteen. Back then your sister would have needed to look up the anatomy to
find out where to start, and she still would have gelded me with a dull and
rusty tuning fork."
"Maybe," Jake said although he had winced.
"Likely. Don't forget, I know the pair of you. I know you both all too well.
And I prefer escorting her to dinner parties while speaking in a baritone,
thank you." Charlie narrowed his eyes. "Don't you dare tell me you weren't
relieved at the time."
"Maybe?"
"Aroo," Ducky interjected, his half-bark, half-moan disapproving.
"No," Charlie told him. "You do not get an opinion. You weren't present;
believe me, I would have noticed."
"I think he saw a cat at that last stop sign. Anyhow, 'maybe' is all you
get. After you marched me back home to Hell's Kitchen that night, Laura
asked me what I thought I was trying to do, and I couldn't altogether tell
her. I had to wonder. Then, after I moved out here, and female extras were
trying hard to cozy up to Laura Moore's brother, I had to wonder even more.
'How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable--'"
"Thank you, Master Shakespeare. Good to know you paid attention to more than
maps in those college classes."
"I wasn't going to waste Laura's money even if I did pay her back."
"Oh? You don't sponge worth a damn, do you? No wonder she's reduced to
sneaking you gloriously ridiculous roadsters on birthdays when you can't
refuse." Charlie took a deep breath and let it out. He had no right to
complain, but since Jake had broached the topic-- "I've been in and out of
Hollywood for years, you know, if you were so very, very curious."