Member-only story
A murder mystery (a parody with apologies to Raymond Chandler)
Farewell Barley June
Chapter 6: The Brig
The heavy wrought-iron gates shielding the outside world from the Caldwell estate inch open, allowing Harlow’s yellow T-Bird to putter through and curve into a semicircle. Tall green hedges thoroughly screen it from the street.
“It was a nice little front yard.” The car comes up the entrance and disappears under an archway. “The house was okay. It was no Hearst Castle, but it was a honker.”
Gregory, the Caldwell butler, emerges from a door and beckons Harlow to follow him into the library.
Emma kneels before Uncle Alfred’s wicker wheelchair, feeding him from a jar of baby food. Harlow walks in and joins Emma and Uncle Alfred. Emma looks up with a smile. “Hi. I’ll be just a minute. Uncle Alfred, this is Miss Harlow.”
“How do you do, mister Caldwell?” Uncle Alfred, a lean-jawed sourpuss, somewhere between eighty and death, remains sullen and silent.
“What do you say, Uncle Alfred?” Old Caldwell furrows his brow and squints his eyes in senile petulance. His lips stay tightly clenched, and his bony arms are crossed in determination.
