Georgia

Duncan Hammer, PI

The Case of the Almond Brandy

Duncan Hammer had had enough. The city was slowly falling apart around him, and only the booze and the stale smell of perfume kept him going.
It was going to be a long night and he new what long nights called for: Brandy.
He poured himself a glass and meditated on it. The luster of the Brandy spoke to him.
He poured another.
And another.
Finally, he had five full glasses of Brandy before him.
What a night.

Georgia is No Place for a PI

Hammer had taken the case hesitantly.
You don't fly down to Georgia on a whim. And you certainly don't do it without all expenses paid.
He was on a night bird, sailing the atmosphere from California to Atlanta.
He paused to look out the window and the shape of things down on the ground. The Earth looked so calm and peaceful from up high.
So different from the hell he was flying into.
"Stewardess, can I get some nuts?" Hammer asked with only the slightest of grins.
The stewardess came back with the nuts and handed them to Hammer. He sat silently eating them and thinking about how he was going to pay for them.

Murder in Atlanta

The body lay on the dresser. The arms hung over each side and the face uplifted as though it was crying to God for just one more chance.
But there were no more chance. Not in this world.
Hammer took out a cigar and lit it. "Did you get a name?"
The detective looked at him and said "Barbara. Barbara Schlomo."
"You kidding me?" Hammer began to smile. Then laugh. "Schlomo?"
"Sir?"
"It's just so…Schlomo?!" Hammer couldn't help himself. He just found some names funny.

Body of Lies; Body of Evidence

"So you're telling me this woman just hung herself, then cut herself down and laid herself out on this dresser?!" Hammer was incredulous.
"No. Who told you that?"
"I don't know. I come in here, I see this broad with a yoke on her neck, lying on the dresser. I guess I put two and two together."
"But no one told you that."
"The room told me."
"Well, that's not how it happened."
"Good. That would've been damn spooky."