Chapter 2<\/b><\/p>\n
“How many elephants does it take to change a light bulb?”<\/p>\n
That’s what I was asking myself as I balanced precariously on on my desk on one foot, screwing in a replacement for the burned out light overhead.<\/p>\n
It wasn’t like there was much else I could do in the next day or two. The Chief had been apologetic about it, but they needed to impound my gun and suspend my license while they ran a match against the bullet inside poor Manny. I’d been at the scene, and I’d been packing heat. Rules are rules.<\/p>\n
No law though against being in my office. It’s a small space, but that suits me fine. Just a door with a shingle opening onto a little side street in the sketchier part of town, but that’s never stopped cases from finding their way to my door. Seems trouble has a way of finding me.<\/p>\n
So I shouldn’t have been so surprised when a voice behind me in the darkness called my name. But I was so focused on fixing that damn bulb I nearly tumbled right off the desk then and there. Which would’ve been a helluva way to make a first impression.<\/p>\n
Trying to recover what was left of my dignity, I finished screwing in the bulb, got down off the desk and turned to face my new client. And what a client!<\/p>\n
She was dark haired and slender, with eyes as big as saucers and legs that seemed to go on forever. She had a look all her own, and somehow the whole package fit together like God was having a really good day. I could’ve spent all day just drinking in the sight of her, and I probably would have, if she hadn’t spoken up again.<\/p>\n
“Are you the Smellephant? Or do I call you Mr. Smellephant?” She had a lilting English accent that reminded me of tea cozies and old castles, of wild brambles and cottages by the sea. I could feel myself falling, and falling hard.<\/p>\n
But rule number one in this business is don’t fall for the clients. So I pulled myself together and put on my best tough guy face. “Sister, you can call me whatever you want. How can I help you?”<\/p>\n
That’s when she smiled, and I knew I was a goner. “I think I shall call you Mr. Smellephant. It suits you quite nicely. I must say you are far more handsome in person than in the picture books. And I have a case for you.”<\/p>\n
“And you would be?”<\/p>\n
“My name is Rebecca. Rebecca Winthrop.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Chapter 2 “How many elephants does it take to change a light bulb?” That’s what I was asking myself as I balanced precariously on on my desk on one foot, screwing in a replacement for the burned out light overhead. It wasn’t like there was much else I could do in the next day or … Continue reading “A Nose for Danger, part 3”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.kenperlin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9755"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.kenperlin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.kenperlin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.kenperlin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.kenperlin.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9755"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"http:\/\/blog.kenperlin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9755\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9763,"href":"http:\/\/blog.kenperlin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9755\/revisions\/9763"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.kenperlin.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9755"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.kenperlin.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9755"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.kenperlin.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9755"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}