Gut Instinct

by James A. Mallory

About the Author: James A. Mallory has more than thirty years of experience in newspaper management, editing, and reporting, mainly in Atlanta and Detroit. Hilton Head inspired James to expand to fiction writing and to write two unpublished novels featuring Alonzo Probe. He is a contributor to Hilton Head Monthly Magazine and Black Business Inc. (Greenville, NC).

Excerpt

I cruised down deserted Woodward Avenue long past midnight after nailing Jamerson Weber III with photos of him stepping out with a leggy redhead. The local jewelry store magnate’s soon-to-be ex-wife owed me five grand for the pictures. The payment would cap a lucrative first year as a full-time private investigator. Perhaps, 1975, just twenty-four hours away, would afford me an office with my name, Alonzo Probe, stenciled on the door.

Unlike my mood, the night was cold and unpleasant, the street slushy from a day-long snowstorm. Woodward wasn’t the fastest way to get home, but I had one more surveillance.

Just as I crossed into Detroit at 8 Mile Road, I spotted a man with long blond hair arguing with a woman outside a diner. The lady wore a black leather biker jacket, jeans, and thigh-high boots. Her brunette hair was in a ponytail that flowed from the back of a dark-colored fedora. The hair color and her physical presence suggested I’d found my second target for the night.

I slowed down my 1972 Deuce and a Quarter—Buick called it an Electra 225—and pulled to the curb. A pair of binoculars confirmed my suspicions. It was Debbie, a cop and former lover who’d saved my life earlier in the year.

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