Squeezer and Bongo

by Terrie Farley Moran

About the Author: Recipient of both the Agatha and the Derringer awards, Terrie Farley Moran is the author of the beachside Read 'Em and Eat cozy mystery series; co-author of Laura Childs’s Scrapbooking mystery series; and has published numerous short stories in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine and various anthologies. Her web address is www.terriefarleymoran.com

Excerpt

After reading a witness deposition about a construction accident, I closed my eyes and leaned back in my swivel chair. It wasn’t the kind of statement a corporate defense attorney likes to see. I was mentally piecing together a sharp rebuttal when I was distracted by voices outside my office door.

Andrea, my assistant, got louder and more forceful.

“Mr. Bongorelli cannot be disturbed but I am happy to schedule an appointment.”

 “Don’t worry, Babe, he’ll see me. You tell him it’s Squeezer Markham. He’ll know …”

I flew out of my chair and yanked the door open. His dark hair was streaked with gray and drawn back in an untidy ponytail. Typical jock, he wore his green and blue high school football jacket no matter it was decades old.

I grabbed his arm and dragged him into my office.

“What the hell do you want?”

He brushed my hand away. “Don’t be like that. I’m in a jam. First person I thought of, my old buddy Bongo.”

“Buddy? When were we buddies? I can’t even count the times you pushed my head into a locker and pressed the door hard on my neck, trying to squeeze me unconscious. And not only me. You bullied everyone and then …” I pointed to the nickname stitched above the Roosevelt High logo on his jacket, “… you wore the name ‘Squeezer’ like an outlaw’s coat of arms. News flash, we meant it as a pejorative.”

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