The Mystery of the Backward Riding Cyclist: A New Underwood and Prim Adventure

They ascended the narrow stairway side by side and passed through the hanging arabesque patterned rug and entered into the luxurious room lit only by a window to the world whose walls were lined with bookshelves and hand written journals where Prim waited patiently cross-legged on the settee reading the newspaper. "There is nothing irregular to report. I have recently observed an orderly and well-kept city."

Adam gathered together Gordon's singularly black wardrobe.

Prim gave a furtive smile. "Other than, perhaps, the usual shenanigans."

Cassandra began to boil water for heartsease tea.

"I have had an excellent weekend setting down the details of our recent adventures together regarding the haunted song and mystery of the second scrawl," the elucidator of the eerie continued. "I am expecting Mason to arrive shortly with a new client, a young, independent woman of extraordinary talent and potential for literary success who he encountered by happenstance at the recent Printers Row Lit Fest. It seems that she is troubled by a reoccurrence of remarkable singularity. Although they were unaware of my presence there in disguise, not only did I procure a magnificent find of The Atlantic Souvenir from 1835, I also discovered a node along a ley line through whose portal I enjoyed an invigorating sojourn along the Chicago River. As you know, I am not a collector of rarities or seeker of opulent possessions. I merely hunt them in order to sustain my existence during feral periods between my spectacularly successful cases due to the jealous natures of my competitors, save for one. The haunted mind is a delicate thing, so I must ask you both to leave as soon as they arrive, for this potential client does not believe in either magic or the eerie; therefore, I must win over her confidence in my abilities in my usual manner of rational discourse though I already foresee a quite macabre resolution."



©2019 by L.P. Van Ness. All rights reserved.



[genre: eerie fiction]