The Crop of Wickedness – EXCERPT # 1
Harold Bergman is approached for a case in a most unusual setting: while he is on a picnic with Eileen
He stopped and stood several feet from us, hands at his side, and with no further movement. Initially, he made no effort to speak. I looked over his shoulder.
“Rolls-Royce Phantom?” I inquired.
“Phantom II. Continental.” His response carried the slightest touch of pride, closer to respect.
“Would that be a 1931?”
“Thirty-three, sir.” The pleasantries did not indicate any concern on his behalf. For the moment. “I’m looking for Mr. Harold Bergman,” he continued with an official tone.
“You’ve found him.”
“My name is Liam Smathers. I am in the employ of Mrs. Sylvia Morgan-Smith who requests a consultation with you.”
“Great. I can set an appointment for Monday—”
“Now, sir.”
It was a definitive statement. Mr. Smathers stopped speaking. He didn’t wait for a response so much as an acknowledgement of acquiescence to the request. In that moment, the sun stopped shining on his face and left it in a complete shadow. The darkness of the disagreeable remained.
“I need to escort the young lady home,” I finally replied gallantly.
“Miss Horowitz is welcome to join us.”
Now I was concerned. The idea that he knew me, looked for me, and then found me could be explained. That was my profession. But he knew the name of my companion, and that presented an otherworldly aspect to it. My car was in the parking lot a good twenty to thirty yards away. To make a run for it didn’t make as much sense as acquiescing to a meeting with Mrs. Sylvia Morgan-Smith. The sound of her name carried too much stature to indicate a criminal nature. Then again, neither did “Baby Face” Nelson.
Harold Bergman, Jewish shamus and WW II vet, is ready to settle down with his high school flame. When a society lady offers a job too simple, Harold winds up neck-deep in a 25-year-old murder tied to a dead gangster and secrets no one wants unearthed. Just as the dust settles, a regular job with an insurance outfit drags him into something darker and more sinister. Now the dead are whispering and the living are lying. He’ll need the strength of his five-thousand-year-old religion to survive the wickedness of the past.
The Crop of Wickedness, Volume 3 of The Wichita Chronicles, will be released October 8, 2025. It is available for pre-order here.
“THE PAST HAS COME TO HARVEST”
