Bendouski—page 2

As he started to take the lens off his camera, he saw a flash and heard the muffled sound of a gunshot next door. “Whoa!”

Scott clicked the lens back in place and fired off three motor-drive shots of a dimly lit room in the house next door. He waited a second and saw some shadowy movement in the room. “Uh-oh.” Still using the motor drive, he finished off the frames on the roll. “Gotcha! I think.”

Then he noticed a burly guy sitting in a chair at the edge of the bushes. “What the hell?”

The man didn’t seem to be affected by the gunshot. He turned back from the window, took a drag off his cigarette, and went back to staring up and down the street.

Scott put a new roll in his camera and was about to record the disinterested witness when suddenly a big hairy hand came down on the camera lens. 

Startled, Scott jumped. “Whoa! Hi.”

He was staring up at a big angry man. “What the hell are you doing out here, you peeping Tom?”

“Ahhh, man.” Scott glanced down at the hairy ham-hock gripping his lens and said, “Ease off tough guy. It’s really okay, I’m a licensed detective. I was hired by a guy’s wife to see if he’s cheating on her. Wait.” Scott fumbled through his pockets with his free hand. “Juuust one second.” He handed his card to the man. “Here’s my card, see?”

The man took the card, studied it, but never let go of the camera lens. “Moss and Archer?”