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williams the butler looks out the window of the collinson residence on w 86th street. |
is it his imagination or is there something or someone in the shadows? |
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inside the apartment cosima collinson wonders whether it was really worth it to hire the detective fortescue
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to protect the upcoming exhibition by the celebrated pete palomine |
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as fortescue heads back downtown accompanied by the restless suburbanite carol
chandler |
who after a stimulating adventure earlier that evening, |
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and after a fight at the apartment of her friends peter and estelle,
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has left her husband michael aka henry to his own devices,
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which have led him to the prince hal room of the venerable hotel st crispian,
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where he has encountered the pulp writer harold p sternhagen |
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who in turn has abandoned him in order to approach the celebrated chanteuse shirley de la salle |
the singer for the st crispian house band, tony winston and his winstonians, |
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leaving michael to the company of some of the hotel's long term residents, |
notably the former flapper miss caroline collinson
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and her crony lord wolverington |
as well as remittance man "farmer" brown
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and pulp science fiction writer fred flynn, |
who wishes he were accompanying harold and shirley, who have just left the bar |
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with the mysterious mr burgoyne and mr o'toole, |
whom he would never suspect of not only being aliens who have just arrived on earth
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but of being aliens who have been introduced to some of the planet's more esoteric
pleasures |
by the hipsters landon "rooster" crow and alice "sniffy" smith |
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who are doing some waiting of their own at bob's bowery bar for the"two bills" |
who might be having problems of their own after leaving the automat
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under the indifferent gazes of change attendant and aspiring novelist polly powell |
and crusading reporter flossie flanagan,
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who has not had much luck getting information from
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the celebrated actress hyacinth wilde |
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about her involvement with the international jewel thief stanley slade, |
who has just escaped from prison, |
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and who, if flossie only knew, is hiding in room 603 of the hotel st crispian, |
aided and abetted now by his new friend the chambermaid cosette,
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and is waiting with growing impatience for his cohort jake the bellhop |
who is returning from an errand at a drugstore on seventh avenue, |
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accompanied by lullaby lewinsky, whom he met at an all night diner |
where he stopped to introduce himself to the legendary miss gayle warning. |
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lullaby is trying to interest jake in the story of
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his old army acquaintance corporal gray, who is also the subject of |
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the suddenly awakened memories of williams, |
the butler at the collinson residence, |
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where young conrad collinson |
and frisco johnny ramirez continue their discussion |
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of conrad's new career as a boxer, the prospect of which
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has arisen from their altercation earlier that evening |
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inspired by johnny's choice of words about |
the mysterious angie, who has disappeared |
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after causing conrad the embarrassment |
of being arrested on charges of drug smuggling and white slavery |
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and whose whereabouts are being sought by the private detectives vic vance and lou gracchus |
who have been hired on conrad's behalf by the lawyer will wiley |
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all of whom would be surprised to know that angie is back in town
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where, after enlisting the services of cabdriver philip pirrip aka mac |
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she has been placed in the blue suite of the hotel st crispian |
by the night clerk roland |
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and where she has secured the tentative loyalties of olaf the doorman |
and chester the bellhop |
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before heading out to the poker game at red's west side diner
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where after finding her old friend the radical agitator ambrose |
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behind the wheel of yet another cab, |
she encounters another old acquaintance
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the independent entrepreneur tommy sullivan,
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who is also curious as to the current whereabouts of stan slade,
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as is mister nolan, the house detective at the hotel st crispian. |
but stan's secret is safe with mortimer the elevator operator, |
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who dozes in his chair beside the elevator,
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dreaming in the endless night |
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in the city that never sleeps |
to be continued |
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