Wicked Scene on Wicked Wednesday by Lawrence E. Rothstein

WICKED WEDNESDAY

Today's guest on Discover... for Wicked Wednesday is Lawrence E. Rothstein. He's sharing a wicked scene from his book, Venetian Bind.

Scene: At the Venice casino. Su has copied some pictures from the Casino security videos and is confronting some of the suspects who are also at the Casino that night. Korb is in the card room playing high-stakes bridge. There are several wicked characters here: The leader and enforcer of an Italian neo-fascist organization and a woman who was an intelligence officer for Serbian paramilitaries in the Bosnian war. Of course, our heroine, Kelan Su is wickedly clever and tough. Her boss, the corpulent Marko Korb, normally a brilliant, armchair detective, succumbs to a very wicked impulse.

Chekova stood up. “I’ve looked at your pictures. I think we’re done here.”

“I’ll have to ask your new friends about them,” said Su also rising. 

“Suit yourself, honey. But be careful. They’re not as tolerant as I am,” said Chekova.

Su watched Chekova leave the bar and followed her out. Chekova headed straight toward Porello who had been waiting nearby. She whispered a few words to him and nodded her head in Su’s direction.

Su strode directly toward Porello just as he looked toward her with a heated glare. “Signor Porello, I have some photos to show you and some questions,” said Su evenly.

“Screw you!” said Porello with a deadly grimace.

“I think you’d be smarter to answer my questions rather than those of the police,” said Su.

“I don’t give a damn what you think --- and the police, phah,” Porello spat out with a derisive chortle.

“Oh, I think we can take care of your police protection. You should check out my pictures. I hear Pakulić really added to your fascist scum’s string of failures,” said Su with a broad smile.

It was too much for Porello. He lunged at her.

Screams and the rising and falling reverberation of voices signaled a commotion outside in the ballroom. Korb was shuffling the cards expertly, riffling them between his pudgy hands. He slapped the cards down with a crack and laboriously pushed himself up from the table. He moved surprisingly quickly in a gimpy waddle toward the door of the card room. He was sure that whatever was happening, Su was in the middle of it.

Not to worry, he thought. Su could more than take care of herself. She was skilled in martial arts and trained with a variety of weapons. She was his protection after all. He also had confidence in her discretion.

He opened the door to the ballroom and scanned the milling throng of gamblers. Su, at over six feet and in her red dress, was easy to spot. She was standing over a large, shaved-headed man sprawled on his back. Her dress was ripped and her hair, which had been pinned up high, had come down. She was poised ready to strike again. Korb nodded to himself as he approached Su. He was about to ask her what had happened when another man stepped out of the crowd toward them. He had a narrow, weaselly, pockmarked face that was contorted into a grimace of intense hatred.

“You fat meddling fool,” the man hissed. “You and your drag queen Chink whore better get out of Venice or you’re dead.”

Korb was not fazed by threats or insults, but he felt his face flush and sweat break out on his forehead. When the man suddenly turned to Su and spat in her face, Korb lost control. With his teeth bared and ears ringing, he stepped up to the cur and dealt him a tremendous backhand clout to the side of the head. The whop of the blow was audible to the entire noisy crowd which seemed to exhale in shocked unison. Without a sound, the man sank to his knees and then crumpled face down on the floor.

As the heat of the moment began to cool, Korb was surprised to find that, rather than embarrassment over losing his composure, he was light-headed with elation. Su was looking at him with her eyes wide and her mouth gaping. She shook her head once and slowly a small smile dawned on her face. She moved to Korb’s side, put her arm through his, and began to lead him toward the lobby. The murmuring crowd parted before them.

From: Venetian Bind soon to appear from The Wild Rose Press

Venetian Bind has many wicked good gourmet dishes mentioned. Pictured are three of the Venetian
dishes from the book that I and my family made on October 29 and which will be posted on my website. 

Venetian Bind, introduces Marko Korb, a fat, egotistical, and brilliant detective and his associate, Kelan Su, a Chinese-American woman former Chicago police officer, licensed attorney, and martial arts expert.  Korb, a Bosnian Jew, in the U.S. for the past 20 years and renowned for his investigative
work, arrives in Venice to investigate the murder of Stefan Pakulić a former Serbian paramilitary leader and accused war criminal.  The daughter of a Bosnian expat who had rescued Korb from Pakulić’s clutches during the war is a suspect in the killing. Korb is torn between finding the murderer and his sympathy for the Serbian’s killer -- the Venetian bind.

The investigation leads to Pakulić’s connection with Italian neo-fascists planning a terrorist action in Venice. It takes Korb’s genius and the intrepid sleuthing of Su to find the murderer, forestall the terrorist action, and protect the daughter of Korb’s rescuer. 

If you like cerebral, intellectual detectives like Nero Wolfe or Hercule Poirot, you’ll love the brilliant, obese and sedentary Marko Korb. If you are a fan of the energetic and intrepid V.I. Warshawski, Carlotta Carlyle, Archie Goodwin, Perry Mason or Kinsey Milhone, you will find a home with Kelan Su in the Tri-Star Investigation series.

Lawrence Rothstein

Email: lrothstein3@uri.edu

Website: Rothsteinsmysteries.com

Facebook: /Rothsteinsmysteries

Instagram: @Rothsteinsmysteries