Don’t panic, a new bit of “Joe in Africa” will be up soon. This is “Atlanta” a wild detective novel with some wealthy folks acting badly.

Chapter one

She put down her book and walked across the living room floor, and out the double doors.

To her right, Kimberly, could hear her father Jacob talking with someone in the distant entry. Her bare feet felt the coolness of the ancient parquet floor beneath them. Kimberly looked in the direction of the voices down that long, dark, hallway that she knew so well.

She still remembered all the aromas of the house from when she was a baby, as she crawled over the smooth, colorful, silk carpet runners her parents had brought back from their honeymoon in China, some thirty years ago.

She could remember the feel of the texture of the wood flooring under her chubby knees as she crawled off the carpet and on to the wood flooring that ran throughout the entire house.

She remembered the light changing from that bright yellow kitchen that was all sun and brightness and into the dark,  mysterious hallway that seemed so full of adventure.

Kimberly, now twenty and known as Kim to most, was a beautiful, nearly grown woman. She had the mature look of beauty and intelligence that drew in boys and men that were far too old for her.

Those who were not yet wise enough to be wary of her and others like her would surely come to a bad end. Kimberly was cold and calculating.

Those who fell in love with her perfect face and body seldom noticed Kim’s, subtle dangerous side. Not until it was far too late, that is.

As Kim turned her slim, nimble body and walked to the sound of the voices, the fleeting aroma of orange blossoms came into the house from the garden on a faint breeze through the open French doors of the dining room.

The doors led into the enclosed courtyard of the house.

It was the enchanted wonderland of Kim’s childhood memories that was big enough to get lost in, but not large enough to pique the neighbors. Not that Jacob or his wife ever worried about that.

Perfect, bright, shafts of rainbow colored light flew off of the small crystal chandeliers that hung down from the ceiling of the grand hallway every ten feet or so and cast rainbow colored shafts of light on to it’s walls and floor a she walked to the door.

That hallway that had been so inviting to the baby Kim because of all the paintings colorful displays that wealth brings seemed endless then.

The valuable objects set about with such fine taste might have intrigued her if she were older. Now what caught her eye was simply all of their different shapes, colors and shadows that were cast all around her due to the bight sun coming down the hall. This hallway could become foreboding in an instant for exactly the same reasons to adults. It all depended on the light that came through the giant windows at either end of that long hall.

As Kim approached her father she saw Tobias, and his lovely wife Dorothy talking with “daddy.”

Dorothy looked gorgeous as always.

She was dressed in a white dress, with a large black and white magnolia flower print and white high-heeled shoes. Dorothy’s hair and makeup were perfect as usual.

She carried a black and white purse with her, and wore white disk-shaped earrings. Dorothy looked younger than her thirty-five years. She had a slim frame, bright green eyes, and black hair that was pulled back tightly to accentuate her perfect face.

She stood very poised as the men talked.

Dorothy had been trained by her mother since early childhood on how to attract “the right kind of fellow.” Her mother was cut from that same white, want to be wealthy, want to marry well cloth that many of the women of her generation were cut from.

Dorothy was bright, beautiful, clever, and from the right social strata that almost guaranteed that her southern, pastoral life was going to be perfect.

Her husband, Tobias was dressed perfectly as well, as always.

His lovely body was made to wear expensive suits of any cut or style.

He was smart, with a face that was a little narrow yet handsome. He had large blue eyes, a charming smile, and large soft hands. He didn’t work with his hands anymore unless you called undressing his lover’s work.

Tobias started off working in his grandfather’s lumberyard and mill while still in high school, like all of his cousins. But now he was selling insurance in his father’s office. 

His father had taken the business over from his father and so on it went as it always had.

This had gone on for several generations.

Dorothy thought that Tobias was a great catch, and he was, except for one small detail. He had been one of the many male lovers of Kimberly’s father.

There was a fourth person standing in the hall at the front door as well. Kim had never seen him before. He was a little younger than Tobias or Dorothy.

He looked to be in his late twenties or very early thirties.

He also seemed very comfortable in his skin. He reminded Kim of the older men at her father’s club who knew that they had made all the money that they would ever need, and that their families would be well provided for long after they all had turned to dust in their graves.

The stranger was about six-feet tall, of average build at first appearance, but perhaps with something hidden or held back under his pale blue shirt and not apparent at first glance.  He also had that feel and look, and even the smell of all Kim’s father’s friends.

They all looked like they were wealthy, self-assured people, and most were. But those that were wealthy were not “showy.”

The old families around Kim and her family were never  “showy.”

It had long been considered in bad taste by the elite and those who had wanted to reach that level of society, to show too much of your wealth.

As Kim walked closer to this small knot of people at the front door, Jacob, Kim’s father, started to introduce the stranger who now stood there in front of her.

“Kim, this is Dorothy’s brother, William. He is here visiting from Manhattan.”

Kim smiled at the proper moment and continued to size up William. She put on a delicate, almost hidden smile.

“Lovely to meet you William, welcome to Atlanta,” she purred.

Kim had known Dorothy and Tobias for as far back in her life as she could remember. Tobias and Dorothy were family to Kim. They were distant family, but family just the same. But Kim had heard nothing of William before.

He started a fire in Kim that she knew would not be put out easily.

How was Kim going to do it? She did not wonder about the why, she always knew the why. She couldn’t help herself.

Kim always indulged herself, even as her parents had indulged her and her two siblings. Nancy who was away at Georgia State University, and Tom, who like the other male cousins, was “sent north” to university.

And so, it was with all of these people in her father’s circle of friends. Always slithering around trying to make their lives as interesting and comfortable as possible, while being involved in as little real work as necessary.

 How would Kim catch William? How would it happen? Would it be with a coy smile, and with her blouse just slightly open, and some subtle perfume? A chemical attack, so to speak. Invisible and secretive like Kim herself was at times?

Kim didn’t know how it would happen just yet. Only that it would, and better sooner than later.

It seemed William was only in town for a short time after all.

 “Kim,” “Yes daddy, what is it?” His voice broke her concentration on William.

“I need to discuss some matters with Tobias and Dorothy, can you entertain William for a few moments?”

Kim couldn’t believe her luck. She had been trying to figure out how to be alone with William when her father handed him up to her on a silver platter.

“Make some tea and a chat with your new friend William. “Absolutely daddy.”

Kim’s father, Jacob, was much more than met the eye.

Kim had been finding that out since she found “the book.” She had already learned more about her father than she had ever wanted to.

Kim thought she understood now why she was the way she was. It was the Dalton legacy. Kim had felt it in her bones for as long as she could remember.

Kim had tried to fight it. Like one fights the flies in summer, with great amounts of expended energy, and little success.

Kim had recently decided that her long battle had been a failure.       She had decided finally to be her true self. The Dalton that she was, no matter the consequences.

Kim was going to be herself no matter whom she hurt, and no matter the disgrace that she and her family might have to endure. Kim was going to enjoy this twentieth summer of hers, no matter what happened.

This novel is available on Amazon and Kindle and in the Kindle Lending Libray.