LLP-169 Sir Launcelot (Vol. 1) by Author Unknown


Chapter 1

It wasn't anything like the modern little bungalow they'd had on Jamey
Halo's estate up at Quarrysite, but she wasn't going to allow herself to
become depressed over that, Susan Sheldon mused sullenly. It was clean
and fairly well furnished; besides, moving had been her own idea; Jamey,
had wanted them to stay, rent free, but with Cal gone such a thing was
out of the question. She could only imagine what the Parksburg gossips
would have made out of that... and probably with good cause, for
certainly she could feel herself weakening more each time she saw him.
She'd had to consider Nadine and her future... consider the bitter scars
that wicked tongues could leave on the mind of a delicate and beautiful
young girl... and she had made her decision accordingly.

Susan sat at the small kitchenette table drinking coffee and smoking her
first morning cigarette. She wore a light blue wrapper over matching
pajamas, its tailored-design doing little to hide her willowy Eurasian
beauty, her erect breasts, slender waist, full rounded hips and
buttocks. A voyeur would have to guess at the sleek lushness of thigh,
the enchanting contour of calf and the hidden strength of those long,
smooth legs, but he would form his prurient conclusions from the
dazzling loveliness of her finely featured face and long, raven-black
oriental hair... feeling confident in his assumptions.

It was six-thirty and she hadn't been able to sleep; in fact, the whole
night had been a fiasco that she laid to her troubled, fear-filled and
frustrated thoughts, the unfamiliar, too-soft bed, plus, having her
daughter as a sleeping partner in place of Cal.

She shook her lovely head in disbelief. Would she ever get used to it?
Cal was dead! My God, it hardly seemed possible... Cal dead... a
suicide... in his grave two-months now, yet, each time the realization
raced through her mind, its impact was as shocking as when Chief Archer
had first broken the horror to her. It hadn't made sense then, her
husband of sixteen years shooting himself, and she doubted that it ever
would anymore than the typewritten note he had left, explained his
reasoning.

Can't make it. Nothing to live for. It's too complex... and there's no
love...

Once more, Susan slowly wagged her exotically beautiful head in
non-conviction; she was so damned confused. Life at its best had never
been generous to her, but at least she'd had Cal... for what that had
been worth. She looked around at the little three- room apartment, each
chamber opening with large archways into the other, only a collapsible
screen partitioning off the bed. Thank God the bathroom was private,
anyway, she thought sarcastically.

She'd hoped to find something more acceptable within her limited budget,
but after canvassing Parksburg, she'd been almost happy to take this
third-floor makeshift that had once been part of a rather plush hotel
suite, and in the center of the down-town area. Progress had eliminated
the hotel and now the street-level consisted of second-rate, low-rent
shops; but, at least it was closer to her work, she supposed, and really
it was adequate for just the two of them.


End of Page 1. See llp-169.txt for full story.