|
|
Chapters 1- 4
Total word count of the book: 85,246 words
COLDCOCKED:
A Novel of 7 Murders,
the Media and the Law
by Denny Hatch
1) coldcock.
Inflected forms: cold·cocked, cold·cock·ing, cold·cocks
Slang To knock (another) unconscious....
—The American Heritage® Dictionary of the
English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.
While Greek Weekend 1999 in Philadelphia
was very real, Coldcocked is entirely fiction.
SUNDAY, JULY 25, 1999
The cell phone vibrated in my hip pocket. I reached for it and flicked open the ear piece. “This is Ned Cooper.”
I couldn’t hear a word. The big pub room of Dickens Inn could be charitably described as mayhem—a raging party of probably 80 people cheering and jeering at two dart games while sampling exotic brews from Philadelphia’s largest purveyor of beer, everyone trying to outshout the other in order to be heard. “I can’t hear you,” I barked into the tiny slit of a mouthpiece. “Hold on while I find someplace quiet.”
I elbowed my way through the racially mixed crowd to the outside hall and ducked into the men’s room. “Okay, what is it?”
|
