"I'd like to hear about him," said my new friend. "Janos Skorzeny," I muttered, wiping my lips with a little square napkin. It's only the greatest news story of the century, my friend. I wondered if this whelp had ever looked down on a twisted corpse in a multi-car wreck, or a swollen floater dragged from a river. My scotch sloshed around in my empty stomach. Certainly more so than any mug they put in the Chronicle." "Sorry," he said, "but he looks interesting. The young man grinned at me in embarrassment. A sketch artist's drawing of a gaunt, feral, barely-human face glared from a corner of a newspaper clipping. I glanced down, lifting my arm and folio like a wing. He had an oval face and a strong Kirk Douglas chin, dark hair, and sky-blue eyes focused on some point near my elbow. The guy was in his mid-twenties, skinny but projecting an aura of strength - wiry I guess you'd call it. I didn't dive into conversation until I noticed a tall, thin young man studying me from a couple of stools down. Believe it or not, I was reluctant to test the waters with any local 'paper. I sat at the bar with a row of local reporters, feeling the outsider with a capital OUT. At this point in my life I could barely afford a double scotch. There I was, however, and I sought out the Seattle Press Club as a last resort, my resumes and clippings under my arm. Heaven knows how I ended up in Seattle when I'd started out for New York from Las Vegas. Later, however, it came back to haunt me worse than any curse or poltergeist. If you are one of the fortunate few who stumbled upon an obscure paperback book with the tabloid-esque title The Night Strangler, don't worry: I didn't enter the following information into my notes, because at the time it held no significance for me. I've written about my hectic time in Seattle, Washington, elsewhere. The Kolchak Papers: A Stranger in a Bar THE KOLCHAK PAPERS: A STRANGER IN A BAR Michael D.
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