The Big Scroll Job: A Dirk Malone Story

Written for Sunday Whirl Wordle – #739. Our host is
Brenda Warren; her prompt words for this week are
shown below.  Here’s where the prompts took me.

beam – blunt – works – moment –own – shape
ancient – envy – truth – scroll – shift – fluid

The ancient scroll lay on Dirk Malone’s desk like a dead snake. His client …. some big time art dealer with envy in his eyes and lies in his mouth …. had paid good money to track it down. Now doubt was seeping in.

Dirk’s own instincts told him the works were fake, but instincts didn’t pay the rent.

Suddenly the door burst open. No knock, no warning. A beam of light from the hallway cut through the smokey haze; there, like one of Patton’s Sherman tanks, was the hulking shape of Luca Molino, all six-foot-five of brute force and bad intentions.

“Where is it, Malone?”

“Where’s what?” Dirk kept his voice fluid, easy, while his hand did a slow shift toward the drawer and his .38.

“The scroll. The real one.”

In that moment, the truth became crystal clear. Dirk had been played like a Stradivarius …. the client, the job, all of it. The scroll on his desk was bait, and he’d bitten hard.

“Funny thing about ancient manuscripts, Molino,” Dirk said. “They burn real nice.”

Molino’s eyes went wide as Dirk struck a match. The bluff worked; Molino lunged forward, dropping his own weapon. Fist met jaw with blunt efficiency and the big galoot crumpled like a pile of soggy newspapers. Somewhere a radio was playing the Andrews Sisters.

Dirk looked at the scroll, then at his bruised knuckles. Some days the truth found you whether you wanted it or not. He picked up the phone.

“Yeah, Lieutenant? Malone. Got a special delivery package for you. Send the boys over and tell ‘em they better bring a tow truck.”

NAR©2026

This is “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy” by the Andrews Sisters

Wordle 739

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