Marilyn K. / The House Next Door

MARILYN K.

"You've heard the story a dozen times: a hundred times. From the lips of hundreds of liars. This guy is driving down a lonely road, all by himself, bored, indifferent, not really going any place in particular. Nothing to do. Then, suddenly, there at the side of the road is this beautiful, young, helpless girl. No one else in sight, nothing but the girl and the lonesome road and she standing there waiting for a ride..."

The indifferent guy is Sam Russell, who soon finds he gets more than he bargains for when he stops for the girl by the side of the road. Lying in a ditch is the remains of her crashed vehicle. And at the wheel, a very dead guy who looks suspiciously like famed mobster, Aurelio Marcus. And sitting nearby, a suitcase...filled with greenbacks. Russell has just met Marilyn K. She needs his help. What's a guy to do....?

THE HOUSE NEXT DOOR

Tomlinson has figured out the perfect heist. But it begins to unravel when a passer-by sees the gun, screams, causing Tomlinson to flinch before he can make the snatch. After that, it's one problem after another. First Arbuckle is shot. After Tomlinson brings his accomplice back to the house, a drunk neighbor accidentally climbs into the wrong window and discovers Arbuckle in the bed. The Swansons are having one of their wild parties that night, so of course no one can hear much over the noise, least of all the gun shots.

The next morning, it's not Arbuckle who is found dead under Mrs. Kitteridges juniper bush, but young Louisa Julio, who had been babysitting for the McNallys. And who do the police suspect of the murder? Why, young Len Neilsen, of course, the poor drunk neighbor who climbed into the wrong window and now has only this preposterous tale to tell in his defense. There may be hope for Tomlinson's scheme yet.