By Byron Spooner It’s one of those strange evenings when the moonlight reflecting off yesterday’s snow gives the whole world a soft bluish radiance. I’m out wandering around, no particular place to go, anywhere but home, and I see the Field House lights are on. The front door is unlocked. I stomp the snow fromContinue reading “Old Ninety-Seven”
Tag Archives: Crime
Loraine
By Gratia Serpento Loraine thought she was being watched. Every time she crossed the street or stepped out of her car, her skin would prickle with the fear of eyes. She kept looking over her shoulder at every shake of the wind, half expecting someone with a machete to be standing behind her. But, despiteContinue reading “Loraine”
Thinking of You
By Tony Sweatland Danny loves animals. And he hates people. Yesterday he knocked on a door and a woman wearing pj’s answered with a cup of hot chocolate in her hands. Meanwhile, not twenty feet away, a small dog shivered in a plastic igloo-style dog house inside a 10’ by 10’ cage. He wrote herContinue reading “Thinking of You”
The Keeper
By Maryanne Knight Trent Hollis accelerated, the highway curving out of the mountains into Peru’s Pampa de San José, home to the ancient Nazca geoglyphs. His fiancé, Paige Osborne, had one hand on the dashboard, the other gripping the seat. Their meeting with the Peruvian Ministry of Culture had not gone well. The ministry lovedContinue reading “The Keeper”
The Quartz Child
By Kevin Joseph Reigle When I bought the house, the realtor didn’t tell me a movie was filmed on the property. I ended up hearing about it from an old-timer down at the market. He said I should try and track down a copy. It’d be a chance to see the house in its prime.Continue reading “The Quartz Child”
Sometime After Midnight
By Steve Bates It was the police sirens that woke him. Their ever louder Banshee shrieks sliced through the early morning silence like a switchblade. He could hear as they snaked their way closer, until they screamed just outside the room. Then the sirens stopped. They were here. As Cole Edwards sat on the edgeContinue reading “Sometime After Midnight”
Inner City Blue
By John E. Marks The old pub on the corner lost beneath a motorway junction;Stands in a similitude of snow now. Its windows are gone the wayOf the church spire from whence the müezzin calls a different faithful to prayer.The bronze statue of an eminent Victorian child abuserGlowers over what was once his property, his factory, hisContinue reading “Inner City Blue”
Riders on the Storm
By John Haymaker It’s early morning, cold and raining. Palmer is lost and confused. He drives along a two-lane road meandering through rocky outcrops, pine forests, steep inclines and intermittent fog. It’s spooky. GPS is worthless here. He checks the rear view to see if he’s being followed. He catches a glimpse of himself andContinue reading “Riders on the Storm”
Height Advantage
by John Mahoney My iPhone buzzed in my pocket, the alert I’d programmed into its memory. Barnes & Noble captivates me, but Wyler wouldn’t want to hear that. I shelved the manga neatly with its siblings. My left hand was at my side, and I looked down, feeling a tug of its pinkie. The girlContinue reading “Height Advantage”
Phantom View
By Ben James As Sam waited for an elevator, he admired the lobby of the skyscraper that housed the SCZ Group’s headquarters. He’d been in ritzy Manhattan office buildings before, but this space seemed particularly elegant, and slightly intimidating. Anxiety overtook him as he studied the vaulted ceiling and immaculate marble walls. He suspected thatContinue reading “Phantom View”