9 Tales Told in the Dark 18 by 9 Tales Told in the Dark

Author:9 Tales Told in the Dark [Dark, 9 Tales Told in the]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bride of Chaos
Published: 2016-10-21T22:00:00+00:00

THE END.

THE MAN FROM TURKEY CREEK CANYON by Lee Clark Zumpe

The Bowery, New York City – 1880

Two grim gentlemen lingered like impregnable shadows in a secluded alcove within the Tub of Blood saloon on 45th Street. A cloudy gray haze hung over the table, its borders expanding, fed by a steady stream of smoke from a slow-burning Turkish tobacco cigarette nestled between the fingers of one of the men. Its misty swirls and nebulous folds conjured up the ghosts of dead galaxies.

“I counted 24 souls.” The two prospectors scratched marks upon tablets, recording their return on this lucrative concern.

“A profitable return, then. You should be pleased.”

Outside, as the first light of dawn grudgingly infiltrated the street of forgotten men, Skinner Meehan, Dutch Hen, Jack Cody and Sweeney the Boy examined the last victim of the night’s massacre. The gruesome death of Hop Along Peter brought to mind the discovery of Brian Boru’s corpse years earlier, his body half-devoured by dock rats where he fell outside the tavern in a drunken daze. In the Bowery, of course, death had become a pastime, a spectator sport. Should authorities bother to investigate, they would surmise the carnage had stemmed from some gang-related dispute.

“I believe it is your turn.”

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