Strange Fruit by Eric Red

Author:Eric Red
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Horror, Fiction
Publisher: Evil Jester Press
Published: 2014-04-14T07:00:00+00:00

***

A half hour later, Sheriff Girdler and Deputy Ross were at the carnival sitting in Mr. Stitch’s trailer with Stitch, the bearded lady and the alligator man. Little Joe was in cuffs. Lots of cigarettes were smoked. The carnies admitted to running illegal cockfights and corroborated the midget’s story about the chain of events with the boys.

But.

The boys left without incident.

“Can you prove that?” Girdler asked.

“There was witnesses.” The alligator man croaked in a voice harsh as his countenance gotten from mass quantities of whisky and cigarettes.

“Who?” Ross asked.

“Those townies come right after Little Joe left,” the bearded lady said indicating the dwarf. “Two from around here. Stayed for a few hours.”

“Names?”

“They don’t tell us their names.”

“Descriptions?”

“One didn’t have no left arm and the other had big ears.”

“Tall and thin?”

“Nossir. Kinda fat and the one with the ears had no hair.”

“Right, I was testing you,” The Sheriff smiled wryly. He turned to his Deputy. “Sounds like the Dugans.” Girdler flipped open his cell phone, eyeballing the carnies. “I call these farmers you say was here, they gonna tell us they was here that night and say they saw those boys leave?”

Stitch scowled. “We don’t know what they’ll say.”

“Better damn hope for your sake that’s what they say.” Girdler dialed a number. It rang. Somebody picked up. “Rodney, its Danny Girdler. I’m fine, how about you? Rodney, did you see Clyde Dodd and Butch McCauley at the carnival the night of the murder?”

The freaks watched the lawman, exchanging furtive glances.

“You did. I see. Mind telling me where?” A pause. “Rodney, were you and Terry at a cockfight at the carnival? Listen, I’m not going to arrest you I just need to know if you saw those boys there. You did. Okay, what happened? Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Thanks for your cooperation. No, we don’t know who killed the boy yet. Yes, we have some leads. Give my best to your mother.” The Sheriff hung up.

The apprehensive carnies looked at him nervously.

Girdler looked at Ross and nodded. “Take the cuffs off Little Joe.” Then he looked at the carnies. “Your story checks out. The Dugans got no reason to lie.” The Deputy unshackled the dwarf.

“You gonna charge us on the cockfighting?” Mr. Stitch asked tensely.

“Don’t see how I can since as I just told two of my own citizens I wasn’t going to arrest ‘em for betting on it.”

“Then can you let my carnival go and let us be on our way now?” Mr. Stitch faced Sheriff Girdler.

“When we catch the killer.” The cops left the trailer.

After the door closed and the policemen were safely away, Mr. Stitch stepped away from the window and faced Little Joe, the bearded lady and the alligator man. Shafts of twilight from the shutters diffused through the cigarette smoke and dust in the trailer. The freaks faces were shadowed, strange, eyes glinting. The carnies exchanged conspiratorial glances in the darkness, a secret language between them. The carnival manager faced them. “Was that what happened?”

The alligator man drew

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