The Monster's Corner: Stories Through Inhuman Eyes by Golden Ed.Christopher

Author:Golden, Ed.Christopher [Golden, Ed.Christopher]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
ISBN: 9780748132218
Publisher: Hachette Littlehampton
Published: 2011-09-26T16:00:00+00:00

SIREN SONG

A KATE SHUGAK SHORT STORY

by Dana Stabenow

… the Sirens, who enchant all who come near them.

—The Odyssey, HOMER

5.

THE WITNESS TESTIFIED in a calm, level voice, responding fully to the defense attorney’s questions but making deliberate, unhurried eye contact with the jury. Each jury member would meet her eyes briefly and then swivel their heads to look at the three defendants. The woman in the witness chair could have been any one of them, twenty years on.

The defendants were Pauline, Laura, and Linda Akulurak, ages sixteen, fifteen, and twelve, respectively. They were on trial for murder in the first degree, for the killing of their pimp, Dupré Thomas Jefferson, age twenty-eight, aka Da Prez, aka John Smith a time or two. He’d had a record going back to the age of nine, beginning in grade school in Los Angeles and migrating up the west coast of North America with him through Portland and Seattle and, lastly, Anchorage. He’d been tall and handsome, with a good deal of charm he had put to use in running a stable of prostitutes.

Jefferson dead was not quite as handsome as Jefferson alive, as the bullet that had taken his life had entered the back of his head at close range and had blown off the top of his skull. He had been asleep in his own bed at the time. The murder weapon was a .357 Magnum Smith & Wesson, found next to the body with one round fired. The method had the hallmarks of a gang hit, but the prints of all three defendants had been found on the weapon, along with the prints of the deceased. The defendants’ hands had been tested for gunshot residue, with inconclusive results.

The prosecution had rested the day before with an air of relief. The defense had recalled the investigating officer that morning, extracting without difficulty more evidence over time of many of Jefferson’s—the defense here coughed deprecatingly—family in the house at McKinley and Alder, as well as evidence of many more sets of smudged and partial prints not belonging to the defendants on the weapon. By the time the defense had excused the officer, opportunity had been extended to fifteen people, or more, if you included Da Prez’s friends, which were few, rivals, which were many, and enemies, which were legion.

The defendants followed the officer to the stand. Pauline, the eldest, was a knockout, smooth brown skin over high flat cheekbones, tilted almond eyes a deep, velvety brown, thick black hair that hung to her waist in a smooth, shining cape. She wore a dark blue shirtwaist dress with a button-down collar and long sleeves, sheer stockings, black flats, small gold hoop earrings, and the merest touch of mascara. The jury, nine of them men, watched the top button of her dress with unblinking fascination.

Laura, the middle child, wore a sequined jean jacket over a Justin Bieber T-shirt, a short pink skirt, black-and-white striped tights reminiscent of the Cat in the Hat, and yellow patent leather wedges with four-inch cork heels.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.