Blood & Rust by S. A. Swiniarski

Author:S. A. Swiniarski [Swiniarski, S. A.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Horror
Publisher: Penguin Group US
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

At around six in the afternoon, Nuri Lapidos rode the Shaker Rapid home. He was just getting comfortable with the routine, a new city, a new job. Detective Ryzard was proving an able, if somewhat somber, introduction to the city and the department. Though the more he saw of the city, the more grateful he was for managing to find an apartment in the suburbs.

He was riding home, sometime between five-thirty and six, when the train began slowing down. Nuri looked up from the paper, slightly relieved to be distracted from the depressing stories coming out of Germany, and looked out the window. It wasn’t easy, he was on the aisle, and the man next to him was already craning his neck to see the commotion ahead that was causing the train to slow.

His seatmate wasn’t the only spectator. The train was passing through a valley, and before Nuri saw anything of the commotion on the tracks, he could see spectators lined up on the tops of the cliffs overlooking the tracks.

Nuri stood up, and finally could see the ground ahead of the train. He expected some sort of workmen fixing the tracks, but instead, he saw police. Three or four uniformed officers, and at least two detectives wandering around the underbrush at the side of the tracks, beneath a brush-covered hillside.

Curiosity had always been Nuri’s curse. He got up and made his way down to the conductor.

He pulled out his badge, “Can you stop the train and let me out here?”

The man scowled and looked at the badge. “You want out, here, now?”

Nuri nodded.

“Sheesh, well, I guess you paid your dime.” He pulled on a lever and the train started to slow even more. Before it’d rolled to a complete stop, the doors opened. “There you are, beat it.”

Nuri had to take a jump that almost cost him an ankle on the gravel. He stumbled away from the train as it began speeding up. Through the still-open door he could hear the conductor. “Give people a badge, and they think they own the damn railroad.”

Nuri watched the train slide by the scene ahead of him. He edged away from the tracks and started walking up to the two detectives. One was already starting toward him, apparently to see what the Rapid had disgorged.

They met about a hundred yards from the center of attention. “Can I help you?” the man asked. He was a tall man with a mustache, and he looked as if he was already irritated by the massing spectators.

“Hello,” Nuri held out the badge which was still in his hand, “Detective Lapidos, I was wondering if I could help you?”

The man extended a hand. “Orly May, and I guess you can. Me and Emil just got here about ten, fifteen minutes ago—well, let me show you.”

Detective May led Nuri to the focus of all the attention. Two men May said were Erie Railroad police were talking with the other detective, Emil. It was obvious what they were talking about before May led him into earshot.

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.