Hi all,
talk about a clickbait-y title! Hopefully you’ll feel it’s justified.
Enjo—
Hang on!
Yes?
Is this going to be unpleasant?
It is. A bit. Yes.
Oh.
Hm. Sorry!
Well, I hope it will at least make some sense. Unlike the last few…
*through gritted teeth* always happy to receive feedback. now go. enjoy. Now!
The queue went around the corner. The policeman watched people inspect the body. He’d be in trouble if someone complained, but Kelly was in the hall. Taking a penny from each of them. Brody kept count how many people passed through the room. Counted the kids separate. They shouldn’t be here. The body lay on the bed as if it had been thrown, bounced off the wall, its head and left arm dangling down the side. The ribcage was pulled half out of the chest. The spikes of the ribs made Brody think of the thin fence his father had built around his property at Castlerea. Thin branches, mossy. Pointed. The chest cavity was empty, the guts gone. The area around the bed was covered in blood but there were no bloody footprints or trail of blood. The door had been locked when they arrived. The window had been smashed but they were three stories up and there was no way down that Brody could see. No drainpipe, no fire escape, no building close enough for someone to jump to.
164 adults and 52 children. 2 dollars and 16 cents. A dollar and 8 cents each.
And none of them could see the expression on the victim’s face. The recognition. Brody and Kelly had arranged it all. For a dollar and change. But he had a family at home. He had to take care of them. Take the anger out on someone else. The sheet with the guts was tucked under the bed, he”d remove it later when everything had died down. Throw it out the window to Kelly.
A young boy came right up to Brody and peered around the bed.
‘Move along, son,’ said Brody. The boy looked at him. Most likely it was the shock of the body that shone in his eyes but Brody saw blame. He wished Kelly wouldn’t let children in. It wasn’t right. Now he’d seen the boy and had that feeling in his gut like when he drank too much gin. It was squeezing his belly and he knew who the next victim would be.
This was the bit Brody didn’t understand. He—the policeman part—said poor little kid. Another part used his eyes. Only Brody’s eyes. It wasn’t part of Brody at all and it had seen the boy and there was nothing he could do. Brody the Policeman raised his hands to wave the boy back. And Kelly would be pleased. They earned more when the victim was a child. Brody the Policeman tried to think through the noise of his blood. He was still counting the visitors and thought Kelly will be pleased.
Brody stood at the window and calmed down. He had seen the boy leave the building and pick up his barrow. He’d be able to find him again easy enough.
Nearly three dollars now but he couldn’t put a price on the calm that washed over him. A steak for dinner and flowers for Annie. Chocolates for his girls.
The visitors kept coming.
