Spare Change by Don Lafferty
Mom was high on Percs or something when she told me about one of my father’s stashes of cash. “Daddy has two bags of quarters in here,” she motioned to a large Tupperware container in the middle of a stack of identical containers that went from floor to ceiling in their unused bedroom. “I think […]
Lost Places by Matthew C. Funk
Otis stood on the same corner as ever, eyes like a man lost in a whole new city. I watched him from the roof of the Mini-Mart. His feet shuffled into empty spaces, looking for friends in the cement cracks with the lost coins. I watched him and traced my handcuffs. His ear found an […]
Ghouls by Jen Conley
She was a pretty girl, fourteen, romantic in her thoughts, still a kid. The house she lived in backed up to a line of scrub pines and skinny oaks before opening into an endless beige desert of abandoned gravel pits. Fire trails and narrow paths ran along the perimeter of the forgotten excavation, with dirt […]
Day of the Dead by Hector Acosta
The baby sized skulls adorned the foot of the grave, packed so tightly that they almost hid the name of the buried from view. They all faced the front of the cemetery, their broad grins etched in black, blue, and red icing. Sprinkled among the skulls laid other offerings- a plate of tamales and red […]
The Day Traders – Part Two by Peter Farris
REPOSSESSED I can see a lot from my window The drunks driving home And the repo trucks not far behind The cats crossing the street Looking for love But I can’t shake the sight Of a cop leaving the scene Of a crime With a smile on his face And a bag in his […]
Portrait of an American Family by Benoit Lelievre
They thought five bullets would be enough. Idiots. Had they never heard about “Kill the head and the body dies?” My guts were leaking through my belly, but using my jacket to compress the wound, I found the strength to get up, sit in my car and turn on the ignition. I knew where they […]
Bad Deal by Luke Block
They were across the border at last. No checkpoints, no patrols and best of all, no local bumpkins out dog-walking or shagging in their cars. The night was theirs. Detective Chief Inspector Ryan Kelly pulled the car off the road and turned down a narrow bumpy track into Hanging Hill Wood. He rolled to stop […]
The Confessor by Lonni Lees
Gerry Rigby sat at his desk, feeling like an outsider. A rookie was fair game for the seasoned cops. It was hard deciphering when they were serious or pulling your leg. Pressure was on to solve the latest string of murders. The victims were nobodies, mostly creeps or winos. The fourth victim was dumped behind […]
Quick Turnaround by D.S. Jones
Walker held up the Mac-10 and laughed in the clerk’s face as he pulled the trigger. Blood splattered the stacks of cigarettes. “What did you do that for?” Joey said. He was leaning over the dead clerk with his mask up. Blood was spotting the mask, blood and gore. “Cause I felt like it,” Walker […]
Goes Around by Sandra Seamans
“C’mon, c’mon,” whispered Jackie, jabbing at the elevator button. She watched the hall, her ears listening for the swish of the elevator doors. An office door opened and a heavy set man stepped into the hall, caught sight of Jackie and strode towards her. Jackie stood her ground, praying the elevator would get there fast […]
How We Roll by Matthew C. Funk
We roll hard in the Fifth District. When I roared in on my first raid, an Old Crows arsenal on Abundance Street, I came with seven unmarked sedans. We don’t roll with SWAT action heroes like in South Central LA. We don’t get choppers like Dallas. We don’t even have machineguns like the Eighth District. […]
Hells Express by John L. Thompson
The sun is a blaze of hot molten light, burning the skin off everyone wandering the streets while the chemicals from last night fix are cooking within the veins. PJ wanders up out of the blue. “You got some stuff?” he asks. “Fuck off.” “Really.” “Get the fuck off unless you got something to say.” […]
