Deadly Drafts - CH 46

MOUTHPIECE

"I've figured the sodding thing out!" Arthur brought the pad of his thumb close to his eyes.

"You've figured what now?" Kavi said.

"Look." Arthur leaned across the computer and opened a screencap of their fingerprints. "I said I'd never been printed, but that's not entirely true." Arthur keyed a web address, conjured a picture of a red-brick building. Giant black fingerprints crawled across the building like bugs, each sprouting antennae and legs.

Kavi exhaled. "Your fingerprints?"

"I was hired to paint a mural outside an exterminator's office in Louisville," Arthur said. "I used my own prints for the picture."

"Well that was dumb as hell," Harris nodded at the picture. "You give them your social and blood type? Mother's maiden name?"

"Yes, I absolutely should have anticipated being framed for literary crimes via wall art."

Sheila's phone trilled. Its psychadelic pop turned The Irregulars to statues, a composition in marble entitled, "Accused Scared Shitless by 'The Doors.'"

Deadly Drafts - CH 45

A JUMP FROM THE TOP ROPE 

 

Bernard shivered. His whole body felt painfully tight. Flurries danced through the blue lamplight outside his windshield. Even wearing his leather coat, every few heartbeats brought a violent wave of shivers. The light from the reporter's apartment mocked him. Here's the home you haven't got. In the calm between shivers, Bernard imagined living at this apartment complex; walking the sidewalks some spring morning, dog trotting on a leash ahead. The other residents, out jogging, in from a third shift, would nod and smile as they passed. 

He'd driven across creation looking for the Irregulars. Desperate to find them and poke Seb in his stupid eye. He would have had them at the bowling alley if it wasn’t for that bartender and his cross-dressing friend. Now the rats had scurried and Bernard didn’t know where to go. Cops crawled around each of their houses. Bernard even drove to the detective's apartment, sure he'd sniffed out something even Seb didn't know, only to find the place empty. This reporter girl was his last hope; Arthur had gone to her before—maybe he would again? But even by Bernard's standards, the logic seemed pretty thin. If only he hadn't chucked that brick through her window; the plywood made it near impossible to see in. 

Deadly Drafts - CH 44

MAGIC WAND 

 

Sheila Talbot sat in the hush of her basement apartment, computer warming her lap. The muted television flickered its weak light. She sought distraction in page after page after page of the internet. But. Every time she closed her eyes, the dark voice filled her head. Imaginary hands thrust from the shadows to choke the air from her throat. A draft slithered around the plywood covering her broken window, curling down her neck, bringing her back every time she found forgetfulness. Her BitTorrent client hovered behind the internet's parade of memes and porn and cat pictures, a half-dozen Brat Pack movies chugging to download. 

The knocking at her door boomed like gunfire. Sheila's heart skipped. Her vision blurred. She jumped from her sofa, sending the laptop tumbling. Ducking low to the ground, she craned her neck to look out her basement window. A shadow obscured her porch light. She shivered. Instinctively, Sheila ALT+F4'ed her BitTorrent client. One never knows when the MPAA will send their goons.