Читать книгу Small Town Monsters - Craig Nybo - Страница 68

Craig Nybo

14

desk and landed in Harmon’s lap.

Harmon picked up the book. He stood, dusting the leather cover with the edge of one shaky hand. “Blood is a funny thing,” Harmon said. “In a place like DePalma Beach, it seems that everybody is related to everyone else somehow, cousins, nieces, nephews. I’m sure you understand that, when it comes to business as sordid as this,” Harmon put the book down on Kurt’s desk, “We’d rather keep it in the family.”

“Harmon, you’re a good man. I’ve enjoyed having you as a friend. But if you step out of line, I will have no choice but to bring the law to bear.”

“Good day, Mr. McCammus.” Harmon smiled and tipped his fedora. He turned and walked out of Kurt’s office.

Kurt swore to himself. He removed the manila envelope from his desk and looked across the collection of macabre photographs. “Danny Slade, what have you done, you son of a bitch.” One photograph caught Kurt’s attention, one that he hadn’t seen before. He picked it up and pushed his reading glasses up onto his nose. Six men and three uniformed officers sat in a small, concrete room, their faces grim. Kurt recognized a very young Harmon Bently among them. Kurt flipped the photo over and read a caption typed to a sticker on the back.

DANNY SLADE, EXECUTED BY ELECTRIC CHAIR, SEPTEMBER 6TH, 1951. THOSE PRESENT AT THE EXECUTION PROCEEDINGS: ARTEMUS SLADE…

Kurt recognized three of the nine names typed in the captian: Artemus Slade, Harmon Bently, and Hugh Fostett. He flipped the photograph back over and looked at the faces printed there. He spotted Artemus in the front row with his crepe of facial hair. He recognized Harmon on the opposite side of the row, who couldn’t have been any older than 18, pale and disheveled from what had been the most real moment in his short life: watching the execution. Sitting in the back corner, mostly in shadow, Kurt spotted Hugh Fostett, the man with whom Kurt had shared many beers and stories on the front stoop. Hugh looked young and handsome, probably not long back from the Korean War. Kurt slid the photos and the rest