Excerpt from “A Splash of Scarlet” – Part 2

Did you know that there’s an entire mystery series set in a fictional version of Tipp City? It’s the Frank Harper mystery series, set in the fictional town of Cooper’s Mill. The books feature weather beaten ex-cop Frank Harper and a fictional Tipp City Police Department. There are five books in the series, and the sixth is coming out soon! Pre-order “A Splash of Scarlet” today by visiting www.gregenslen.com or use the QR Code. Please enjoy an excerpt from the upcoming novel, courtesy of the Gazette! More to come next week…

Part 1 was run last week, 2/5/25. Here’s a link. 

Chapter 1 – Gary (continued)

Lacey, the smallest of their group, shook his head. He was the smart one, his eyes always moving. “Those shifts end at 6 p.m. and midnight,” he said, holding up his watch. It was a fancy Apple Watch they’d taken off a dumb white woman three months ago, and Lacey had figured out how to get it to work with his cheap Walmart phone. “Nobody getting off at 9 o’clock, man.”

Off to the east, Trey could hear the rumble of the highway. Trucks, cars, full of rich folks, heading somewhere important. Trey scratched at his neck and searched, desperate. There had to be people out, or a house that wasn’t locked up too tight.

Nick nodded. “Maybe you’re right. People get paid on Mondays?”

Lacey shook his head. “Fridays, mostly. Most get it put straight into their banks. Never see the cash.”

Trey stroked the gun in his pocket again, running a finger down the barrel. His plan was to head back north. There had been nothing going on near the factories and Trey wanted one more pass through the hotel parking lots before he called it a night and sent the others home. He needed to get to work, needed to be making money. Robbing and rolling tourists and breaking into places and stealing stuff was work—it was what Trey was best at.

Trey shook his head. “We ain’t going back south. Too far. We gonna hit the hotels again.”

He walked north, and the others fell in line behind him.

After a minute, the fourth young man in their group, Tiny, finally spoke up. “There,” he said, pointing down the street. Tiny was the quiet one, a huge guy with wide shoulders. He also had the best eyesight of all of them.

The others turned to see where he was pointing.

“Where?” Lacey asked. Trey could see him squinting in the dark.

“There,” Tiny said, pointing again. “By the church. Walking north.”

Trey saw him. A white guy. Old, carrying some bags. Groceries, maybe. Walking in the direction of the hotels.

“Tourist?” Nick asked. “Nice.”

Lacey laughed. “Yeah, tourists are easy.”

“Prolly,” Trey said, nodding. He gripped the gun in his pocket, clenching and releasing. “Let’s do it.”

They moved in a group, hunting like a pack, following the old man with the groceries up the dark road. They passed a church and what used to be an auto parts store, falling in behind the man. He was heading straight for the hotels.

Trey and Tiny trailed the white man, and the other two boys ran ahead. They had done this dozens of times and everyone knew what to do. Trey and Tiny always followed the mark, and Nick and Lacey ran, sprinting away left and right and running up parallel streets to get ahead of them and surround their victims.

A minute later, Trey saw Nick and Lacy come out of the shadows up ahead of the white guy, who stopped when he saw them emerge from the dark. The hotel was close, but not close enough.

At least not close enough to do this old dude any good.

Trey and Tiny walked up behind the man just as he turned, looking at them. The old guy with the bag of groceries looked out of place on the dark streets of Gary. The guy stopped walking and sighed loudly, then bent and calmly set the bag of groceries down at his feet. Trey looked at it curiously—tourists didn’t buy groceries, did they?

“Hey, man,” Trey said. “You lost?”

The old man stood, hanging his arms at his sides. He looked at Trey and shook his head. Trey thought the man looked even older than he’d previously thought. But he was white, and therefore not local, that was for sure.

“I’m not lost,” the old man said. “And you don’t want to do this.”

Trey looked at him. That’s not what the tourists usually said first. Usually it was something like “don’t hurt me” or “why are you picking on me?” Occasionally, they just dropped their stuff and started running.

“Really, man?” Trey said with a smile. “I don’t wanna do this? You sure you’re not lost?”

“No, I live there,” the old man said, pointing. He seemed very calm for an old white guy surrounded by gang bangers. “The hotel on Bay Street,” he said. “You guys know it?”

“Ain’t no tourists around here, man,” Nick said. He already had his knife out, waving it. Trey could see the dim light from the streetlight glistening off of it. This was going to be easy. “You seen this place? Nobody white, at least.”

The old man turned and looked at Nick and stretched his shoulders in a strange way.

More to come next week. "A Splash of Scarlet" is the sixth book in the Frank Harper Mysteries series. Frank's got a lot of problems, but he's also tenacious and headstrong and good at solving crimes. Just don't bring up Hurricane Katrina around him or hide his bourbon. Pre-order “A Splash of Scarlet” today by visiting www.gregenslen.com or use the QR Code.