Excerpt from “A Splash of Scarlet” – Part 5

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…

Chapter 1 – Gary (Continued)

“This one is integrated into the barrel. Course it uses .22LR ammo, which is hard to come by, lately. Seems there’s been a run on that caliber. Long rifle rounds. But it’s worth it—the report is very quiet. Did you notice that?”

“What? Nah, man,” Trey said. “P*ss off.”

The old man stood and lifted his gun and shot Trey in the leg.

He jumped, half from the shock of the old man’s sudden ferocity and half from the instant pain that flared through his body. He reached for his leg as fire roared through it, dripping like lava.

It was the most intense pain he could imagine.

“See? Super quiet,” Joe said to his friend. “Like quiet enough to shoot four dumb gang bangers and no one would hear much. Right? They’ve been making the Ruger for a long time. Battle tested.” He looked at the gun.

“It’s nice,” the other man said, glancing around. “We better go, Joe.”

“Nah, cops avoid this place,” Joe said. He turned back to Trey and continued the strange lesson. “But I like it, even though it makes the barrel comically long. Harder to draw, obviously, but in an urban environment, or someplace where you want to be quiet, it makes sense. Suppressors block the sound of the projectile, baffles the sound coming out of the barrel. It’s 80% quieter,” the old man said proudly, turning the gun in the darkness to admire it. “And it’s a magazine-fed automatic pistol, so it holds 13 shots instead of the six in your revolver. Plus one in the chamber, if you keep it loaded.”

He squatted back down and pushed the skinny barrel into the bloody hole in Trey’s leg. The old man leaned closer, whispering.

“And Trey? I always keep it loaded.”

Trey squirmed. It smelled like gunpowder and blood. Sweat ran into his eyes.

The old man sighed. “So, pretend I live here now. You and your punks stay clear of the hotels. And tell your Last Boys the same. Got it? I didn’t come to this paradise on Earth to be messed with by the likes of you, son,” he said, grinding the gun in. Trey felt the metal barrel push against bone. His head swooned.

“Yessir, no problem.”

“I won’t be around this place forever. Till then, find someone else to bother. Got it? I’m in charge. For now.”

“Yessir,” Trey mumbled.

The old guy kept talking, kneeled over next to Trey, but the blood was roaring in his ears and Trey couldn’t hear him. His hand was throbbing and his leg burned. Trey tried to concentrate—the old man was saying something about the game of chess. Talking about a knight and a pawn and moving parts around the board, but Trey didn’t understand. Did that mean the old man would let him live? What the fu—

“You listening, son?”

Trey nodded, sweat dripping off his chin. “Yessir. I hear you. No more tourists. No problem.”

Chapter 2 – Hotel

Trapper shook his head and smiled, following his boss back to the hotel. They crossed the dark parking lot, leaving the gangbangers behind. The main one had crawled over to the fat one and was trying to stop the blood.

Trapper looked around, half expecting the cops to arrive at any moment. Joe was supposed to be keeping his head down, not drawing attention—or getting into gunfights. Christ, this wasn’t the wild west.

“Looks like they picked on the wrong tourist,” Trapper said.

“What?”

“Only you can find a way to start a gang war all by yourself,” Trapper said.

Joe Hathaway smiled and handed him the bag of groceries. Joe felt the barrel of his gun to make sure it wasn’t too hot, then put it in the waistband of his loose-fitting pants. “It’s not the greatest neighborhood. Thanks for that, by the way.”

“Hey, you’re wanted,” Trapper said. “Can’t exactly be putting you up at the Ritz Carlton. You’re lying low, remember?”

Joe nodded. “Like I could forget in this place. You really know how to pick ‘em,” he said, waving at the dingy streets and sad buildings around them.

“No one will look for you here,” Trapper said. “As long as you just pay cash, nobody cares.”

Joe nodded. “And hopefully those kids will clear out of here soon. I don’t need the cops coming, so the less crime, the better. If a tourist gets robbed or shot, the cops will be all over this place,” he said, nodding ahead at the squat motel where he’d been living for the last seven months.

“I’ll take a listen to the scanner when we get to the hotel,” Trapper said. He’d provided his boss with a small police radio scanner unit when getting him set up in the hotel.

“But that was stupid. I should know better,” Joe said, shaking his head and glancing back over his shoulder. “I don’t need them looking for whoever shot four local youths. Knowing my luck, they’re all honors students.”

“I doubt it,” Trapper said.

They walked the block back to the hotel, not seeing another soul.

“You waiting for me at the hotel? Heard the shots?”

“Yeah,” Trapper said. “I know the sound of that gun. Otherwise, I would have ignored it.”

Joe looked around at the dark buildings around them. “Just like everyone else around here.”

They approached the hotel and Joe suddenly veered off to his right, circling around and entering the hotel parking lot from the north. It gave Trapper something to think about, and it took him a minute to figure it out—the old man wanted to be seen on the cameras as returning to the hotel from the north, not from the south, where a recent shooting had taken place.

The old man was always thinking…

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.