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Literature Text
The Baltimore police rushed in.
“The game’s up. We know you stole the money!” called the Captain. “Here’s the warrant to search your home!”
Harold Atkins went pale, and didn’t put up a fight as two officers grabbed him. He started to protest though when the Captain turned his attention to a woman cowering next to an equally frightened black man.
“That’s a friend of my wife! She has nothing to do with this!”
The Captain grinned. “Well, she’s got nothing to fear then.”
He addressed the woman.
“We’ll have to take your name and address, ma’am.”
“Of course.” The lady had an Alabama accent. “I’m Mrs. James Royster and this is our servant, John. I’m staying at the Crescent Hotel.”
The Captain nodded.
“You can both go. We know where you are if we want you.”
He gave her a wink.
Mrs. Royster rolled her eyes.
Outside, the Alabama accent abruptly disappeared.
“That wretched Captain Lannon! If he’d held off a little longer, we could have found out where the rest of the money was, not just what’s hidden in the house.”
Her companion shrugged. “You did your best, Mrs. Warne. You did a great job getting the truth out of Mrs. Atkins.”
The erstwhile Mrs. ‘Royster’ smiled.
“You didn’t do too badly yourself, Mr. Scobell.”
She checked her pocket watch.
“Well, we’d better hurry and report.”
Scobell raised an eyebrow. “I’m sure Pinkerton can wait a while for his two best undercover agents.”
A well-to-do white man approached them and they moved to one side.
The man ignored Scobell and raised his hat to Mrs. Warne—giving her form an ‘appreciative’ look.
He walked on, and Scobell watched him go with an amused expression.
“Hell,” he whispered to Mrs. Warne. “You and me are always undercover.”
“The game’s up. We know you stole the money!” called the Captain. “Here’s the warrant to search your home!”
Harold Atkins went pale, and didn’t put up a fight as two officers grabbed him. He started to protest though when the Captain turned his attention to a woman cowering next to an equally frightened black man.
“That’s a friend of my wife! She has nothing to do with this!”
The Captain grinned. “Well, she’s got nothing to fear then.”
He addressed the woman.
“We’ll have to take your name and address, ma’am.”
“Of course.” The lady had an Alabama accent. “I’m Mrs. James Royster and this is our servant, John. I’m staying at the Crescent Hotel.”
The Captain nodded.
“You can both go. We know where you are if we want you.”
He gave her a wink.
Mrs. Royster rolled her eyes.
Outside, the Alabama accent abruptly disappeared.
“That wretched Captain Lannon! If he’d held off a little longer, we could have found out where the rest of the money was, not just what’s hidden in the house.”
Her companion shrugged. “You did your best, Mrs. Warne. You did a great job getting the truth out of Mrs. Atkins.”
The erstwhile Mrs. ‘Royster’ smiled.
“You didn’t do too badly yourself, Mr. Scobell.”
She checked her pocket watch.
“Well, we’d better hurry and report.”
Scobell raised an eyebrow. “I’m sure Pinkerton can wait a while for his two best undercover agents.”
A well-to-do white man approached them and they moved to one side.
The man ignored Scobell and raised his hat to Mrs. Warne—giving her form an ‘appreciative’ look.
He walked on, and Scobell watched him go with an amused expression.
“Hell,” he whispered to Mrs. Warne. “You and me are always undercover.”
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There were no blaring sirens or flashing lights as I dashed down the corridors, but there might as well have been. Data streaming across one side of my goggles told me that I had successfully triggered the alarm when I took the hard drive stack. I knew I had four and a half minutes until the security forces arrived. When I reached the security door I was already sending signals to my devices connected into the system. A crude video relay looped images of the empty corridor into the security camera feeds. The data mining box cut the stream of keyword-laden signals with which it had been scattering the building system’s attention. Grinning at my own ingenuity, I hit the unlock button. How many other thieves would have got in by manipulating the mood of a building’s computer systems? But then, how many other thieves understood the emergent emotional states of high end electronics? This was why I'd been hired. The door failed to hiss open. Frowning, I slapped the button again. Still
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A Return
Her hands descend
deep into old pockets,
casting back darkness
from forlorn talismans.
She returns! Always
a surprise inside to witness
her divine whorls reappearing,
her heartbeat, the drum therein, the light!
A judgement and resurrection,
scrolls, bones and veils rattled up
called forward from some grave.
Coins cross eyes and old life breathes new.
This springtime mantle. Oh, yes!
Reclamation! Her former self lifts
those bright, timeless charms
that were and are and will again to be.
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Lost in Translation
Things were not going well. He'd knicked his hand on a sharp edge at the first hotel and had to swap to this one at the last minute. He had also forgotten his lucky pick, and his second set was missing a crucial tool. No, Adrian was definitely not having a smooth run of it today.
He was still jimmying the lock several minutes later, and the noise was attracting attention. A tourist -- recognisable by the wide-brimmed hat and extra large sunglasses she wore -- was staring in his direction. Adrian swore under his breath, affected a grin, and waved at her.
"Locked myself out," he called, bringing forth a slight blush, and thanking the Gods tha
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300 words exactly. (I counted well-to-do as three words.)
Written for Flash Fiction Month 2016: Day 4.
The challenge today:
CHALLENGE: HIDDEN HISTORY
Part the First: Your story must involve a little-known historical figure. The figure must be real. The story may or may not be so, as we are fiction writers, not historians.
Part the Second: Your story must be 300 words or less.
Part the Third: Your story must begin in media res.
1. Two for the price of one! Kate Warne and John Scobell. Kate Warne was the first female detective hired by Pinkerton's Detective Agency, and possibly the first ever female detective in the US. John Scobell was an African-American intelligence agent for Pinkerton's. He was one of a small number of former slaves who was hired by Allan Pinkerton to spy behind Confederate lines during the American Civil War.
My story is definitely fictional - Warne and Scobell were spying on the Confederates at the same time but I haven't seen any reference to them working together. And though Kate Warne was also a detective, John Scobell only worked as a spy. They wouldn't have been investigating a robbery together like this. But they apparently both had a talent for going undercover and taking on new personas. The robbery in my story is based on one from a real investigation, and Kate Warne (born in New York) did have the ability to pass herself off as a Southerner in Baltimore while investigating a plot to assassinate Lincoln.
2. 300 words exactly.
3. Why, yes ^^
Written for Flash Fiction Month 2016: Day 4.
The challenge today:
CHALLENGE: HIDDEN HISTORY
Part the First: Your story must involve a little-known historical figure. The figure must be real. The story may or may not be so, as we are fiction writers, not historians.
Part the Second: Your story must be 300 words or less.
Part the Third: Your story must begin in media res.
1. Two for the price of one! Kate Warne and John Scobell. Kate Warne was the first female detective hired by Pinkerton's Detective Agency, and possibly the first ever female detective in the US. John Scobell was an African-American intelligence agent for Pinkerton's. He was one of a small number of former slaves who was hired by Allan Pinkerton to spy behind Confederate lines during the American Civil War.
My story is definitely fictional - Warne and Scobell were spying on the Confederates at the same time but I haven't seen any reference to them working together. And though Kate Warne was also a detective, John Scobell only worked as a spy. They wouldn't have been investigating a robbery together like this. But they apparently both had a talent for going undercover and taking on new personas. The robbery in my story is based on one from a real investigation, and Kate Warne (born in New York) did have the ability to pass herself off as a Southerner in Baltimore while investigating a plot to assassinate Lincoln.
2. 300 words exactly.
3. Why, yes ^^
© 2016 - 2024 SCFrankles
Comments15
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Cool. Thanks for this interesting bit of history introduced by way of this nifty little story sketch.