Detectives in their trademark brown derbies peered in the window. They saw a youngish man standing by a Victrola. He had a handsome but somber face, as if the music on the turntable might be stirring up dark memories and emotions. Behind him to his right, a woman was stretched out naked on a couch. Blood from the gaping wound in her throat had leaked through the cushions and pooled on the floor. The detectives didn’t see the body or the blood. Their view was blocked by a half wall. When the man started to crank the Victrola, the detectives had seen enough. One by one, they confidently strode off into the coming night.
Howie Good is the author of Failed Haiku, a poetry collection that is the co-winner of the 2021 Grey Book Press Chapbook Contest, scheduled for publication in summer 2022.
Eunoia Review 