Chapter Fourteen: Blood Moon by Rosaline Saul
THE PUB WAS packed full of people as the man got up from a corner table and headed for another table where a pretty young girl sat alone and counted through the pennies and farthings on the table in front of her.
He said politely, “If you're happier on your own I understand, but I was wondering if I could buy you a drink?”
The girl turned her head and looked him up and down. He looked well to do. A gentleman. She smiled. “That'd be lovely. Thanks.”
The man signalled the barman and sat down at the table, across from the girl.
“You must be new around here,” she said.
“Why do you think that?” He asked.
“For a start, you’re polite.”
The man smiled. “Are you not afraid being out on your own?”
She looked at him confused for a moment, and then said with a shrug, “You mean them girls who got murdered.” She added softly, leaning closer to him across the table, “I knew them, you know.”
The man feigned surprise.
Just then the barman arrived with their drinks and the girl grabbed her glass eagerly before throwing her head back and drinking the liquid in one gulp.
He asked, “Do you know if the coppers have any leads?”
“They think it might be them girls owed money to the wrong kinds of people.”
“Do you believe that? Killing someone ain’t going to make them pay.”
She shrugged. “It sends a warning to other people who owe them money and might be thinking they don’t have to pay. They cut another friend of mine just the other night. It’s just business, they might lose a few pennies, but they know they’ll get the rest them’s owed.” She added, “I don’t understand the carriage, though. These aren’t boys who’d find themselves in a carriage.”
The man looked at her surprised. “A carriage?”
“A friend of mine says she saw a carriage round bout the same place they found the last girl’s body.”
“That's interesting, that thing about the carriage. Can I get you another drink?”
“No, but thanks,” she said as she started to gather her money from the table. “I've gotta earn my keep.”
Their eyes met across the table.
“You know, we’s could get a room,” she suggested.
The man looked at her, then shook his head. “No. I mean... Thanks for the offer, but not tonight.”
Smiling, she turned and walked toward the door.
The grin vanished from his face.
OUTSIDE, THE GIRL smiled at her customer before she led him toward a dark and deserted field at the back of a row of tenements.
She laughed a high-pitched sound. “Look at me losing my balance, will you? You'd think I was drunk.”
The man said, “We can stop here if you want.”
She giggled. “No, I must be tired, is all. I feel as if I’m floating, it feels nice.”
He grinned.
They kept walking until they entered the dark field filled with shadows from the tenements to the side. The girl propped herself against a tall fence, while the man turned to face her.
The girl lifted her hand to touch his face. “You’re very handsome,” she slurred.
“Are you ready?” He asked softly.
She laughed. “Eager fella, aren’t you?”
He grabbed her by the shoulder and spun her around so that she was facing the wall and then his fingers slipped around her throat.
When he started to tighten his fingers, she gasped and tried to pull away from him, but the feeling of drowsiness made her feel weak. She only had the two drinks. Was she drugged? Did someone put something in her drink? The same man standing behind her now, gripping his fingers around her neck. Was he the killer?
The man strangled her with one hand while his other hand moved to her bodice. After he ripped open the buttons, her breasts were exposed and she could feel the cold, dampness of the wall against her naked flesh.
As the girl fought for air, her eyes started to bulge in their sockets.
The man smiled pleased.
The girl puts up a struggle as her fingers pull at the stranglehold of fingers around her neck.
Then she crumpled to the ground and the man pulled a knife from his jacket pocket before he slid her throat.
Continue reading Chapter 15/17
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