Member-only story
JULY 17 PROMPT
When the Songbird Cries, Part One
The disappearance of Charlie Raines
Rain hit the city with intention, like loose change thrown at a beggar.
Cold. Angry. Relentless.
Vince Vale gazed as it crawled down the cracked window of his office and the ceiling fan above him noisily spun its death rattle; any turn now might be its last.
The neon sign from the pawnshop across the alley blinked through tattered curtains long outlived any usefulness, painting the room in the color of an old wound.
Three in the morning.
That was usually around the time when the desperate people would come to his door.
Sometimes the dangerous ones.
Occasionally both.
The knock landed softly on the glass pane atop the door. It rattled slightly, as if the glass itself was protesting against the painted lettering on it and attempting to shake it off.
Vince looked up from his coffee. The dark liquid had gone cold hours earlier, but so had most things in his life.
“Door’s open.”
She stepped inside, dark trench coat imbued with rain, black matching gloves and dark glasses despite the hour.
