Canyon Park is bowed down under a relentless torrent of rain. The fields are flooded, the bridges crumble and the increasingly isolated town is host to a serial killer with a grudge against the wealthy Lollo family. Slipping between a small cast of characters; the killer, the tortured policeman hiding a dark secret, the returning son, the inquisitive librarian, the boy caught between cultures…each of these marred, struggling humans a part of the threadbare fabric of the town. Throughout the story, secrets and motivations are slowly revealed, people continue to die, and it continues to rain.
Excerpt:
Prologue
“Nature does nothing uselessly.” - Aristotle (384 BC - 322 BC)
When he sliced Ann Lollo’s old throat, she was sitting in an overstuffed chair, by a big fire, reading a library book. His knife cut through with little effort, yet his muscles quivered. He realized, as the redness flowed down, wetting his hands like the rain outside the big windows, that it was not from strain that he shook, but from anticipation of the blood flow, excitement from the coming release, and fear of repercussion. Long streams of her blood pumped onto the dappled texture of the Middle Eastern rug that covered most of the wood floor of her living room, soaking the book where it lay after her hands loosened their grip.
The voice came again.
You do not need this. This will not help you heal.
He ignored the mental pleas and slid the knife deep into her chest. It was bony, not meaty like the others, an umbrella, fabric stretched tight across thin, wooden struts.
What does she know of the blood sacrifices?
The act of killing didn’t make him happy; the killing itself made him vomit - the smell and texture repulsive to him. Absolving the souls made him happy. Even with the sticky blood covering his hands he could be glad that another soul, once claimed by the Bad Spirit, was reclaimed for the Good.
I want to help you.
She hated it when he killed, but she loved it when he came back to her for comfort. That was why she was the shepherd and he was the butcher.
Copyright © 2008 Lon Cohen. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the author.
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