A Hard Case

by Ron Hess

  “Song, song, hung, hung,

  Mean old man is dead and gone,

  Dead and gone, dead and gone,

  John, John, you’re dead and gone . . .”

  The hackles rose on Jimmy’s neck, and he fumbled for the key. The machine started and he took off going faster than he should have down the hill. He hoped no one saw him ’cause Bronski would ground him. The words faded the closer he got to the village. It was just the wind, he told himself. Just the wind . . . blowing through the trees.

  – THE END –

  Ron Hess has lived in Alaska over twenty-five years, but for the past three years he has spent the winters living on the Arizona-Mexico border. Ron has authored A Matter of Survival, A Hard Case, A Border Story, and Murder at Fire Bay, and is currently working on his fifth thriller.