Fiction: A Killing on a Bridge (85) A historical fiction

Saint Sebastian River Bridge
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all published instalments]

By Roger Owens

Saturday,
November 1, 1924,
10:47 PM

Terry Miller and Steve Davis were drunk. They’d been to Miss Lottie’s for the cheap drinks, but they had some money tonight due to Terry’s uncle, and another’s leavings didn’t suit them this night. They were headed to Senegal’s Sumptuous Palace of Delights, to sample some new flesh reported to have arrived recently enough not to smell like old fish.

Fiction: A Killing on a Bridge (84) A historical fiction

Saint Sebastian River Bridge
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all published instalments]

By Roger Owens

Saturday,
November 1, 1924,
8:57 PM

Stuart Police Chief Oren B. Padgett was the second cousin, once removed, of the Padgett brothers over at the Sheriff’s Office, who would later that day be sent to Fort Pierce. He was sitting at a window table in the Victory Hotel finishing his coffee when he saw George Mariot coming out of the grocery across the street.
    George had an awful lot of groceries for just him and his wife Lola, John Ashley’s estranged sister, Padgett thought.

Fiction: A Killing on a Bridge (83) A historical fiction

Saint Sebastian River Bridge
[Click image to call up
all published instalments]

By Roger Owens

Friday,
October 31, 1924,
1:30 PM

The top of the telegram read “Postal Telegraph”, followed by the triangular shield of the US Postmaster, then “Commercial Cables.” The recipient was listed as “JAMES MERRITT, SHERIFF, SAINT LUCIE CTY.” The body of the message was straightforward, as telegrams were charged for by the word.

Fiction: A Killing on a Bridge (82) A historical fiction

Saint Sebastian River Bridge
[Click image to call up
all published instalments]

By Roger Owens

Friday,
September 5, 1924,
3:43 PM

The payday rush hadn’t really started yet, and Teddy Pendergast had just come on duty as a teller at the Bank of Stuart to service the needs of their customers on the busiest day of the week.

Fiction: A Killing on a Bridge (81) A historical fiction

Saint Sebastian River Bridge
[Click image to call up
all published instalments]

By Roger Owens

Sunday,
February 17, 1924,
2:35 PM

The three boats plowed into West End Harbor, having skirted Indian Cay and the shoals off West End Town. They’d just made it, cutting north of the main peninsula and riding the swells back southwest until they were in the shelter of the northern arm of the bay.

Fiction: A Killing on a Bridge (80) A historical fiction

Saint Sebastian River Bridge
[Click image to call up
all published instalments]

By Roger Owens

Sunday,
February 10, 1924,
2:00 PM

“Water,” John Ashley said in disgust. “Those sons of bitches sold us water. And for top prices.” He dumped part of the bottle marked “Gordons London Dry Gin” into the brown waters of the South Fork of the Saint Lucie River. He tossed the remainder, bottle and all, and it sank with a tiny splash.
    Hanford Mobley, Tom Maddox and Teddy Miller all looked down in shame. John thought Teddy, hands in pockets, might actually scuff his shoe on the weathered, uneven dock boards. He was the nephew of Tom Miller, the grocer back in Gomez.

Fiction: A Killing on a Bridge (79) A historical fiction

Saint Sebastian River Bridge
[Click image to call up
all published instalments]

By Roger Owens

Thursday,
January 10, 1924,
concluded

The dog finally stopped whimpering, the shouting went on, and Red saw something. The army tent had a short wall of interwoven branches about four feet high, and above it he spied a head of black hair, thinning on top. A man sitting up with his back to Red, like from a bunk, who then shouted at someone else to get down.

Fiction: A Killing on a Bridge (78) A historical fiction

Saint Sebastian River Bridge
[Click image to call up
all published instalments]

By Roger Owens

Thursday,
January 10, 1924,
5:00 AM

As the column of cars and trucks crawled through the predawn darkness along the raised marl and sand roads heading into Gomez Grant, with water on either side, Red Dedge was skeptical.
    This was the third raid against the Ashleys he’d been on, two with Saint Lucie County John Merritt, who was not one damn bit happy with his latest volunteer. The memory of losing a lawsuit to this young man, or rather buying his way out of it, was too fresh.

Fiction: A Killing on a Bridge (77) A historical fiction

Saint Sebastian River Bridge
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all published instalments]

By Roger Owens

Thursday,
October 7, 1923,
5:30 PM

With belts and cleats, Red Dedge had gone up near the top of a towering cypress, with Rufus, also belted onto the tree, as his second saw man. They gauged the wind, the slight angle of the tree itself, the seemingly insignificant branches high, high up here on the top. Branches that contained much of the water sucked up by these massive swamp giants, tons of it.

Fiction: A Killing on a Bridge (76) A historical fiction

Saint Sebastian River Bridge
[Click image to call up
all published instalments]

By Roger Owens

Thursday,
December 15, 1921,
6:00 AM

The Lorelei, piloted solo by Anson “Bo” Stokes, led the Angelica, with Jim White and Alton Davis aboard. The north wind and winter swells buffeted their loaded boats, fetching their bows first up, then sideways and down, enough to make the average man puke his toenails up, or “chum the water” as they said when fishing.
    Their heading was north by northwest, having cruised from Rum Cay in South Bimini due west until clearing the Gulf Stream, then turned north towards the harbor used by the Rice gang. They would enter Jupiter Inlet, then follow the Loxahatchee River deep into the Everglades.

Fiction: A Killing on a Bridge (75) A historical fiction

Saint Sebastian River Bridge
[Click image to call up
all published instalments]

By Roger Owens

Tuesday,
May 1, 1923,
5:00 AM

The day dawned clear and sunny, although it had rained hard the night before. Normally Red would have slept well in the rain, but it had the God damn cows bellowing all night. Hell, they bellowed all night every night, and all day every day too, and it was beginnin’ to wear Red’s nerves thin.

Fiction: A Killing on a Bridge (74) A historical fiction

Saint Sebastian River Bridge
[Click image to call up
all published instalments]

By Roger Owens

Wednesday,
October 19, 1921,
8:00 AM

Captain J. S. Blitch, Warden of Raiford State Prison, with barely a sip of his second cup of coffee past his lips, was presented by his head of security, George Morford, with a letter from prisoner John Ashley, to his father Joe Ashley, C/O Miller’s Landing, Gomez Grant, Stuart, Florida.

Fiction: A Killing on a Bridge (73) A historical fiction

Saint Sebastian River Bridge
[Click image to call up
all published instalments]

By Roger Owens

Monday,
October 17, 1921,
1:00 PM

Frank had been at the engine behind the cargo hold for over three hours, and it was hot. Fucking hot. Ed, the little pussy, was upstairs nursing his busted arm and a bottle of Gordon’s Gin. Little pussy.
    Up there in the cool breeze suckin’ cool gin, while Frank bent wrenches and busted his knuckles over the carburetor on the Sterling with the sun sitting right on his God damn head.

Fiction: A Killing on a Bridge (72) A historical fiction

Saint Sebastian River Bridge
[Click image to call up
all published instalments]

By Roger Owens

Monday,
October 17, 1921,
8:00 AM

Ed steered one of the Stoningtons, the one named by its former owners the Honoria Bertrand. The other, previously owned by men presumably less romantic than those of the Honoria, just read “R.L.Frank, T. Kessler” along the bows, and currently floated at the dock back in Manatee Pocket in Stuart.
    The “Honoria Bertrand” had taken all of two days to become the “Horny Bitch,” and soon her name was shortened to the “Horny B.,” just to be mysterious, or so the sniggering brothers told each other.

Fiction: A Killing on a Bridge (71) A historical fiction

Saint Sebastian River Bridge
[Click image to call up
all published instalments]

By Roger Owens

Monday,
October 17, 1921,
3:00 AM

Captain J. S. Blitch, Warden of Raiford State Prison, had enjoyed a hearty steak for Sunday dinner, even if it was from last year’s Angus steer culling. They had this freezing business down to a science, and this time of year there was fresh corn from up Tallahassee way, Vidalia Sweet onions from Vidalia Georgia its only self, a mere hundred and fifty or so miles away, and Cherokee tomatoes from North Carolina, in Blitch’s estimation the best God damn tomatoes in the whole wide world.

Fiction: A Killing on a Bridge (70) A historical fiction

Saint Sebastian River Bridge
[Click image to call up
all published instalments]

By Roger Owens

Saturday,
September 30, 1922

He could not believe that the Ashley gang had left them alone, even for a few weeks. They’d killed eleven hired gun thugs at Harlan’s fish camp, and Red had heard later that Skeeter and Rosalijo had killed three more earlier at Skeeter’s farm in Jackass Junction.

Fiction: A Killing on a Bridge (69) A historical fiction

Saint Sebastian River Bridge
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all published instalments]

By Roger Owens

Sunday,
July 18, 1920,
7:00 AM

The Citizens Bank of Tampa was considered Tampa’s first high-rise building of any kind. It was built in 1913 at 701 North Dale Mabry Boulevard, with ten stories, and was one hundred and twenty feet tall. That in itself had not been terribly interesting to Joe Ashley. The fact that Eli Witt, the founder of Have-A-Tampa Cigars, deposited his receipts into Citizen’s Bank on a regular and predictable basis was, however, very interesting.

Fiction: A Killing on a Bridge (68) A historical fiction

Saint Sebastian River Bridge
[Click image to call up
all published instalments]

By Roger Owens

Sunday,
September 3,
1922

Ma Middleton had been cooking since before dawn. Red had helped cart wood for the stove and been rewarded with extra coffee and biscuits, with ham and redeye gravy.
    Ramon had come back from Wauchula with his family on Monday, the third of September, two days after the attack. He brought his family to retrieve the body of their brother, son and cousin, Luis Xian Alejandro Alvarez y Gomez.

Fiction: A Killing on a Bridge (67) A historical fiction

Saint Sebastian River Bridge
[Click image to call up
all published instalments]

By Roger Owens

Friday,
September 1, 1922,
concluded

He came up to the north side of the culvert and saw Jueve down in the canal, holding Jumper above the black water in the culvert pipe. The truck they had shot up was still tilted over the canal with the left front wheel hanging over the edge. Blood was dripping heavily from the front seat, puddling on the roadway and trickling into the canal.
    Damn, Red thought, that’ll bring the ’gators for sure and for certain.

Fiction: A Killing on a Bridge (66) A historical fiction

Saint Sebastian River Bridge
[Click image to call up
all published instalments]

By Roger Owens

Friday,
September 1, 1922,
continued

From up here, he could see the road north for maybe a quarter mile, before the lakeside trees and bushes obscured it. The land between the road and the lake was about a quarter-mile wide, so what Red saw out the north door was pretty much a square, with the road on his left side and the lake shore on his right.