Excerpt: Beneath the Torn Sky

Her job often entailed the late night knock at the door. Melantha kept the robe folded over the footboard of her bed for that reason. Tying it on as she stumbled down the stairs, she didn’t bother trying to find the striker to light the gas lights. Only her downstairs work shop, foyer and front parlor had been retrofitted with electricity. Public buildings were getting priority as there weren’t half enough workers trained yet. She flung open her door after flipping on the porch light. She wasn’t even surprised to see the red uniformed policemen standing on the stoop, though their lack of urgency cut through her sleep-sodden mind. Melantha thought perhaps she recognized one of them.

“Miss Honeycutt, sorry to wake you,” the older of the pair said, holding out a card to her. “This is yours isn’t it?”

Tucking an escaping ruffle back under her robe, Melantha took the card, squinting to see it in the pale light cast by the streetlamp and the yellowish light dangling overhead. Were those reddish-brown stains the creamy, hard cardstock? “One of my business cards.” She blinked, wondering how that could be police business and knowing she wouldn’t like it.

“We found that at a crime scene in the pocket of the victim.” The policeman squirmed as if loathing to say what was necessary. “Could you come with us to see if you know the man? He has no identification on him.”

Heart clanging as fast and loud as the steam heating kicking on behind her, Melantha nodded. The thought of one of her patients lying dead or injured, probably the former, dragged her mercilessly toward full awareness.