PHOTO PROMPT © Ted Strutz for Rochelle’s Friday Fictioneers. Other stories featuring the prompt can be found here.
Missing persons. Cold case. Presumed dead. So many. Now all that is left are black and white photos of a time long gone, waiting in a trash basket to be disposed of, like victims’ bodies so long ago.
Detective Black, assigned to every case, found hunched over his desk. Heart attack the perpetrator. Some say the guilt ate at him. Too many killers free, too many families waiting in agony for answers, dependant on him.
Photographs stored in his locked desk. Trophies of a crooked cop. The mug on his desk, half drunk coffee laced with justice. The cleaner been and gone. Another murderer free. Black’s case turns as cold as the coffee.
Wow! This is really good. I like the staccato delivery of the story, the bare facts laid out. I like too the structure, how the three parts show us three different aspects of the scene, from the missing people to the dead cop to the vengeful cleaner. Lively and effective storytelling
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Phew, I wrote it and worried I would be the only one that understood the madness of my mind lol.
Thanks L!
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Ha! No, came through very clear. My pleasure
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Wonderfully atmospheric
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Thanks N!
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Dear Tanille,
I love “coffee laced with justice.” A story of Karma. Well written.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Thanks R!
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Quite the noir scene!
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It just popped out. Love it when that happens!
Thanks J!
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That box pushed under the desk and forgotten about – the start of a gripping detective novel here.
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Does pose a lot of unanswered questions…
Thanks I!
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Whoa! Well then … Yikes!
Well done!
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You’ll never look at black and white photos the same again 😀
Thanks N!
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Yep…
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Clever approach, intriguing style.
Seems not a heart attack, but a vengeful cleaner.
Pow!
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I was shocked myself.
Thanks C!
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I bet he could tell a tale or two if of course, he chose to.
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Damn straight. Hopefully the truth doesn’t die with him.
Thanks K!
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Great style for the story.
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Thanks T!
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Revenge best served cold in coffee? There’s a lot of story here.
Tracey
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It would be fun to revisit and unpack the story into something longer one day.
Thanks T!
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Wow. If the first three stories are any indication, this is going to be an amazing week on FF !
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I’m finding this week’s stories to be a great diversity. 😀
Thanks L!
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This was so good, T!
I loved the short staccato sentences. Told matter-of-factly.
Way to go!
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Helped keep the word count down too 😀. I wasn’t sure about this story in terms of style, so phew!
Thanks D!
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Isn’t it great when we get confirmation from our readers?
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Absolutely, a great learning tool and ego boost in one 😈.
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Indeedy!
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Great atmosphere I loved the coffee laced with justice 🙂
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Yeah but only if someone else drinks it. 😀
Thanks D!
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Great imagery. Lots of emotion. Very sad, too.
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Bitter sweet. Maybe the cases will be reopened.
Thanks S!
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Top draw stuff this one, I love the way you tell us the facts, I’m assuming the cleaner had a score to settle, really good punchy stuff.
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I’m not sure the cleaner had anything to do with it, they might have cleaned up when the body was taken away. A suspect for sure.
Thanks Shrawley!
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Photos that he shouldn’t have, those secrets that he kept. Surrendered to the pressure, he bore the guilt of “If you can’t beat ’em then join ’em.” He remembered them all.
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I still reckon you should give Friday Fictioneers a go.
Thanks P!
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Loved this – eventually Detective Black is cleaned up. Ironic that the cleaner hands out the justice and walks free.
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Wonder if the cleaner is aware of their actions…
Thanks J!
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Good one! We went to similar places. Detective Black could even be one of the failed detectives from my story.
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Ooo that would be fun. Yes I thought that while reading yours!
Thanks N!
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I liked the “noir” feel to this in relation to the black and white or sepia image prompt. SO fitting. Really imaginative piece. It appears he was crooked and was served his own medicine in the end.
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Poetic justice… although I hope all the cold cases get answers.
Thanks F!
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This sounds like a narrator’s voice at the beginning of a mystery/thriller, Tannille. You painted a great picture of a murder and the evidence. I loved it. 🙂 — Suzanne
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This one wrote itself. 😀
Thanks S!
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Engaging story from start to finished with so many unanswered questions. I want to know more! Incredible opening to a much longer story. Well-done!
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Might add this one to the growing “expand” story pile.
Thanks B!
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That makes for a gripping read
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Thanks Ruby!
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