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About the Author: Nikki Knight describes herself as an Author/Anchor/Mom…not in that order. An award-winning weekend anchor at New York City’s #1 all-news station, 1010 WINS Radio, she writes short stories and novels including the Vermont Radio Mystery, LIVE, LOCAL, AND DEAD (Crooked Lane, 2022). Her stories appear in magazines including Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, online, and in anthologies including DEADLY NIGHTSHADE: Best New England Crime Stories 2022.
Like the heartbeat under the floorboards in that Edgar Allen Poe classic, guilty people hear things that aren’t there. I’ve known it since I read the story in eighth grade, but I still never expected to catch a killer with “Oh, Sherrie.”
It all started on a cold, but dry, night in January.
My good friend Maeve, otherwise known as the Reverend Collins, pastor of St. Gabriel’s, catty-cornered and down from my little radio station in Simpson, Vermont, came over for a cup of coffee at about ten o’clock.
That part wasn’t unusual; Maeve often drops by at the end of her long day of tending to the flock to hang out with me during the WSV all-request love songs at night show. It’s relaxing and fun for her, and good company for me. Nothing bad there.
What was unusual: the look in her eyes. Even on a really bad day, she’s always got a little twinkle and a wry comment to take the edge off any situation, no matter how horrible.
It’s a bond between us. I’ve always been a little snarky, but in the last year, when my career and marriage exploded and I landed in this frozen corner of East Hell, dark humor has pulled me through.
“C’mon downstairs,” I said, “and we’ll figure out where to hide the murder weapon.”
She didn’t even smile.
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