The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Circuit Riders, by R. C. FitzPatrick

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Title: The Circuit Riders

Author: R. C. FitzPatrick

Illustrator: John Schoenherr

Release Date: February 8, 2008 [EBook #24543]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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[Illustration]

THE
CIRCUIT
RIDERS

On the Board,
they were just little
lights that glowed.
But out there
in the night of the
city-jungle,
they represented
human passions--
virulent emotions--
and deadly crimes-to-be ...

by R. C. FitzPatrick

Illustrated by Schoenherr

He was an old man and very drunk. Very drunk or very sick. It was the
middle of the day and the day was hot, but the old man had on a suit,
and a sweater under the suit. He stopped walking and stood still,
swaying gently on widespread legs, and tried to focus his eyes. He lived
here ... around here ... somewhere around here. He continued on,
stumbling up the street.

He finally made it home. He lived on the second floor and he dragged
himself up the narrow staircase with both hands clutching the railing.
But he was still very careful of the paper bag under his arm. The bag
was full of beer.

Once in the room, he managed to take off his coat before he sank down on
the bed. He just sat there, vacant and lost and empty, and drank his
beer.

* * * * *

It was a hot, muggy, August afternoon--Wednesday in Pittsburgh. The
broad rivers put moisture in the air, and the high hills kept it there.
Light breezes were broken-up and diverted by the hills before they could
bring more than a breath of relief.

In the East Liberty precinct station the doors and windows were opened
wide to snare the vagrant breezes. There were eight men in the room; the
desk sergeant, two beat cops waiting to go on duty, the audio
controller, the deAngelis operator, two reporters, and a local book ...
businessman. From the back of the building, the jail proper, the voice
of a prisoner asking for a match flo