The Chicago Club was a hot spot for North Bay's well to do. It served a great Gin Gimlet and the band would play till the sun came up. It was the type of place you could bet it all on a game of pitch and toss, and maybe come out of it richer than when you went in. It played host to local politicians, celebrities, and the odd connected wiseguy. It was a diamond shining among the coal of downtown.
At least, it used to be.
When Percy Slate walks through the doors for the second time in a week he finds the band silent and the gaming tables overturned. The Chicago Club is a bloodbath. One man is to blame for the bedlam; a local doctor who's fallen victim to psychological torture and brainwash of Roger Carson, an ex soldier supposedly killed before Percy's eyes.
The Chicago Club holds scars for Percy too. The manager of the club was the trigger man in the murder of his wife. When Percy finds him at the mercy of the deranged doctor Carruthers he has a choice to make: prevent the death of a man he hates, or give in to revenge and let a cleansing fire consume everything in it's path, even if that means Percy himself is lost.
This week Second Saturday Stories brings you the penultimate installment of the Noir thriller Skeleton Unburdened. Fans of Private Eye stories will love this piece. Taking place in North Bay post World War One this thriller delivers an original story with a tinge of history and enough of the paranormal to send goosebumps racing up your spine.
Fans of the series and new readers alike can catch up on the story below. Come back for Chapter 14: A Broken Mind Brought to an Explosive End today at 3pm
Prologue and Chapter 1 An Apology with Your Fists
Chapter 2 In a Waking Nightmare
Chapter 6 Save a Stranger's Life
Chapter 9 Trapped with a Madman
Chapter 10 Demise of a Detective
Chapter 12 Death in the Rail Yard
Chapter 13 Hope in the Bones of a Burned Bridge
Don't miss Chapter 14 A Broken Mind brought to an explosive end today at 3pm.
for those who missed it, it's not too late to start working on submissions for Second Saturday Stories 2023 columns. Read details here
