09/25/2020 Snippet, THE THING IN MY HIP FLASK.

Two more scenes, tops! Huzzah! …And this one isn’t turning out half bad, I think.

…most of the finished batch from the latest current production run had been stolen. Worse, the catalyst was missing, too. The staff were fast to assign blame: “It was Dave,” said Will, our night supervisor. “He came in, said he needed the truck loaded up for an emergency delivery. Then he grabbed the cleaning thingy and tossed that in the truck, too.”

I looked at him. Working on a distillery floor didn’t seem to do much for a person’s natural wit, but Will was usually the clearest head of the bunch. He seemed a little off, though. “Why didn’t you stop him?” I asked, a little more softly than I might have done.

Will wiped absently at some muck on his face. “I dunno, Cassie,” he replied. “He’s Dave, so he does the shipments, right? When he took the thingy, I dunno, I think I said something, but he said something and…” he concentrated for a moment, visibly trying to articulate something. I watched with no little horrified fascination as a trickle of blood descended from the corner of one eye.

That must be the ‘muck,’ I thought as Will wiped his face again.