Brooklyn *Spot Conlon Love Story*

Chapter 9: Kamden

The gravel crunches under my feet as I wander back to Brooklyn. Spot is going to be mad. I stayed extremely late, much later than he'd wanted me out. But, to be fair, I haven't seen my brother, Race, Kam, or any of the other Newsies in what feels like forever. It's probably only been about a week and a half in reality, but I really missed those guys. I mean, the good years of my life were spent with them.

The night had gone well. Racetrack challenged me to a game of poker and I guess I'd been gone so long, I'd forgotten I would lose. I lost and had to fork over a buck, but it ended up being okay. In the end, I challenged Race to a rematch and came through with a royal flush. Race had to give me back my dollar. I smile smugly at the thought.

Kam told me her stories about her selling with Crutchy with vivid hand gestures and wide eyes. Apparently, the Delancey brothers are back to working in the circulation office, along with Weasel. I know this because Kam was telling me a story about how she almost got soaked by the Delancey brothers and then, Crutchy helped her by distracting them and she ended up soaking them. Kamden has to be one of my best friends.

I got to spend some time with Davey. I asked him how Les was doing and he told me that the little boy had come down with a mild case of the measles, but seemed to be recovering just fine. He asked me how I was doing and I told him.

I have been selling papes with Spot for the week and a half I've been in Brooklyn. Spot hasn't introduced me to many of the guys yet. I mean, there are the few I know like Curly and Tick, but other than them, I'm in the dark. He's decided to introduce me to the others during a more convenient time. I agreed. But, life has been boring other than that. Brooklyn doesn't have the fun elaborate dance numbers like Manhattan and I kind of miss it.

Finally, and best of all, Jack and I went up on the roof to talk. He told me everything about his life since I'd been gone from selling papes with Davey to Sarah being his girl. I soaked all of it in, not wanting to miss a beat. I told Jack what I'd been doing and he asked me how Spot was treating me. He got very upset when I responded with, 'Like a Queen.' I'm not sure why, but that didn't settle well with Jack. Jack and I spent a moment crying together about how much we we missed each other too. All that was before I realized it was getting extremely late and I should go.

A scream rips through the night air, shrill and sharp as glass. I jump a little from the noise, having been in such deep though. It seemed really close, so I figured it was harmless to check it out. I heard a few more muffled screams and found the source of them. An alley.

Then, the strong, metallic scent of blood registers. Well, this couldn't get any worse. I start to slowly creep down the alley way until I almost trip over something. I look down and almost scream, but I stop myself. I'm looking down on the face of a girl. Well, a dead girl. I find the stab wounds in her stomach and chest. Whoever did them didn't have pin point accuracy or anything, but stabbed vital organs in the body. The one on the stomach could've hit her liver, if it had gone deep enough. I can't tell.

I study her face a litter more and gasp. I know her. Not very well, but I do know her. Ethel Brown, a female Newsie from Queens. But, that not why I know her. I've met her because of Spot. Because she was Buddy Watson's girlfriend, the leader of Queens. I don't know if it was a coincidence that she was the one killed or its part of a scheme.

I start to quietly back out of the alley way when a metal sound registers. I look down and find that I just stepped of a knife. A bloody knife. Well, the killer will be back for his knife, won't he? If he's on his way back right now, who knows how much time that leaves me to get away? Certainly not a lot.

I take off sprinting toward Brooklyn, not slowing down until I cross over the Brooklyn Bridge and then, skid to a halt in front of the docks. Curly and Tick are in the usual spots, guarding Brooklyn with their lives or something like that. I begin to stride past them until Curly stops me by grabbing my arm.