Harm and Hammer

By Joseph D'Agnese

(Note: Harm and Hammer is a short story that is also available in the larger collection, Daggyland #1, by the same author.)

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Once upon a time, Callie had a high-paying job in a glamorous city, where everyone knew her name. Her real name. Now she’s just another nobody living in the middle of nowhere, trying to stave off boredom.

Welcome to witness protection, Callie.

But one day, Callie falls in love with a most unusual musical instrument, and embarks upon an obsession that she hopes will chase away her guilt.

Every time she plays, she comes one step closer to forgiving herself—and one step closer to hell.

A tale of redemption lost.

This unsettling short story first appeared in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine.

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Chosen by author James Patterson for The Best American Mystery Stories 2015 anthology.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Joseph D'Agnese
• Release date: Mar 21, 2015
• ISBN: 9781941410172

Joseph D'Agnese

Joseph D’Agnese is a journalist and author who has written for children and adults alike. He’s been published in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Wired, Discover, and other national publications. In a career spanning more than twenty years, his work has been honored with awards in three vastly different areas—science journalism, children’s literature, and mystery fiction. His science articles have twice appeared in the anthology Best American Science Writing. His children’s book, Blockhead: The Life of Fibonacci, was an honoree for the Mathical Book Prize—the first-ever prize for math-themed children’s books. One of his crime stories won the 2015 Derringer Award for short mystery fiction. Another of his stories was selected by mega-bestselling author James Patterson for inclusion in the prestigious annual anthology, Best American Mystery Stories 2015. D’Agnese’s crime fiction has appeared in Shotgun Honey, Plots with Guns, Beat to a Pulp, Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, Mystery Weekly, and Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine. D’Agnese lives in North Carolina with his wife, the New York Times bestselling author Denise Kiernan (The Girls of Atomic City).

Book preview

Harm and Hammer

Harm and Hammer

A Short Story

Joseph D’Agnese

Nutgraf Productions LLC

HARM AND HAMMER

Published by Joseph D’Agnese at Smashwords

Smashwords Edition

Copyright © 2014 Joseph D’Agnese

NutGraf Productions LLC

First digital edition: March 2014

Cover design by GoOnWrite.com

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Harm and Hammer first appeared in the October 2014 issue of Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine.

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This e-book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. All rights reserved. No part of this e-book may be reproduced in whole or in part, scanned, photocopied, recorded, distributed in any printed or electronic form, or reproduced in any manner whatsoever, or by any information storage and retrieval system now known or hereafter invented, without express written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

josephdagnese.com

In this e-book

Harm and Hammer by Joseph D’Agnese

Once upon a time, Callie had a high-paying job in a glamorous city, where everyone knew her name. Her real name. Now she’s just another nobody living in the middle of nowhere, trying to stave off boredom.

---

Welcome to witness protection, Callie.

---

But one day, Callie falls in love with a most unusual musical instrument, and embarks upon an obsession that she hopes will chase away her guilt.

---

Every time she plays, she comes one step closer to forgiving herself—and one step closer to hell.

---

A tale of redemption lost.

---

This unsettling short story first appeared in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine.

Chosen by Author James Patterson for

The Best American Mystery Stories 2015 Anthology.

Harm and Hammer

Once a month the man parks his car at the top of her cul-de-sac. He sits behind his steering wheel and plays with his phone until she arrives. She takes no obvious note of him as she drives home from the mall. No looking. No waves. She simply parks in the driveway of her crappy townhouse rental and heads inside, leaving her front door unlocked. She kicks off her shoes, runs to the kitchen and turns the oven to 350 degrees. Then she dashes upstairs to her bedroom and strips off everything but her bra and panties and slips into the little black dress or sometimes the cute red one. She steps into her Mary Janes, puts on her earrings, and checks her hair and makeup in the mirror. By the time she pops the disks of cookie dough into the oven and begins heating the kettle, the man is already making the rounds of her small backyard. It isn’t much of a yard, but he always likes to check the perimeter and that makes her think sweetly of him.

Eventually, he raps his knuckles on the door as he enters. He sits at the table while she serves him tea and cookies. Green tea, because he once said it’s good for his cholesterol and he’s trying to cut down. He’s not heavy, but he can easily blow his good looks if he doesn’t watch out. She knows