A Knight in the Ville: Why the Babies Cry

By Steven E. Winters

When small town cop Sergeant Curtis Knight begins having visions and nightmares of a mysterious red headed little girl, his investigative curiosity kicks in. Driven by the clues the little girl gives him Sergeant Knight begins his journey into the hidden darkness of one family. A darkness filled with secrets that only a small town can hide. After sixty years, that secret is about to be revealed. But Craig Jones, the head of that family, and the richest man in Sistersville, isn't about to allow that to happen.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Aug 7, 2013
• ISBN: 9781491803868

Steven E. Winters

Born and raised in Tyler County, West Virginia, Steven E. Winters was fascinated with the folklore and legends of the Ohio Valley region. With those legends in mind, he wrote A Knight in the Ville, a five-book series based in and around Tyler County. Mixing historical facts with fictional characters, he focused on making his stories short and easy to read. Encouraged by the success of that series, he is now releasing his first short-story collection. Winters served as a law enforcement officer in West Virginia and North Carolina for twenty-three years before retiring in 2003. He now works as a private contractor for a large utility company, which gives him more time to focus on his writing. He currently resides near Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina.

Book preview

Chapter 1

S ergeant Curtis Knight drove his black-and-white police cruiser hard into the horseshoe turn on old Route 18. He stomped on the brake and skidded to a stop, sending gravel flying into the ditch along the berm. Nature was calling, and it was in a big hurry. Sergeant Knight leapt from the cruiser and had no sooner gotten his fly unzipped before he let loose a torrent of urine upon the ground. He sighed, closing his eyes in relief as his bladder emptied. It was a full minute before he finished, and, as he opened his eyes, he noticed the gathering storm clouds, a warning that Mother Nature also had plans, as the sky began to quickly darken on this warm night.

Curtis had just returned from the Tyler County Jail, after locking up one of his regular Friday-night drunks. A thirteen-year veteran of the Sistersville, WV police force, the athletic, muscular thirty three year old seldom had trouble with the town drunks. He knew most of them and they knew him. One fight with Sergeant Curtis Knight was usually the last time a man would test him. Curtis was an easy-going man with short blonde hair and an easy smile; but, when riled, he fought hard. Yet, he seldom had to use force. He knew how to calm people down… seemed to have a gift for it. He was well liked by most of the town.

It was an eleven-mile trip to the jail, and, after spending thirty minutes booking his prisoner in, he was anxious to get back to Sistersville before the summer storm hit. The jailer had seemed intent on taking his time, pecking the keyboard on his computer one letter at a time before finally taking the prisoner’s photo and issuing him an orange jumpsuit. Sergeant Knight decided to take a shortcut to town on the drive back. Old Route 18 was seldom used, having given way to the newer Route 18 in the early 1970s. It was still a quicker way to town, if you knew how to drive it. It was a winding, narrow road that contoured to the rolling green hillsides through which it ran, with one blind curve after another. But the three cups of coffee he’d consumed that afternoon demanded release, causing him to stop just a mile before the city limits.

He zipped his pants and started toward his cruiser when he heard a sound. A low wail at first, it steadily grew louder. Curtis took it for a bobcat calling out from the hollow, probably frightened by the coming storm. A flash of lightning reminded him that he should get moving. But then the sound came again, and, this time, there was no mistaking what it was. The rain began to fall in large drops as Curtis grabbed a flashlight from the front seat of the cruiser and ran into the hollow. He ran for about one hundred yards, jumping over fallen tree limbs until he came to a clearing and stopped. He looked all around, but could only hear the falling rain and his heart beating. He waited for his heart rate to slow and adjusted his eyes to the thick darkness of the woods. The rain was falling harder now. He began to relax, convinced it was only a wild animal after all. That’s when he felt something ice-cold on the back of his neck. It was a light tickling sensation, much like when a hair