Nemesis: The Final Case of Eliot Ness Read Online Free Page B

from, but he'd never managed to figure it out. He didn't spend that much time on the south side of the Run. He knew he wasn't welcome. Things were more comfortable here, in no-man's-land-at least during the day, when the bums were either scrounging for work or sleeping it off.
    "Are we playin' catch or countin' sheep?"
    "Sorry," Jimmy mumbled. He lobbed the ball back toward his pal, who caught it with ease. Peter was actually a pretty salty ballplayer, not that he would ever tell the kid that. Course, Peter still saw his dad every now and again. His dad took him to a real-live Indians game at Municipal Stadium. And his mom had a radio, so they could listen to the games and Walter Winchell and The Shadow and all the other swell stuff that came over the airwaves.
    "Are you ready for my fastball?" Peter shouted.
    "I can handle it."
    "I'm gonna burn a hole right through your hand."
    "Gosh willikers. I'm a-tremblin'."
    "You sure you're ready?"
    Jimmy cracked a smile. "Give me everythin' you got, champ."
    Peter did. He threw the baseball as hard as he could-right over Jimmy's head.
    "Aw geez."
    He knew they shouldn't have been playing on Jackass Hill. It was great for sledding, when there was snow, but a stupid place to play catch. The ball sailed over the crest of the hill down a sixty-foot slope and into a gully.
    "No way I'm goin' down there," Jimmy said.
    "Well, I'm not goin'."
    "You threw it."
    "You missed it!"
    Jimmy sighed. This was a bum deal, but it was his only baseball and he didn't want to lose it.
    "All right," Jimmy shouted. "You're probably too puny to make it down there and back up again."
    "Am not!"
    "Prove it."
    "Why should both of us go?"
    "Because it's a race. Whoever's toughest gets the ball first. Go!"
    Both boys tore into action, barreling down the hill as if their shoes were on fire. Jimmy was closest, so he took an early lead, which only got wider as the race proceeded. He still had the advantage of age, not to mention at least fifteen pounds. Despite the fact that it was a cold day, sweat dripped down the side of his face as he ran at his very best speed. He was panting and short of breath, but that didn't matter. His manhood was at stake. He couldn't be beaten by a kid four years younger. Couldn't even let him come close.
    Jimmy blazed his way through the bushes and tall grass and weeds till he hit the gully, well ahead of Peter.
    "No fair!" Peter cried. "You had a head start!"
    Jimmy cackled. "Wimpy!" He adopted a fake, high-pitched British voice. "I'd gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today!"
    He scanned the gully, searching for the baseball. The weeds and bushes were mostly stomped down, but it could still be a chore to find something as small as a baseball, particularly one that had already lost most of its cover and was more brown than white.
    He started toward the north, tracing the length of the gully, hoping that no matter where the ball went it would eventually roll back to the lowest point. He pushed aside some weeds and something caught his eye-
    Jimmy froze, chilled to the bone. His lips parted, but no words came out. He wanted to make a noise, a really loud noise, but he couldn't do it.
    Couldn't move, either. And he really truly desperately wanted to move.
    Finally, a toe at a time, he managed to get his body working again. He raced back up the hill, twice as fast as he had come down, his eyes wide and his face wild.
    He practically collided with Peter. "Don't go down there!"
    Peter stared at him, confused. "What? Did you find the ball?"
    Jimmy slowly shook his head. "Something else."
    "Like what?"
    Jimmy grabbed Peter's arm. His hands were ice cold. "Like, a man."
    "A man? What kinda man?"
    Jimmy could barely form the words. "A man with no head."

5
    From the front page of the December 12, 1935, Cleveland Plain Dealer:
    "... when this reporter learned that Eliot Ness, formerly an agent for the Treasury Department, has been appointed by Mayor Burton to be the new Safety Director, filling