The Fourth Monkey (4MK Thriller, #1)

by J.D. Barker

I’d look back at them under that tree, all in smiles. I’d look back and picture their necks sliced from ear to ear, blood pouring from the wounds and pooling in the grass beneath them. And I would laugh, my heart fluttering, I would laugh so.

The four monkeys comes from the Tosho-gu Shrine in Nikko, Japan, where a carving of three apes resides above the entrance. The first covering his ears, the second covering his eyes, and the third covering his mouth, they depict the proverb “Hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil.” The fourth monkey represents “Do no evil.”

A cop’s salary didn’t allow for much, but anything that made her happy was a worthwhile spend.

“Large helpings all around!” She beamed. I stared at the stew.

Mr. Carter is in the stew

It was nice to see him get what he deserved. Women are to be respected and cherished, always. He would learn.

Women were perfectly capable of handling pain but not emotion. Men handled emotion but not pain.

“The life cycle carving at the Tosho-gu Shrine is made up of eight panels in all. The monkeys appear in the second panel. Can anyone tell me their names?” I, of course, had the answer, and I raised my hand earnestly. If Mrs. Carter also knew, she chose not to participate. Father looked to me, then Mrs. Carter, and back to me. “Well, you did get your hand in the air first. Why don’t you tell us their names?” “Mizaru, Kikazaru, and Iwazaru.”

“Shizaru,” I said. “His name is Shizaru.” “He stands for do no evil,” Father said. “And that, of course, is the rub. Should someone see or hear evil, there is little one can do. When someone speaks evil, there is fault to be had, but when they do evil . . . well, when they do evil there is no room for forgiveness.”

“You need to talk to someone. That’s how we heal. Keeping it bottled up isn’t healthy. It’ll grow in you like a cancer if you keep it all inside.”

There was always something dying in the forest, just as sure as new life was born.

A chill had crept up with the falling sun, and Porter welcomed it, the brisk air reminding him what it was to be alive.