by Lester Dent; published in Black Mask in 1936.
“Sail”
The fish shook its head as the knife cut off its head. Red ran out of the two parts and the fluid spread enough to cover the wet red mark where two human hands had failed to hold to the dock edge.
Oscar Sail wet the palms of his own left hand in the puddle.
The small policeman kept coming out on the dock, tramping in the rear edge of glare from his flashlight.
Sail split the fish belly, shook it over the edge of the yacht dock, and there were some splashes below in the water. The stuff from the fish made the red stain in the water a little larger.
When the small policeman reached Sail, he stopped and gave his cap a cock, he looked down at Sail’s feet and up at Sail’s head.
The cop said, “Damned if you ain’t a long drink of water.”
Sail said nothing.
The cop asked, “That you give that yell a minute ago?”
Sail showed plenty of teeth so that his grin would be seen in the moonlight. He picked up the fishhook and held it close to his red-wetted left palm.
“Little accident,” he said.
where were these stories reprinted?–ralph g
Yes, in various anthologies over the years. Look for an unpublished Oscar Sail story in the upcoming Black Lizard book of Black Mask stories, “Luck.”