"I wish you could have met my son," Jessica said. She took a bite of her sandwich. "But he's dead."
I swallowed my own bite of sandwich with difficulty. "I'm sorry to hear that. You only had the one child?"
"Yes. No daughters, either. I always wanted a daughter."
My first impression of Phillip was that he was blessed with ignorance. He knew nothing of world events, nothing of religion. And probably nothing much about sex. It was sort of refreshing—no angry tirades about the current goings on in the White House and Congress, and no heated discussions about religion. I figured he must be happy—ignorance is bliss, right? I wasn't so sure about being ignorant about sex, but he could learn, couldn't he?
When Marge entered the hotel room, she sighed. She'd been cleaning rooms for eight years and often saw big messes, but rarely did she smell such a strong odor. Windows wouldn't open, so she turned the thermostat down as low as it would go and propped open the door to the hall. Then she began to gather up and sort clothing, papers, old newspapers, McDonald's wrappers, greasy French fries and other items. The occupant hadn't checked out, so she couldn't just trash everything. She finally reached the closed bathroom door and opened it.
Judy mixed the drink with care. A shot of gin over ice in a tall glass, fill with tonic and add a wedge of lemon – just a teaspoon of arsenic – stir. She mixed the second drink with equal precision, but without poison. She took two paper cocktail napkins and walked to the living room, noticing with detachment that her hand wasn't even shaking.
A young, battered woman walks down the highway, hoping for a ride but where will she say she’s headed? When a car does stop, she isn’t sure she should get in but what other option is there? The man asks her name and then she realizes she doesn’t know what it is.
Charlie sped toward the murder scene. The chief had told him no lights, no siren. This was a shame because Charlie was driving his brand new white SUV police vehicle. Happy Fourth of July, he thought, not totally unhappy to be working the holiday. Sometimes interesting things happened, especially on Independence Day.
Ah, summer! A chance to lie in the sun coated with sunscreen and read. Quench your thirst for a good story with these novels: KRL “fave,” Nancy J. Parra has a new series out featuring event planner/sleuth, Pepper Pomeroy. A surprise marriage proposal and getaway for her sister gets hijacked at a private airport when a man's body is found in the women's restroom. Does the fiancé have more to hide than an engagement ring? Pepper's on the case! Engaged in Murder is available in trade and on Kindle.
