The Alibi (A John Chance Mystery) – Chapter 12 (New)

We skip ahead a bit because chapters 8-11 are pretty much rewrites of previous material and do you really care at this point (if you do, let me know)?

This chapter, however, is brand new and is necessary to establish a thread I make use of later in the story (no worries, you haven’t seen where yet).

The Alibi – Chapter 12

 
Ginni Lister blinked a few times. Her eyes wouldn’t focus at first. Something beeped above her, the rapidity of the beeps increased as her awareness grew. A light blanket covered her, between her and the blanket a clean, fresh-smelling sheet. Her head rested comfortably on a not too-giving pillow. Her left arm rested beside her and above the covers. With in IV inserted and taped in place.

She sat up. Walls painted a soft azure. A nightstand with a beautiful floral arrangement. Some of her personal things on a semi-commercial looking bureau with a vanity and mirror on top.

Voices. Briggs? She followed the voices to a door, a window from slightly above handle-height to the height of a tallish man let her see into a brightly lit and similarly painted hallway.

Briggs stood there. He nodded and talked to someone she couldn’t see. He glanced through the glass, saw her staring, excused himself from whomever he talked with, and entered her room.

“How you doing?”

“Where am I?”

He pulled out his phone and swiped, tapped, swiped. “You’re in recovery. You got out of ICU about two hours ago. The anesthetic is wearing off. You remember what happened?”

She pushed herself so she sat up against her pillow and kept her eyes on him. “I was giving you head. That’s the last thing I remember.”

Briggs nodded. “You started gagging.”

“You must be so proud.”

He paused for a moment but only to focus on a message on his phone. “You turned blue and passed out. I called our building’s emergency services. They stabilized you and got you here. You remember any of that?”

“Where’s here?”

Swipe, swipe, tap. “Topsfield. North Shore. A clinic I know. One where I can trust everyone. You feeling alright?”

“When can I leave?”

Tab. Tab. Swipe. “They’ll probably want to keep you in for observation for at least another day. Want to get the doctor?”

“Personal friend of yours?”

Lane looked up from his phone, shook his head, and went to the door. “Your welcome. I’ll expect you back at work the day after you’re released.”

“You mean they won’t tell you as I’m walking out the door?”

He opened the door and put his phone back in his pocket. “Don’t worry. Our insurance covers everything.”

She listened as the clacking steps of his bespoke shoes died in the hallway and lay back in bed. “Thanks, Briggs. Really appreciate your concern.” She glanced at the IV injection point. Another red mark, a slight swelling, was about an inch above it. “Must’ve not been able to find the vein the first time.”

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Previous entries in The Alibi (A John Chance Mystery)

Sid Just Hanging Out

Nothing quite like a relaxing raccoon.

My better spirits kept me from suggesting a lazy raccoon.

Some in The Wild move slower than others, some faster than others, and all move to the music Nature plays for them, to the ways and on the paths The Old Ones set down before Two-Legs gained our name.

And still…it’s nice to relax on a warm June day, don’t you think?

 

Cozy Author Donna Huston Murray and I Have a Lively Discussion (Part I)

[[Cozy Author Donna Huston Murray and I Have a Lively Discussion (Part I)]]
Long ago I interviewed Donna Huston Murray and we remained friends ever since. Donna helped me with some troublesome characters, plotting, and some marketing, and I sent her flowers and chocolate.

Okay, not really but I wanted to.

We stayed in touch and recently came up with an idea for an non-interview; just sitting and talking with each other. Minimal selling, lots of sharing.

 
By the way, you can find her via her website, on Amazon, and lots of other nifty places.

StoryCrafting and StoryTelling

“Interesting” is subjective. What doesn’t interest some people may excite others. 🙂

I take part in book review groups – you review mine, I’ll review yours – and I let people know going in I’m a tough reviewer.

The reason I’m a tough reviewer is fairly simple: I review books based on an author’s storycrafting and storytelling skills, not a book or story’s genre.

…good writing is good writing is good writing.

 
I’ve reviewed romance, poetry, chicklit, adventure, MG, and early readers, along with sf/f/h, and regardless of genre good writing is good writing is good writing.

Likewise, sometimes a writer is incompetent and their work sucks.

Storytelling – does the author have an interesting story to tell? Storycrafting – does the author tell the story in an interesting way?

 
For me, it comes down to storycrafting and storytelling. Storytelling – does the author have an interesting story to tell? Storycrafting – does the author tell the story in an interesting way?

Someone can have an amazing story to tell and do it poorly, kind of like a college prof who’s expert in their field and boring as heck in the lecture hall. That’s good story to tell told poorly. The prof who isn’t expert in their field and keeps the students interested has craft but no story.

Then there’s Door #3 – The prof who is both expert in their field and keeps the students interested, enthused about the subject and wanting to know more has both crafting and telling down cold. This is where you want to be if you want to be (in my opinion) an author worth reading.

The statement “What’s interesting is subjective” is true to a point. But yell Fire! or Rape! or Gun! and you’ll get people’s attention because some things aren’t subjective. Get someone’s attention first, they’ll decide if what got their attention is interesting enough to keep their attention.

But the key is getting their attention first, and that is done through good to excellent storycrafting and storytelling skills (and if you’re wondering what gives me the right to talk about such things, take a look at my patents and/or read Reading Virtual Minds Volume I: Science and History).

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The Alibi (A John Chance Mystery) – Chapter 8 (Yep, New)

(i can tell you right now this chapter will either get moved to a new location.
Extra points if you can guess why (leave your idea in the comments))

The Alibi – Chapter 8

 
Ed reached up and caressed a ripening apple. It hung like a glittered like a red and green Christmas ornament in the sun. Except for the August heat and the gnarling branches of the apple tree, Ed remembered a childhood with Christmas treats and presents and goodies and smells of baking and roasting permeating his house. He wondered what became of this brothers and sisters. Christmas was one of the few days everyone came together in the orphanage. There were times he missed it so.

He snapped the apple from its stem and bit into it. Sweet nectar of the sun dribbled down his stubbled chin, over his fingers, pooled in his palm.

Morelli’s Impala came up his dirt road. A short bed lowboy, two men in overalls in the cab, came up behind it hiding something big and roundish under a tent sized tarp. A knuckle boom crane sat at the very end of the lowboy, its crane reaching over the tarp and locked in position behind the cab.

Morelli got out of his Impala and pointed to a large shed at the far end of the road, on the far side of the orchard.

Voss shouted, “If what’s under the tarp is sensitive, better let them know that track’s rutted from tractor tires.”

Morelli called up to the lowboy’s cab. “You got that?”

The driver held a thumb’s up towards Voss. The lumper got out of the cab and stood five feet in front of the hood.

“And you damage any growing thing, I’ll put a shotgun shell into whatever’s under that tarp myself.”

Both driver and lumper gave Voss a thumb’s up.

The lumper got ten feet in fromt of the truck, turned to face it, and waved his hands to guide it forward. The driver kept his eyes on the lumper’s hands and never took the lowboy out of low gear. He let the diesel’s idle drive the lowboy forward.

Morelli came up beside Voss. “Did I tell you the Director sends her thanks?”

Voss focused on Morelli’s abdomen before looking up.

“Will you stop doing that?”

“Going to tell me what’s under the tarp?”

“You want G20 or higher security clearance?”

“And you know for a fact this isn’t going to harm my orchards?”

“I asked. Nobody thinks it could. It’s completely passive. No moving parts. Just…” Morelli stopped, looked down, cleared his throat.

“Just a lot of direcitional and distance sensing gear?”

Morelli frowned at him. “What makes you say that?”

“You didn’t do a deep background check on me once your found out who I am?”

Previous entries in The Alibi (A John Chance Mystery)

The Alibi Previous Chapters