Welcome to Weekend Writing Warriors, where writers share snippets from their work-in-progress or new release. Thank you all for your comments on last week's post. I was really on a roll last week . . . Until my computer refused to work. I’m typing this on my iPad—one finger at a time.
I'm sharing snippets from the 4th Alex O'Hara cozy mystery, The Case of the Wedding Wrecker. I've skipped a few paragraphs from the previous post. Alex is still at the police station. Alex finally gets to see Nick . . . in jail.
Snippet:
“How can they even think you killed a man?”
He glanced over my shoulder. I’d forgotten Deputy Jenny hadn’t left. I glared at her. “You don’t have to watch me. I don’t have a sawblade under my gown.”
“Standard Operating Procedure, babe,” Nick murmured.
She would follow the rules. The hell with her. I was going to kiss my husband, even if she watched. As best I could, I clasped Nick’s face. The bars between us made it difficult but not impossible. I’d never seen such despair in his dark eyes before.
And a little more:
“We’ll get you out,” I promised. “Hans is working on it.”
“Find out who did it. Who set me up.”
“Of course.” I gave him a crooked smile. “The Great Detective is on the case.”
He reached through the bars and hooked a long curl that had fallen forward behind my ear. The tender gesture brought tears to my eyes.
“You are a terrific detective, Lexie. Use those sleuthing skills to get me out of here.” With his thumb, he wiped my tears away.
“I don’t understand why they charged you.” I sounded shaky. I was shaky. My clasp on him and the bars kept my knees from giving out.
“The evidence is pretty damning.”
“What evidence?” I clung to him to keep from dropping to the floor.
He chucked me under the chin. “Hey, girl. Buck up. You’re stronger than you think.”
I shot him a nasty glance. “How am I supposed to ‘buck up’? You’re under arrest, and I don’t know why.” Because I didn’t want him to worry about me, I straightened and clasped the bars instead of him. “Why did they arrest you?”
“Good girl. Don’t let them win. They had the big three. Means, opportunity, and motive.” He ticked them off on his fingers. “Motive—he threatened you and held Ma hostage. I threatened him.”
“But that was weeks ago.”
“Doesn’t matter. You know the quote about revenge being a dish best served cold? Dan thinks I let it fester then exploded.”
Be sure to check out the other WeWriWa authors. Stay healthy and have a great week.
So they're going with the most obvious suspect then. Dare I hope this is a ruse while they flush out the real killer? I understand Lexie's anger. They could have let them finish the wedding, and picked him up on the way to the reception.
ReplyDeleteNo ruse. Yes, the deputy could've let them finish the wedding, but he has a long-held dislike of Alex.
DeleteYou've got to admit he seems like the obvious choice - but of course we know that's not true and so does our plucky Alex. LOVE this series.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Nancy. Plucky? Good description for Alex.
DeleteI’m having difficulty signing in to Blogger to comment. As soon as I get my computer back, I’ll respond to your comments. Sorry. Diane
ReplyDeleteYou're certainly painting a dire situation for him to be in but all the more incentive for her to get going on clearing his name and solving the case! Great snippet.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Veronica. Dire is right. She'll get on the job. Soon.
DeleteSomeone's clearly got a grudge against Nick.
ReplyDeleteOh, yes. Also against Alex.
DeleteHe's dancing around why he was arrested. It's got to be "good". Tweeted.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Daryl. There's a problem. Stay tuned. :)
DeleteI was thinking the same thing, Daryl. It does seem like he is avoiding her question.
ReplyDeleteThanks for commenting, Jeff.
DeleteI was NOT ready for this snippet to end! So looking forward to this book. :-)
ReplyDeleteI am, too. LOL Thanks, Teresa.
DeleteI enjoyed the excerpt. Thank you for sharing!
ReplyDelete