Welcome to the Weekend Writing Warriors. Thanks to everyone who stopped by last week. Hope you all had a good week. This weekend, I'm attending the Mid-Michigan RWA chapter's annual Retreat from Harsh Reality. Because of covid, we're meeting via Zoom. Thank goodness for technology.
Here, I'm sharing another snippet from the 2nd Alex O'Hara mystery novel, The Case of the Fabulous Fiancé. Alex is a P.I. in the small Lake Michigan resort town near Grand Rapids. I skipped ahead a little.
Some changes were made to the original.
Snippet:
The next
afternoon I was so tired of working on a fraud case, I told Pete I was going
for a run. I did a few stretches in the parking lot before starting off at an
easy jog. The sun tried to shine around the multitude of clouds as it started
to set.
As I jogged
along Main Street, I passed the bookstore. I waved to Gloria in the window
arranging books. Like me, she’d taken over her parents’ business. We weren’t
the only second or third generation in Far Haven to do so—some had left then
returned. Not me. No wandering feet for me, unlike Nick the Rat who’d shaken West
Michigan dune dust off his boat shoes and headed east right after college.
And for the rest of the scene:
Here’s the
thing. Until a year ago, our fathers—The Pops—had owned the agency. Maria
Palzetti decided that Michigan winters were too hard on her husband’s bones.
She also convinced Tony and Pop that being private investigators was for the
young—namely, me. Before lighting out for Scottsdale and perpetual heat, they
sold the business to me. Ever since high school, I’d worked in the business. While
I filed and answered phones, Football Hero Nick played the field, on and off
the gridiron. Not that I cared, mind you.
When I
graduated from high school, I graduated to doing legwork for Frank and Tony.
Pop insisted I call him ‘Frank’ at work. The legwork was more challenging than
searching courthouse records or the internet for them. The Pops had no problem
outfitting the office with the latest technology, as long as someone else used
it. That someone else was me, not Nick.
He went to U
of M on a football scholarship and majored in girls. I lived at home and got my
degree in criminal justice at Grand Valley U, all the while working at the
agency. I’m not complaining. I loved the business—especially when Frank and
Tony increased my responsibilities. They showed me the ropes, gave me
invaluable advice and felt confident enough in my abilities as an investigator
to turn the business over to me.
While thinking
about the business and Nick, I’d run on auto-pilot. When I paid attention, I
realized I’d already reached the Point, my usual turn-around spot. As I turned
to go back, I caught a surprised look on the jogger behind me. With the way I’d
been pounding the beach, I hadn’t heard him come up.
He made like a
turtle, ducking his head farther down inside his black hoodie, and barreled
past. No ‘How you doing?’ or even a ‘Hi.’ How rude.
I jogged
backwards to see where he was going, only to find that he, too, had turned
around. Again he looked startled before he turned and headed toward the Point.
After passing
the B&B owned by the biggest blabbermouth in the county, I stopped. When I
bent down on one knee to tighten my shoelace, I caught sight of the strange
jogger.
Was he a
jogger who happened to run the same way I did? Or was he following me?
Blurb:
She’s at it again. Alex O’Hara just can’t say no to a new investigation. What do a 45-year-old boyfriend, a deadbeat dad, and a teenage runaway have in common? All new cases. With no receptionist, phone and internet problems, and her own boyfriend in the wind, Alex has no idea how she’ll manage. But the question for the past three months is why did Nick disappear. Is this the end of O’Hara & Palzetti?
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Be sure to check out the other WeWriWa authors. Stay safe and have a great week!
