About the Book
Sylvia Wilson, a bar owner in St. Louis, Missouri, arrives at work to discover the body of an ex-police officer in her locked bar. The police focus on her as their primary suspect, so she decides to launch her own investigation into the dead man and his accomplices. But when the killer sends her clear messages that she and her loved ones are on his radar, she knows it’s just a matter of time before someone ends up dead.
Excerpt
Reaching the door, I leaned into it, listening. Silent as a
ball of cotton. The key slid smoothly into the lock and turned. I eased open
the door. Watched and listened for any movement or noise. Nothing. I slipped my
arm in and turned on my lights. The alarm was already off.
Mayhem erupted from my backyard as my dogs snarled and threw
themselves at the sliding glass door with angsted fervor. I hadn’t let them out
there. Maybe Aaron had stopped by. But the dogs were clearly upset, and they
wouldn’t be if it had been my brother who’d visited.
Even if there was a noise, I wouldn't hear it over the
violent ruckus. I sidled into the room. Nothing but my blue furniture and beige
carpet. Through the glass door, I saw Ruffles was foaming and standing stock
still. When he moved, it was with the stiff-legged, high-toed, movements of a
mechanical being. His upper lip was curled completely over his nose and the
resulting sound came through the glass like an outboard motor. I'd never seen
him so livid, and I honestly wondered how he could breathe like that.
Satan was throwing herself at the door again and again, as
if she were a small missile that would weaken and eventually punch through the
glass. I could picture the trauma her body experienced every time she made
contact. If I didn’t do something fast, she would be covered in bruises, maybe
even broken bones.
Something had upset them so much that even my presence
didn’t calm them. Moving quickly through my home, I cleared all the rooms; no
one was hidden anywhere. Then, I put the safety back on the gun, set it down,
and went to focus on my poor dogs. I pulled out the rod I kept in the track.
That's when I noticed the dark brown handprint on the sliding door.
Unless I missed my guess, that was dried blood.
I pulled my cellphone and dialed Eccheli. It took him a long
time to answer, and he didn't sound too happy, but his sleep-cracked voice got
animated the moment I explained what had happened.
He said, "Don't touch anything. We'll be right
there."
"My dogs might be injured. I need to go out there and
check them." Satan had calmed a little, but she still paced the window in
agitation. Ruffles was standing stock still, growling.
He hesitated. "Do you have kitchen gloves?"
"I have painter's gloves." Actually, I didn't. But
I did have some of the gloves the police left behind at the bar. Close enough.
"Perfect. Go out to them, don't let them in. We'll get
there right away." He disconnected.
I probably was working my way back up Johnson's 'person of
interest' list with this middle of the night phone call. Nothing to be done
about it.
When he'd said they'd get there right away, he wasn’t
kidding. I'd managed to find my gloves, put them on, and had only been outside
a few minutes. I was sitting in the soaked grass, trying to calm a frantic
Satan so I could inspect her for injuries when my cellphone vibrated against my
thigh.
Eccheli asked, "We good to come in?"
"Yeah, we're out back."
The minute the front door opened, Satan became all claws and
teeth and twisted out of my arms. She threw herself at the glass door,
ballistic missile at work again. As for Ruffles, I was used to his snarls, but
the intensity of the one he gave at that moment scared me.
I watched Eccheli and Johnson as they entered my house. Saw
how he noticed my Colt Python on the counter, pointed it out to Johnson, and
how she nodded and pocketed it. I certainly hoped she was going to give that
back; it had cost me a pretty penny.
As the two detectives cleared the house, again, flashing
lights of an arriving squad car ricocheted off the back fence of the yard. I
would probably be as popular in my neighborhood as a scorpion. At least there
was no siren.
About the Author
Wendy Koenig is a published author living in New Brunswick, Canada. Her first piece to be printed was a short children’s fiction, Jet’s Stormy Adventure, serialized in The Illinois Horse Network. She attended University of Iowa, honing her craft in their famed summer workshops and writing programs. Since that time, she has published and co-authored numerous books and has won several international awards.
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I enjoyed reading the excerpt. Where did you get the idea for this story?
ReplyDeleteI started with the idea of the dogs and then figured out what kind of person would own them and what trouble she could get into.
Deletenice excerpt
ReplyDeleteSounds good.
ReplyDeleteI think this would be a good book to read.
ReplyDelete