Listen carefully and you will hear
the Midnight Call of an Owl dear.
Calling for a mate
Calling from a tree
Wondering why Two-Legs
Is recording thee.
To listen again
And again and again
To that lonesome call
Claiming the skies from men.
Take to the wing
Take to the air
Its ears do detect
A mouse burrowing there.
Silent in flight
Flying silently at night
None remained hidden
From Owl’s wide-eyed stare.
The Alibi (A John Chance Mystery) – Chapter 39
Threads begin to merge…
I hope.
The Alibi – Chapter 39
Vox and Morelli stood beside the Impala while an officer read Morelli’s ID into his shoulder mic.
He handed it back. “Anything I can get you, Director?”
“Tony’s fine. I’m good.” He looked at Vox. “You good?”
Vox nodded while surveying the mayhem. “People are a little bit jumpy.”
Morelli tucked his shield and ID into a vest pocket. “Destruction on this scale, that’s bound to happen.” He turned back to the officer. “You said a Detective Bill Cranston’s in charge of this?”
“He was.” The officer nodded over his shoulder. “Not sure where he is now. Probably with Doc Cuccello. They work pretty tight togehter. You taking over now?”
“No, let him finish his job but tell him I’d like to see him when he’s done here and sooner rather than later.”
Vox watched Shaul move through the crowd towards them, a column of empty air people avoided it without realizing it. Vox’ tracked Shaul’s approach like a dog catching a scent on the breeze.
“You okay?”
Vox’ nodded towards Shaul. “You can’t see this guy, right?”
“What guy?”
Vox focused directly in front of him. “Yeah, that’s what I thought.”
Shaul reached out and grabbed his shoulders. “You can see me!”
“Yes, I can.”
Shaul’s hands fell from Vox’ shoulders. “Hey, don’t I know you?”
Vox shook his head. “Not that I know of.”
Morelli followed Vox’ gaze and saw nothing. “Who you talking to?”
“What’s your name?”
“Rexall Shaul. What happened? Am I alive and everyone else is dead? Or am I dead? And you, too? Anybody else?” He caught his breath and cocked his head slightly. “You sure we don’t know each other?”
Vox kept his eyes on Shaul’s ghost while he addressed Morelli. Were there any casualties?”
Morelli checked his phone. “At least one but that’s not confirmed, probably some anxious reporter wanting to scoop everyone running with a rumor.”
“There’s defnitely one. His name’s Rexall Shaul.”
Shaul looked from Vox to Morelli and back. “I’m a casualty? I’m dead? But you can see and hear me? How come you can see me and nobody else can?”
“Yes, you’re standing right here in front of me and I can see and hear you. Touch you, too, if you’d like.” Vox proved his point by giving Shaul a gentle shove. “And yes, you’re a casualty. That’s why nobody else has any awareness of you.”
Shaul leaned against the Impala. “I’m dead.” He straightened up and ran his hands over Morelli’s car. “How come I can feel this. Is this car special?”
“One thing at a time. You’re mostly dead.”
“Mostly dead? What is this, the goddamn Princess Bride?”
“You’re mostly dead because something’s stopping you from completing your journey to the next place. The further you are on your journey, the less you can interact with things in this place.”
“Oh, Christ. ‘The next place’? Father Hunter was right? Now I find out that fucker was right all along?”
It was Vox’ turn to cock his head slightly. “Father Hunter?”
Morelli put his hands behind his back, rocked on his heels, and smiled up while looking out over the seafront. “Yeah, I remember my dad talking on the phone in the kitchen. We could only hear one side of the conversation. My brothers and I use to fill in the blanks. Made my mother laugh. Dad threatened to strangle us with the phone cord if we didn’t stop. They had cords on phones back then. Yeah, I remember it well.” He brought his gaze back to Vox. “Who you goddamn talking to?”
“A witness to the blast, probably. You said you’re name’s Rexall Shaul?”
Morelli pulled out his phone and tapped the screen. “Rexall Shaul? Who the hell name’s their kid Rexall?”
Shaul continued shaking his head. He answered numbly. “My mother. She named me after the pharmacy chain she where she got her birth control pills.”
Vox relayed the information.
“You’re making this up, right?”
“Like I told you, you can’t see him. Remember?”
Shaul once again grabbed Vox’ shoulders. “How come you can see me?”
Vox gently put Shaul’s hands down. “Because I’m…special.”
“Oh fucking Jesus Christ you mean the only one I can talk to is the guy who rides the short bus?”
Morelli waved a hand through Shaul’s head. “Assuming this is for real, is there a way I can talk with him?”
Shaul raised his hand to shove Morelli’s away and it passed through Morelli’s chest. “Can you make him stop doing that?”
“How many times I have to tell you I’m new to this and don’t know what I’m doing?”
Shaul and Morelli spoke in tandem. “Who you talking to, him or me?”
Wilkins stepped around the policeman separating him from Morelli and Vox and directly inot Shaul’s space. “You mentioned Father Hunter. Did you know Father Hunter?”
Shaul stepped out of Wilkins and studied him. “Yeah, yeah. I knew this guy, too. I knew both of you when we were kids.”
Irene Casey and the linebacker came up on either side of Wilkins. Wilkins turned from one to the other and stopped when his eyes met Casey’s. “Officer Casey. Hello. How are you? Do you remember me? I offered you some water. An energy drink? Remember?”
Casey rolled her eyes. “Yes, I remember you, Mr. Wilkins.”
“Phil, please. Call me Phil.”
Morelli took out his shield again and showed the two new arrivals. “You know this man, Officer? Can I trust you to see to this with a minimum of fuss?”
Wilkins put his arm around Casey’s shoulders. “Officer Casey and I are friends. She helped me out a while back. You remember, right, Officer Casey?”
Casey shrugged off Wilkins’ arm. “Word’s already spread you’re here, Sir. I’ve been asked to take you to Detective Cranston. He’s current lead on this. Dr. Cuccello’s handling forensics. She’ll be giving Cranston a prelim by the time we get there. Would you follow me, Sir?”
Wilkins expression turned into that of an ignored puppy. “Officer Casey?”
She nodded at the linebacker. “This officer will take care of you, Mr. Wilkins.”
Morelli walked beside Casey, Vox and Shaul in step behind them.
Morelli thumbed back at Wilkins. “Friend of yours, Officer?”
“God I hope not.”
They didn’t notice Vox slowing down.
***
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My newest novel, “Search”, is available in Print and Kindle
My newest novel, “Search”, is available in Print and Kindle
- First, my newest novel, Search, is available on Kindle and in print.
- Second, from 8 Jan to 31 Jan 2024 Search will be on promo (99¢ Kindle, $12.99 Print). Be sure to get a copy for yourself, several copies to give as gifts over the coming year, and tell everyone you know it’s available and it’s a great read!
The rest of this email contains Search early reader comments (which are front matter in the book) and a blurb.
<BEGIN HYPE>
Early Reader Comments
“Carrabis knocks another one right out of the park!”
“Once again Carrabis takes us on a wild ride wondering how he’ll bring it all together. Never fear, he does and in grand style.”
“Gio’s soliloquy about the use of power is something every industrialist, every government official, every religious leader needs to read.”
“Carrabis pens a gritty paranormal psychological thriller that keeps you in your seat until you’ve turned the last page.”
“Go ahead, pick a genre. Carrabis covers them all: paranormal, fantasy, thriller, true crime, magic realism, … If you know the world is more than you can see, you’ll love this one.”
“Characters intertwine and grow in unexpected ways, especially ways that show a balance in all things; Great Gifts often bring Great Loss. It hurts you as a reader to see it happen on the page. That’s good storytelling.”
“Much like in his The InheritorsCarrabis poses great philosophical questions in the guise of understandable, believable characters. Amazing!”
“Carrabis’ Search proves that power need not corrupt, and absolute power need not corrupt absolutely.”
Blurb
Search details one of the most tumultuous period’s in The Shaman‘s Gio “John Chance” Fortuna’s life. In college and having spent most of his life avoiding his grandfather’s trainings, he finds himself called to remember and practice his grandfather’s ancient ways to save children from human monsters.
But every step into The Old Ways drives a wedge between Gio and Jess, the woman he loves and wants to spend his life with. Originally relishing the idea of her own personal Superman, she grows increasingly fearful each time Gio manifests an ability beyond her comprehension.
And when both he and Jess realize he can use his grandfather’s teachings to force Jess’ to spend her life with him without her knowing he’s done so? Even though doing so violates everything he’s ever been taught?
Gio realizes being able to do anything doesn’t mean he can do everything, and that the strongest bonds on us are those we place on ourselves.
Content Advisory: Search contains graphic scenes of sex and violence.
<END HYPE>
Not a Fan of British Television
Susan and I have…specific?…tastes in our TV viewing.
Probably comes from being an author and studying story structure (and all associated with it) so much.
Example: Some episode, show, or movie doesn’t catch our attention in the first ten-fifteen minutes, we move on.
Example: Characters behave in unprecedented ways, meaning there’s no reason for their behavior, we move on.
Example: The plot has holes you could fly a Saturn rocket through, we move on.
We mourn when this happens with a show we’ve watched for years and something changes behind the scenes. The best example was taking The West Wing away from Aaron Sorkin. The dialogue suffered, the action suffered, the plots suffered, the characters went from deeply three-dimensional and interesting to surface and glandular (bed-hopping).
More recent (and specific to British television) are Midsomer Murders and Shetland. Changes is scripting and production values resulting in weaker plots, less interesting characters, and a bit too much WTF? for our tastes.
Still, we remain loyal for the remainders of this season and hope.
Meanwhile…this young lassie caught me catching her and you’ll notice her attention wavers from me to what’s going on behind me (and is reflected in the window on my left (as you view this).
I leave food and am known.
So her departure can only be due to not liking what’s on the TV.
Which is a pity, because what’s on is Shakespeare&Hathaway: Private Investigators, which remains a gem and if no other reason (there are several) to watch Patrick Walshe McBride as Sebastian.
Pity this pretty young thing didn’t hang around.
It was a great episode.
Fiction Editor, Wilderness House Literary Review
In a new and somewhat surprising development, I’ve become the Fiction Editor of the Wilderness House Literary Review.
Steve Glines, EIC, asked me to take on the role and I, of course, replied, “You’re kidding, right?”
I think Steve chose me based as much on the similarity of our ages and life-experiences as on our reading and writing preferences.
I’ve often wondered what makes an editor say yes to story A and no to story B.
Well, in my case, the wondering is over. At least as far as Wilderness House is concerned.
The View from This Side of the Desk
There’s a staff of first readers I work with and the final decisions are mine. I agree with their evaluations, usually. On some occasions I’ll ask the basis for their yay/nay/neutral decision, more to educate myself than question them.
Sometimes I’m completely lost why they rejected/accepted something. That’s when the real learning begins.
Mine, not theirs.
But for anyone wondering what I’ll accept above and beyond all else?
Easy.
Continue reading “Fiction Editor, Wilderness House Literary Review”