"The best laid plans of mice and men..."

Ever have one of those months? You know the ones.... best laid plans and all that jazz? The demons of work and day to day drudgery got to me for sure! The good news? I'm completely free (for the time being) to actually work on my WIP, make sure to blog, update, tweet and all those pesky self-publishing must-be-done's!

I've also had an opportunity to catch up on my book reviews. Didn't know I review? Check out TracyRiva.com to see my latest!

So, now, back to my WIP... but here's a little tidbit from Chapter 2- 'Arsenic and Red Lace' -
                                         
                                           *                                  *                                    *

“Hello?” I said in my loud sing-songy voice. Silence mostly, with a hint of breathing. “Listen, dude, whoever this is; you’ve called my phone a billion times this morning. So stop the stalker m.o. and just spill it.”

                “Maybe this was a bad idea,” the caller said. His voice was mingled grit and velvet. It was also slightly familiar.

                “Who is this?” I asked. Now I was definitely interested. He cleared his throat.

                “My name's Jack. You don’t know me, but I think you know- or knew – my brother,” he said.

                Silence followed.

                “Okay, well, Jack, I know a lot of people with brothers. Can you be a bit more specific?” Geez, obviously I was dealing with a brain surgeon.

                “Jack?” I asked, my patience starting to wane.

                “Sorry. This is Tansy right? Tansy Taylor? I guess I should make sure I’m talking to the right person.” He sighed into the phone. 

                “Yup, that’s me. Now, can you elaborate on how you know my name and phone number?” Sarcasm was starting to rule my tongue, he’d better get down to it.

                “My brother, Sam, told me you had a, well, unusual ability. He said to call you if anything ever happened to him; that you’d be able to help.” He blurted it all out in one breath; like he’d been holding the words hostage for the past twenty four hours. I suppose maybe he had. Not many people knew about my ‘special’ ability- that I can communicate with the recently departed. My spine tingled.

                “Sam?” I asked.

                “Yes, Tansy. Sam Adams.”

                I dropped the phone. Hope, anger, and a host of feelings washed over me all at once. Sam Adams. The one man in my life with whom I’d felt a true connection. The way all the saps feel in the cheesy romance novels do, weak knees, fuzzy brain and all.  He had crushed my heart, and almost killed me. Turned out Sam, aka Johnny, who was undercover for the feds, was actually working for the Russian mob. When I’d figured out they were behind the murder of a local girl’s fiancé and were smuggling guns out of the country, they’d kidnapped me and tried to have me killed. Turned out Sam was one of the ringleaders. To say that I still wasn’t over him was, well, the biggest understatement of the century.