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Peg Herring
Category:
Mystery/Suspense
Publisher: MysterEbooks
Pages: 255
Copyright: 2012
Price: $3.99 (eBook)
The 1960s come alive with a shy girl, a secretive Vietnam vet, and murder in an alley in Flint, Michigan.
Carrie Walsh is almost unaware of the Women's Liberation Movement, a '60s girl too shy to speak her mind and too uptight to burn her bra.
When she witnesses a murder, Carrie's life takes a new direction. Joining the handsome, brooding Jack Porter to solve the crime, she begins to feel more like a career woman and less like the incompetent, unattractive person her mother believes her to be. But Jack brought secrets home from Vietnam, and those secrets bring disappointment in love, uncertainty at work, and the very real possibility that Carrie is targeted for murder.
Excerpt
Hitching her purse strap higher on her shoulder, Carrie picked up the trash can by its handles, feeling the cold metal through the gloves she’d pulled on while descending the squeaky stairs of the ancient Bischer Building.
The garbage can smelled of mimeograph ink and something fruity, maybe peaches. It was full, and she concentrated on keeping it upright so as not to spill the contents. Near the entrance of the alley stood the six cans she’d lugged back earlier, and she set the last one down at the end of the line with a grunt of relief.
Movement caught her eye, and she peered toward the alley’s opposite end. Two men stood over the third who huddled on the ground, all of them silhouetted against a lighter building across the street. One of the men searched the fallen one’s clothing while the other stood back, separating himself from the action. Surprised, Carrie bumped the trash can she’d just set down, and its lid slid off with a scrape and dropped to the pavement with a clatter. The two standing men looked toward her, bodies tense. After a split second, one said something to the other and they bolted, disappearing from sight as they rounded the corner and took to the street.
Carrie stood for a moment in shock, unable to take in what she’d seen. Recovering, she moved cautiously down the alley to see to the man on the ground. He lay flat on his back, very still, hands clutched to his body. When she spoke, he moaned but did not move. After checking the street to be sure the other two were gone, she knelt beside him, unsure what to do.
Only slightly older than she, the man’s even features were pinched with pain. Blood stained his corduroy jacket and tight-ribbed sweater. He’d been stabbed in the chest, and she sensed immediately the wound was fatal.
The man seemed to become aware of her presence. His mouth moved as he tried to form words, and she leaned close, touching his hand to reassure him.
“Lie still and I’ll call for help.”
Surprisingly strong fingers gripped hers, and the man tried again to speak. A whisper came with each ragged breath. She listened intently. What he had to say was important to him.
“Tell Jack. Namwise. Kali—Shurenz. Please. Jack.”
Feeling the fingers begin to lose their grip, Carrie held the hand tightly, looked into the dying man’s eyes, and said the only thing she could say. “I’ll tell Jack exactly what you said. Now rest.” A strangled sigh told her there was no need for a doctor, but she held the man’s hand for a moment before she closed his sightless eyes and went to find a different kind of help.
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