Page 24 of Death on Riddle Road

Not going to wallow in that.

I went upstairs to my office, determined to write.

I’d seen Kit write sitting on a crate on a listing ferry, during high-level negotiations over the movie rights toAbandon All, using a stack of napkins that shredded under her pen, at the bedside of a dying friend while the man slept.

She said the stories took over and took her out of the moment.

Me?

I stared at the computer screen in my small, but way, way better than a crate on a ferry — especially with the improvements Teague had built — office and tried to commune with my characters.

Instead, I thought about Teague.Who actuallywantedClara and me to talk to people this time.

Okay, I was avoiding thinking about other things that involvedtalkandTeague.Do you blame me?

It didn’t feel like we’d made much progress.Sure it was only one day, but had we really gotten anywhere?

I thought of Robbie and Mamie.Then Derrick, and all the others touched by his death in one way or another.

At least all the ones we knew about.Maybe there were others...

See, there I went.Back into the moment, instead of the story.

My phone rang.

Caller ID prepared me, but also surprised me.Kit was already home in North Carolina?Unless her trip hit a snag and she was calling because she was stranded...

Quick math told me there had been time for her flight to Norfolk, Virginia, then the two-ish-hour drive south to her Outer Banks home.It seemed fast because so much happened here.

I answered with a chirpy, “Hi, Kit.You’re home?Everything’s good?”

There was a definite pause before she said, “Yes, I’m home, and, yes, everything’s good.What’s wrong with you?”

I put the call on speaker.For my dog.Gracie’s ears popped up the instant I said Kit’s name.

“Nothing.Why would anything be wrong with me?”

“Where are you?”

“Where—?Why?”

“Where are you?”

“In my office.”

“Uh-huh.Sitting in front of the screen and not writing.”

How did she know?It was uncanny.

“I was thinking about a marketing plan for when I finish this book,” I fibbed.

She snorted in derision.“First write.Then decide how you’re going to publish it.After that consider marketing.”She clicked her tongue.“Local library had me out to do a talk last month—”

Kit, as the author of works the wide world did know about, gave talks for libraries when asked, to support them and their patrons.

“—and four people asked about marketing, but only one had even started writing, much less finished.”

Kit always said the hardest part of writing was starting and the second-hardest part was finishing.