In February 2023, I paused the weekly postings of my podcast “Chapter by Chapter” because I ran out of runway. Frankly, I was stuck and not enjoying the writing process. The original plan was to write/edit/publish the third book of The Pearl Saga in the background while I continued to release episodes. However, numerous setbacks…
Evan Gold entered the Commercial Street Diner and looked for Lt. Abrams, but his mind was on Katherine. Was she safe, and how could he tell her to keep her new necklace under wraps without spooking her and possibly making matters worse? He caught a wave of Abram’s hand and started to walk back to…
Sunlight streamed through a window and onto Evan’s face. It was nearly ten o’clock in the morning, and Evan’s eyes had stayed closed long enough. His brain spent the sleeping time trying to make sense of the past several days and played snippets of disjointed memories till his mind hurt and brought Evan back to…
Claire buried her face in her hands. Her whole body shook under the sobs. “You need to get yourself together,” Evan said. “The police will be here soon, and we still don’t have the story straight.” She turned to look at him. “Why are you accusing me?” “Because we’re both looking down the barrel of…
As soon as the door latch clicked closed, Evan rushed to the telephone. His fingers quickly and deftly circled the rotary until all the numbers were dialed. At the same time, he saw Claire trying to make a quick escape from the apartment. Evan grabbed her by the elbow and held on tight. He looked…
“Katherine, what are you doing here? This isn’t a good time.” Evan said, grabbing his wife by the elbow. “Who are your friends?” Katherine said, looking at all of the new faces gathered in her husband’s apartment. “It would take too long to explain.” It was then that Evan realized Katherine wore the pearl pendant…
“Now that that’s settled,” the stranger with the silver eye patch said, glaring his one good eye at Evan, “where is the pearl?” “Yes, I was just coming to that,” Evan said. “But first, I want to talk about the money.” “This again!” the stranger growled. “My patience is wearing more than a little thin,…
“It’s going to be very important we get our story straight, so when the police come calling, we’re not found out in moments.” Evan brushed his hands together and walked back over to his chair. “That was a good job you did laying out all those clues back at Claire’s apartment. Problem is the trail…
Evan stepped further into the room, his arm still around Claire’s shoulder. “Well, come in. Don’t mind me,” he said, his eyes bouncing off his three unexpected guests. “Take a load off. Mi casa es tu casa.” “I can tell that this serves as an adequate dwelling, Mr. Gold,” Eye Patch purred, “but home is…
Evan ran the four blocks south on Commercial until he reached the front door of The Walnut Grove Apartments. Before opening the door, he stopped and took a breath in the vain hope of composing himself and not raising suspicion. He nodded at the desk clerk as he hit the stairs and climbed up to…
