Crime and punishment, cops, detectives and correctional officers–strong arms of the law! You’ll find it all in Losers Keepers, the story of a romantic triangle enmeshed in murder, set on the Atlantic barrier island of Chincoteague.
Chincoteague is actually a small inhabited island nestled in the arms of Assateague, which protects it from the predations of the Atlantic Ocean. The famous ponies live on Assateague. Assateague is also home to Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge and a gorgeous beach. Wildlife abounds—migrating waterfowl like snow geese and marbled godwits, Sika elk, and the endangered Delmarva squirrel. My family has been visited the island for several decades, and it was inevitable that I set one of my stories there. If you love marshes, bird watching, and beaches that stretch for miles, be sure to visit…after you read my book!
Losers Keepers, by M.S. Spencer
July 2011, from Secret Cravings Publishers
eBook, 71,000 words, ISBN: 978-1-936653-95-9
Print, 199 pp., ISBN: 978-1-61885-081-2
Contemporary Romantic Suspense, M/F, 3 flames
Dagne Lonegan writes an advice column, Dear Philomena, which begins to eerily mirror her life when she moves to Chincoteague and a murder is committed. The perpetrators fear she knows more than she does and try to scare her off in a series of attacks. Meanwhile she must choose between the tall, handsome Refuge Manager and her old lover, now a police detective.
In the following excerpt, our heroine listens through one-way glass as the police question a potential witness to the murder.
EXCERPT, LOSERS KEEPERS (PG)
He led the way into a small room, windowless except for a clear pane of glass set in the wall that opened onto another room. A stringy, acne-scarred young man of about twenty sat on a straight chair drawn up to a scarred wooden table. A uniformed officer across from him opened a spiral notebook and laid it on the table. Next to the officer stood a man Dagne guessed to be a plain clothes detective. Jack must have sent some sort of signal because the detective looked toward them, then touched the officer’s shoulder.
“Okay Elmer, tell us again about the last time you saw Terri.”
Dagne discovered she could hear them perfectly. Jack mouthed, “One way glass.”
“Yeah, okay, Sergeant Akers.” Elmer seemed eager to repeat the story. “Like I said, Terri came over to the mini golf that Wednesday morning, the day she disappeared.” The young man gave the word a little fillip of relish. “She wanted me to open up early so she could play. I din’t mind, you know. I’m happy to open up fer Mr. Aster or his daughter and her friends any time—even in the winter. I sure am. It’s a good job, Sarge—good money all summer and even into the fall when—”
“Yeah, yeah, I know Elmer. Listen, Detective Healy here wants to ask you a few questions.” The police sergeant, a big, burly fellow, licked the end of a pencil and wrote slowly in his notebook, balancing himself on the flimsy wooden chair. Dagne could hear its groans and creaks even from her perch behind the glass. The buttons of his uniform shirt strained in a valiant effort not to pop.
The detective loomed over Elmer, the epitome of the tough city cop. He brought his face to within an inch of his prey. “So, Elmer, you knew the dead girl?”
“Huh? A’ course I know—knew—her. We were both at Chincoteague High a coupla years. Then her mom died and her father sent her off to Salisbury to that Catholic school.” Elmer’s expression went from eager to sullen. “She changed after that, Terri did. Went all snooty. Didn’t want to go clamming or to the beach or make fun of the birdwatchers like she used’ta. Didn’t even care about the family business. Like when I tried to tell her about the new place going up acrost the street from the Jungle Golf and how they were going to have not just mini golf, but bumper boats and go-carts and other stuff. I told her it was bound to hurt her Daddy’s business, but she just ignored me and drove off with that guy from Salisbury State. She didn’t even care about her Daddy.” Dagne would have found his outrage comical if he hadn’t been so pathetic.
The policeman sympathized.
“Yeah, last time I saw Terri she was in tenth grade. Acted as though the world revolved around her, and her papa didn’t discourage her.” He leered. “Pretty hot stuff, too, as I recall.”
Elmer made a feeble attempt to look shocked, then blinked at the sergeant and spoke confidentially, man to man. “Still was, even getting on to eighteen.”
The detective huffed his disapproval and interrupted. “Okay, Elmer, let’s get back to that day. Do you remember what she was wearing?”
“You kidding? Wowser. She had on a clingy tank top—one of those elastic tube things?—sort of a raspberry color. And shorty—oh Lord they were short—shorts. Funny how the cold drizzle we had that mornin’ didn’t seem to bother her. Hot stuff. Yup.” He closed his eyes, apparently to more fully conjure up the vision of such beauty. “Those blonde curls of hers looked almost real, just like a Barbie doll’s.”
The policeman started to close his notebook, and Dagne, thinking the interview over, rose, but the detective nudged Elmer. “So then what happened?”
The boy blinked as though returning from an oft-visited dream. “She gave me a really big smile as she waited for her clubs and I almost forgot to give her the score card. But I didn’t forget to give her a choice of balls.” He snickered like a twelve-year-old.
His interrogator looked toward the one-way glass and rolled his eyes. “Settle down, Elmer.”
Elmer sat on his hands and tried to look serious. “Well, then she flipped her fake eyelashes at me and asked for the red ball. Said it would match her lipstick. Then…then…she leaned way over the counter to pick it up. Woo woo.” Dagne guessed he was remembering that moment like he’d died and gone to heaven. “I made sure she got the free cone at the end even with her sorry score. Yes, sir. Funny, even with her daddy owning the place and all, she never did learn how to play very good.”
Detective Healy started to pace, his face reddening with effort. Sergeant Akers threw out a beefy forearm to slow his progress. He turned to the boy and asked, “Now Elmer, did you see her after she left the jungle golf?”
Elmer rubbed the crown of his head just as though he were putting his “thinking cap” on. “Nah, don’t think so. Wait! Mebbe.” His eyes darted from one man to the other. Almost in a whisper he muttered, “Think I saw her with Hardy later on.”
The detective took over. “Who’s Hardy?”
Elmer’s face shut down. He looked at the floor and scuffed the toe of one shoe with the other. Poor Malcolm. thought Dagne. Oops, I mean Elmer.
“He’s…er…he’s—”
The Sergeant took pity. “Hardy’s one of her other boyfriends. She…er…she wasn’t too picky.” He patted the young man’s shoulder awkwardly.
The detective seemed unmoved by Elmer’s humiliation. “Hmmph. And when was that? What time did you see them?”
“Oh…er…mebbe four, five.”
“Where was she? Was she on the refuge?”
The dangerous path he’d set for himself suddenly loomed before Elmer. “No Sir. No Sir! She was home. Yup, home. That’s where she was. That’s where I saw her. Not on the refuge. I weren’t on the refuge that day. Sir. No.” He shook his head vigorously, finally dislodging the bit of green stuff from his teeth that had been driving Dagne crazy.
“So she was home.” A tiny crack of a smile split the detective’s stern lips. “With Hardy? How did you know that?”
“Er…”
“Now Elmer, it’s best if you tell us everything. No sense hiding an important clue. You want us to catch Terri’s killer, don’t you?”
“Yeah, but…”
“Well?”
He hung his head and dropped his voice. Dagne could barely make out the words. “I saw ‘em through her window. They was makin’ out on the couch.”
The detective started to say something, but the sergeant interrupted calmly. “Glad you told us, Elmer. So that was around four, you think?”
“Yeah. Yeah. I went straight home when I saw what they was doin’. I’m not a peeping Tom, Sarge.”
“No, no, of course not. Well, now, do you have anything else to add?”
Elmer screwed up his eyes, thinking hard. “Nope. Never saw her again after that. Wasn’t till the next morning that we all heard she’d disappeared.”
Detective Healy indicated the door. “I think that’s all we need. Thanks for coming in, Elmer. Can you wait at the desk outside? I’d like you to sign a written statement.”
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