C.: And we're back here on Cal.E.'s Korner, the number one late night talk show for cats and other animals on Mondays between the hours of six and six fifteen p.m. We're talking with author and correction nurse d.c. scot. tonight. d.c., how are you tonight?
.d.: I’m getting really anxious, Cal.E. I know that the publisher I sent my manuscript to said that it would take four to six months to answer, but I’ve had some bad luck before with my manuscripts.
C.: What manuscripts did you write that were rejected, d.c.?
d.: Well, when I first started writing, I was trying to write ‘scripts for television shows. None of them were excepted, though.
C.: What were the names of the shows you tried to sell, d.c.?
d.: Well, one I wrote was called “My Dern Family.” It was about a man who didn’t like his family. That was in the early part of the twenty-first century. Before that, I wrote “Three’s a Crowd, So Get Out and Stay Out; The Both of You.” The premise is self-explanatory from the title, but that didn’t sell. I Also wrote “Houston, We Have a Program.” I was so close. Then, I wrote “Falcon’s Nest.” That was in the early eighties. It was about how a falcon hunts and fills her nest.
Then, I tried writing movies. I wrote “Apollo Twelve.” That was about the second successful trip to the moon. Nothing interesting happened, so that bombed. I then wrote “The Delightful Dozen.” That was about the twelve men who have been to the moon. That didn’t sell either, for some reason.
C.: Well, if you don’t succeed, try, try again, I guess. What’s this book about?
d.: I hear “show, don’t tell” so much that I’ve decided to do just that. This is the crux of the book. It’s the introduction to the chapter entitled Murder 8, which is also the main title of the book. The full title is THE MAGRUDER MYSTERIES MURDER 8: THE INERT INGREDIENT.
This chapter is when the main character, who’s also the narrator, tells his wife about what he and the heir apparent don to the most powerful in the Western Hemisphere decide they must do to protect themselves from a dangerous relative. Jay Magruder is a police detective and a former undercover cop. This isn’t a true story, per se, but the book and the MAGRUDER MYSTERIES series are based on stories I’ve heard during my ten-year nursing career at The Human Kennel.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: MURDER 8
The next night, Alice made sure that she got off work on time. She picked Alicia up from daycare and hurriedly made sandwiches for Jay and her to consume for dinner. She wanted to make sure that she had enough time and energy to listen to what she believed would be the culmination of Jay’s story. She didn’t want her husband to waste time making a sandwich. She fed Alicia, who cooperated nicely, and ate her sandwich. She then impatiently waited for Jay to come home.
Magruder sensed that Alice was anxious to hear this part of his story. He was reluctant to share it with her, but he wanted her to know the whole truth. Then, she could decide what to do with the knowledge she possessed.
He left his office at precisely six p.m. and drove home, reciting the story in his head. When he got to his apartment, Alice set a plate with a ham and cheese sandwich and some potato chips in front of him. He picked up the sandwich and ate it slowly. He needed time to think about what he was going to say. Alice was becoming impatient, so he cut the sandwich in half and only ate one-half of it. He put the other half in the refrigerator.
“I don’t want to lose my girlish figure,” he teased.
Alice wasn’t amused. She’d waited so many nights to hear the culmination of Magruder’s story that she sat on the couch, fidgeting, and stared at her husband.
He knew she was ready for him to begin telling his story for the evening.
Hesitantly, he began. “José was terrified of his tio, at this point, because Benny would threaten his life when he was drunk and/or high. José felt that he needed to stay and keep the peace between Benny and the placeholder, though. He also wanted the cartel to believe that he would take the position of don the second he turned eighteen. He did this to keep the cartel from giving in to Benny’s desire to become the don of the cartel. It wasn’t long, however, before José believed that his death was imminent if he stayed where he was.
“We decided that one of the two must die. José was too young to die, and Benny was, for all intents and purposes, useless because of his excessive drug and alcohol usage. This made the decision somewhat easier. It is never easy, though, to decide to kill someone…”
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