The primary aim of the "Novel Excerpts" blog category is to showcase my creative writing, specifically from the novels I've written. Hopefully, these posts will provide a glimpse into my storytelling style, themes, and narrative skills. It's an opportunity to share my artistic expressions and the worlds I've created through my novels.
The Boaz Safecracker, written in 2019, is my seventh novel. I'll post a chapter a day over the next few weeks.
Book Blurb
Fred Martin, a 1972 graduate of Boaz High School, returns to his hometown after practicing law and living in Huntsville for over thirty-five years with two goals in mind. First, to distance himself from the loss of Susan, his wife of thirty-seven years who died in 2013 of cancer. And second, to partner with his lifelong friend, Noah Waters, to crack the safes of Elton Rawlins and Doug Barber, two men who got under their skin as high school football players.
Little did Fred and Noah realize the secrets the two old Mosler safes protected. Who murdered three Boaz High School seniors in the fall of 1973? Is a near-half-century-old plan to destroy Fred’s sister and steal the inheritance from a set of 44-year-old illegitimate twins still alive and well? How far would Fred’s mother go to protect her family?
What starts out as an almost innocent prank turns life-threateningly serious the more Fred learns and the more safes he cracks. All the while, he falls in love with Connie Stewart, his one-date high school classmate who may conceal a secret or two herself.
Chapter 25
When I arrived at the office Nell directed me to drive to Gadsden and the Goodyear Tire and Rubber plant. It seemed Ted Eubanks, another agent in the office, had also called in sick and couldn’t make his three o’clock appointment. I didn’t have any choice but to comply. Goodyear was our biggest account and once every month me or one of the other five agents in the Boaz office met with the new hires to discuss and enroll them in our supplemental medical plan that offered great coverages for catastrophic illnesses such as cancer and dementia. It was Ted’s day, but I was backup.
During the drive down, all I could think about was Elton and Doug. In a twisted sort of way, I entertained thoughts of being happy they both were dead. It’s a little weird how things that had happened nearly half a century earlier were powerful enough to drive thoughts and actions today. I’m not sure how I made it to the Goodyear plant because I certainly didn’t focus on my driving.
The first time I saw them was after football practice one day when I was in the ninth grade. Both Elton and Doug were former football stars at Boaz High in the early 1960’s. Thus, they were around ten years older than me. When I first met them, they had already completed college. I think Elton finished at Alabama and Doug at Auburn, in their School of Pharmacy. What started my disdain for Elton was his eagerness to show off his athletic skills even though he had been out of high school for going on ten years. That day, even though practice was over, Coach Hicks let the two talk to the team and demonstrate some pass-rushing techniques. I don’t know why Noah and I were chosen. We, lowly ninth-graders, and though good enough to make the B team, were still on the scraggly side of physical strength and fitness. Neither Noah or I fared too well as we attempted to block Elton and Doug’s attempt to reach Coach Hicks standing in as quarterback. Elton busted my chin with what I always believed was an illegal upper cut, and Doug twisted Noah’s right arm enough to cause a bad sprain.
If that had been the extent of mine and Noah’s observations and dealings with Elton and Doug, I likely wouldn’t remember it today. But, it was much more. Someway, the two fully infiltrated both the football team and the youth group. Coach Hicks made them assistant coaches. Youth Pastor Randy Miller willingly let the two be right-hand teachers and quasi-ministers. Seeing Elton and Doug in two environments gave us a very mixed picture of who the men really were. During football practices (they seemed to always be there), they were like most any other heathen, yelling and cussing, and occasionally (at least once per week) telling an off-color joke, either about a woman or a black person. At youth group, they were virtually Jesus clones, meek and mild, humble and encouraging.
This went on during all my high school days. Things got worse when Biology teacher Ricky Miller started the Brights club and his Safe House in downtown Boaz. Elton and Doug attempted to shut both down. Both men were community leaders and apparently well-respected. Elton, after college, had joined his family’s long-established business, Rawlins Real Estate & Development Company. Doug worked for Boaz Discount Drugs several years before starting the Neighborhood Pharmacy. Elton, to no avail, tried to get the City to condemn Ricky’s building. Doug constantly tried to stir up local sentiment, arguing that Robert was polluting the minds of our young people and eventually the City would become a Sodom and Gomorrah.
The most file attack ever upon my favorite teacher was outlandish accusations Elton and Doug spread about the disappearance of Esmeralda Gomez. At the end of my ninth grade, this beautiful, sweet, and athletic fourteen-year-old had moved to Boaz with her family. She was mine and Noah’s age. By the tenth grade she had made cheerleader and ranked number one in our class academically. Also, less than a year after arriving in town, she was a faithful member of the Bright’s club. She ran for class president in the eleventh grade and vigorously encouraged all students to become a Bright.
I remember it as though it was yesterday. It was after the Albertville game of my eleventh-grade year. It was a home game. After Noah and I had removed our sweaty and grungy uniforms and showered we came out of the field house and saw Elton and Doug in the end zone of the football field with several of the cheerleaders including Esmeralda. For a reason I still to this day don’t know, as Noah and I walked outside the stadium he motioned me to hide behind the ticket booth right next to the entrance gate. In a few minutes we saw Denise and Vanessa and Wanda pass through the gate, get in Vanessa’s car and drive off. After what seemed like another ten minutes I whispered to Noah that I was ready to leave. About that time, we heard Elton saying something like, “your parents may have to work later than they planned. Doug and I can drive you to your house.” I will never forget what Esmeralda said, “I’m not allowed that.” Doug then said, “you sure don’t need to stay here. It’s not safe for a pretty girl to be alone.” It was like she was torn between wanting to obey her parents and knowing they would want her safe.
The next day, Noah and I heard that Esmeralda had disappeared. We told our parents what we had seen and heard, and they had made us tell Boaz police the same thing. From everything Noah and I ever saw or heard, life went on just the same for Elton and Doug. Except for their lying. Rumors were, they had given a statement to Boaz police they had seen Esmeralda at the Safe House later that Friday night and that, as best they could tell, only her and Ricky were present.
I arrived at the Goodyear employee lounge just as my mind wanted to dwell on the ordeal Ricky faced from being falsely accused. It still made me mad how Elton and Doug skated past a criminal charge. Of course, I didn’t know for sure, but my gut had always told me that Elton and Doug had kidnapped Esmeralda, probably raped her, and later killed her and disposed of her body. I had wanted all my life for that cold case to heat up.
The Pencil Driven Life 