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 52
By the time Luke and I reached Martin Mansion there was no sign of a cockfight, or Rebecca and Angela. However, Deidre and my niece Gabby were sitting on the front porch in two old rockers smiling as though they had mopped the floor with their opponents.
“Mom, Mama D, what happened? Tyler said it was a shout-fest.”
“Nothing your fit and trim grandmother couldn’t handle.” I had to agree with my braggart sister. She looked twenty-five years younger than her sixty-two label.
“Don’t start that shit again, not telling me the truth.” I was surprised by Luke’s word choice.
“Lucas Sullivan, I’ll wash your mouth out with lye soap.” Gabby quickly responded.
“If only we had some of Granny Martin’s lye soap.” Deidre added.
I surprised myself with my contribution. “How is that spelled, l y e, or l i e? Seems to me there’s a lot of secrets around here.”
“Brother, that makes you a lucky man. There’s things you’re better off not knowing, so don’t start meddling.” Luke had sat down on the rock porch steps my great-grandfather Stonewall had laid when he built Martin Mansion before the turn of the twentieth century. Deidre had scooted her rocker over behind Luke and was playing with his curly hair.
“Sounds like me and Uncle Fred are the last to learn things around here.” Luke shook his head and moved away from Deidre’s reach. It was then I noticed the locket she was wearing. It was the same one Dad had showed me, the one containing her picture standing in front of the Lighthouse. Naked. I couldn’t pass up the opportunity, especially since I was to blame for her life’s miseries.
“Sister, what’s so special about that locket? That is the one Mother took away from you. Right?” Another cockfight was about to begin.
“How the hell, heck, do you know that?” Deidre now was standing at the top of the stairs looking down on me leaning back against the old well-house.
“Dad told me. He found it in Mother’s things after she died. Another question, “Did he give it back to you or have you been pilfering around?” I think Luke was amused at what he was witnessing. He was smiling and had given me a subtle thumb up with his hand beneath the edge of the porch.
“It was in plain sight. You lawyers say that’s a legal search if its right out in the open. Right, Mr. Lawyer?”
“Dad has a right to his privacy. This is his home, not yours.”
I was glad Gabby spoke up. “They should be back any minute. Let’s not upset Papa.”
“Where are they? Where did they go?” Luke asked.
“Papa went with Ed and Brad to an antique car show in Ft. Payne.” Gabby had all the facts.
Deidre never could let dead dogs lie. “Maybe it’s time the innocent and naive Fred learns the story of the five silver lockets.”
“Okay, I like a good story.”
“After hearing this one you might think differently, this one might be a horror story.”
“Are you going to tell it or taunt me with it?”
“I’m not sure exactly who tempted Johnny Stewart to pursue the challenge. It was probably the entire football team. No doubt he was the Casanova of the team. If there ever was a perfect young man, it was my Johnny. He certainly had a way with the girls.”
“Seems like you didn’t give him much resistance.” Luke added, drawing a damning look from Deidre.
“The challenge was for Johnny to bed five girls. One each from the classes of 1972 and 1973, and three from the class of 1974. Here’s the catch, for proof, he had to produce a picture of each girl standing in front of the Lighthouse, naked. Somebody, probably the team and unknown to the coaches, furnished Johnny a camera, and five silver lockets, all just like this one.”
“So, you, no doubt, helped the awesome Johnny with one locket. Yes, I’ve seen the picture, thanks to dear old dad.”
“Do you want to know about the other four lockets? This might be where the horror part sets in.” Deidre said.
“Mother let’s leave things the way they are. It’s too late. The truth, that truth, needs to stay buried. Please.” Gabby’s words got my attention. It was just a gut feeling but I knew when I had been cornered.
“Rebecca Aldridge and Angela Collins completed the class of 1974. All three earned their lockets, so to speak. And, Holley Mullins won the 1973 award.”
“What I remember from when you told me, Johnny settled for Holley. He really was after Olivia Tillman. Right?” Gabby said.
“Don’t go there. Her father, Pastor Walter, got wind of the game and almost went berserk. I’ve heard he and three or four of his friends threatened to kill Johnny if he came near the pastor’s sweet and holy Olivia.
I interrupted my sweet sister. “You make it sound like a contest, like the girls each won an Olympic Award.”
“That’s certainly one way to put it. But, I’d say that wouldn’t bring the same thrill.”
“Mother, your grandson is present.” Good old Gabby.
“Are you going to finish naming the five winners?” I asked, soon to regret. It was the type question a lawyer in a courtroom should never ask. One he doesn’t already know the answer to.
Deidre had returned to her rocker. “You might want to sit down yourself.”
“I’m fine.”
“The lovely Susan was the winner of the sole 1972 award.” Deidre wouldn’t look at me. It was a shot to my gut. This couldn’t be true. Susan and I had dated, off and on, since the tenth grade. I knew Susan would never go all the way sexually. I should know since I had tried often enough.
I still don’t know if I was glad that Ed, Brad, and Dad drove up less than a minute after I received the horrible news. The only thing I learned during the brief interlude was that Susan’s locket had never been seen. I knew I certainly hadn’t seen it in all the years she and I were married.
Luke wanted me to stay for dinner, but I had been fool enough for one day. I walked down the dusty trail to my little cabin, showered, and drove to Connie’s. There was no way I needed to be alone.
The Pencil Driven Life 