Читать книгу A Bet Turned Deadly - Alice Zogg - Страница 10

I threw another log on the fire and was close enough to overhear Marcelo and Todd’s conversation with Candie. They praised her starring performances in a number of films. The guys were obviously big fans and she gobbled it all up. There was no denying she was a looker with a body to match, but in my opinion, her acting was limited to flirty airhead roles. And since I had just learned that she was 32 - - having gone to high school with Jacob - - soon she would be too old for those parts. While she flirted with the two men, Nick plopped himself next to Mikey, who had his own private talk with the dog.

As for me, London remarked that she had read a couple of my books and praised my ability of combining an intelligent plot with interesting characters. She was especially impressed with Stifle Her Scream and congratulated me on its making the bestseller list in January. I have to admit that I was pleased. I asked her about her ghostwriting and learned that she wrote memoirs for famous people, or just common folks with an interesting story to tell. She gave a few examples of personalities she had met and places visited in the course of her work. She also shared that she was in the process of writing her own novel.

And so we talked shop for a while. London wanted to know if I outlined my mysteries, and I answered that I did not. I explained that when starting to write a new manuscript, I had a general idea of the plot, knew who the villain was, had a motive for the murder, and was familiar with the chosen location. The rest would all fall into place as I wrote the story and immersed myself into the minds of the characters. Naturally, after that first draft, I would write a second, and a third, going over chapter after chapter, revising and editing.

She asked, “Don’t you even take notes?”

“Yes, I will take notes on occasion. I do a lot of plotting in my head while driving, going for walks, during meals, in short, all the time. I’ve been known to exit the freeway, pull over to the side of the road, and write things down when having a sudden clever idea.”

“What did you mean by saying you were familiar with the location?”

“I do all my research in person, traveling to the destinations I choose for my stories.”

She nodded, and asked no more.

I was suddenly aware that all kept quiet for a while, gazing into the flames of the campfire, enjoying the peace and serenity of the moment.

Then, Candie, ever the troublemaker, turned to Derek and Curtis and asked loud enough for all to hear, “So what do you boys bicker about?”

Curtis said, “Derek bosses me around and is a know-it-all.”

“And you never listen,” his brother shot back. “You’re incompetent and let customers run you. You have no idea what stuff is worth, so we often take a loss because of you. The worst part is that you never learn from your mistakes. When I point something out to you, instead of being grateful for the advice, you start a fight. But we both know the real reason you’re always looking for a fight; you can’t stand it that I’m our old man’s favorite.”

Curtis snarled, “That’s a bunch of crap!”

He was about to pounce on his older brother when Jacob intervened and loudly suggested we tell spooky ghost stories. No one took him up on it, but it calmed the brothers down.

Then he had another idea and said, “What’s funny about today’s date?”

We failed to get his meaning.

Todd finally burst out, “Of course, it’s April Fools day! I’m surprised none of you thought of fooling anyone!”

The observation prompted Jacob to propose that we all take turns sharing anecdotes of April Fools pranks we made in the past. Again, no one seemed eager to volunteer a prank tale, so Jacob started with his.