Excerpt – Stranger on the Shore

Coming May 5^th from Carina Press

Griff set off walking down one of the dirt side paths. Lost in thought, he didn’t notice he wasn’t alone until someone came up beside him, long strides matching his own.

“Not staying for dinner?” Pierce asked. “Aren’t you missing out on an opportunity to study all your suspects in their natural habitat?”

Griff gave him a cool look. “Are the Arlingtons your only clients? Because you seem to be hanging around here a lot.”

“Am I cramping your style?”

“Nope. Not at all.”

Pierce’s laugh was sardonic. “So let me see if I have this straight. You became interested in the Arlingtons and Brian’s kidnapping because The Great Gatsby is your favorite book?”

“I didn’t say that.”

“Close enough,” Pierce said.

“Close enough? That doesn’t seem like a very lawyerly thing to say. I thought lawyers were precise and accurate.”

“We’re talking about you now, Griff.”

“The question is, why are we talking about me?”

“Because you don’t add up.”

“I don’t add up? Check your math,” Griff mocked. “It doesn’t matter if I add up for you, Pierce. You made your objections and they’ve been overruled by Jarrett.”

“Now we’re getting to the real Griffin N. Hadley,” Pierce said. “I thought that golly gee Midwestern boy had to be an act. What does the N stand for, by the way? Is that even your real name?”

“It stands for None of Your Business. And yes, it is my real name. Who would make up a name like mine? Were you waiting out here for me?”

“Not exactly,” Pierce said. Griff couldn’t tell if that was true or not. “So The Great Gatsby. A story about a man who fakes his way into other people’s lives.”

“That’s not what the novel is about.”

“What is the novel about and how did it lead you here into the home of people I care for?”

“Give it a rest,” Griff said.

“Not a chance.” Pierce seemed to be enjoying himself.

They reached a Y in the path. Griff turned right and Pierce kept step along with him. Griff tried to swallow his irritation, but it was no use. “I have a question for you,” he said to Pierce. “Were you here the night Brian disappeared?”

Pierce didn’t actually stumble, but he did seem to check. The next instant he was striding alongside Griff again. “Excuse me?”

“Were you here that night? Your family was obviously close to the Arlingtons. Your dad was Mr. Arlington’s best friend. Were your parents invited? Did they bring you along? You’d have been…what? Sixteen? Seventeen?”

“Fourteen,” Pierce snapped. “How the hell old do you think I am?”

“It’s hard to tell with you lawyer types. About forty?”

Pierce gave him a long, narrow look. Griff smiled innocently. 

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