Saturday, May 3, 2014

2014 Novel Series #3: Car Jacking

I'm way behind on these and I'm sorry. I've been going through a lot of crap (which has become normal) and most of the time the only thing I can do after work is write or work on my "painting in Photoshop" skills.

Anyway, this was book 3 of the year started in February and finished in February. This was also the second (and last) month I decided to try and keep my two book a month goal. More on that here. Finally, this is book five of a 13 book series.

Like it's counter-parts (Face Snatcher, Hanger, Dryer, and Witches) Car Jacking looks into the lives of the same main characters solving another weird-ass crime. Here we go:

Genre: Mystery/Thriller fiction

Word Count: 76,295

Prompt: You know what? I can't even remember for this one. I think it was a Criminal Minds episode.

Main Characters: James Reeves, Mia Liu, Lucy McGregor, Michael Brown, and our killer.

Minor Characters of Note: Patterson, Chief of Police, who still doesn't have a first name. Sable Abella, Knight, and Steel.

Summation: Two guys who have nearly identical lives go missing with their cars over a period of six months.

High Points: Mia, James, Lucy, and Michael all get promotions in this one: new offices, new stuff, and yeah.

Low Points: Knight and Steel decide to take off. Heck if I know why.

The World: Ours.

Memorable Lines:

“They almost match completely. My facial recognition software will tell us just how close in a few minutes.” Michael said.
“Okay, so what does it mean?” Mia asked.
“The unsub hates someone who looks like these two. He might be practicing on people who look similar to the person he hates before killing the person he hates.” James said.
“So why the hate?” Michael returned.
“Well, it could be jealously.” Lucy replied.
“Jealousy and rage are most common when a person practices. They don’t want to screw up the actual kill.” James added.
“And he’s practicing because he’s afraid of screwing up? So the person is important to him somehow, right?” Mia enquired.
James grinned and nodded. He caught Lucy smiling but Michael simply shook his head as he began gathering information on the two men.

“On it like Sonic.” Michael said.
James was glad that both Mia and Lucy looked as confused as him. When Michael didn’t get a chuckle like he had been expecting he looked at them.
“Sonic, you know, the Hedgehog?” Michael asked.
By the look on Michael’s face they were missing something important. James could not remember any hedgehogs named Sonic or why they would be important.
“Oh my fucking god, no way you guys have never heard of Sonic.” Michael said.
Instantly one of the screens opened to a web browser and James watched as Michael typed in Sonic the Hedgehog. Images of a bipedal blue, non hedgehog looking thing came up on the screen.
“Yeah, no, that doesn’t help.” Mia said.
“Are you kidding? He was made in ’91 to rival Mario and back then you had to run him through levels collecting coins and curling up to attack. He’s known for running at supersonic speeds, cuz you know sonic. He’s like the most well known game character besides Mario.” Michael said.
James looked to Mia and Lucy who still looked confused. Michael was staring at them in awe. James knew the former hacker wasn’t about to like his next question.
“Who’s Mario?”
Michael stopped typing and gave him a look. He looked to Mia and Lucy but they offered nothing.
“Holy fuck. I gotta give you three a crash course on gaming. Seriously. Anyway, I’m on the cars like a hedgehog that can run at supersonic speeds.” Michael said.

The knock on his door didn’t sound like one Boss, Bossette or Chief B would use. Boss knocked a bit lighter, Bossette pounded the door, and Chief B always sounded unsure. This one was two hard, quick raps near the doorknob. It wasn’t even Pats-man’s knock.
“Who dares disturb the Dragon?” Brown called out.
“Uh, delivery for Michael Brown?”
The voice was deep, a guy obviously, and sounded really unsure if he was supposed to knocking. Brown half turned in his chair and frowned. He had been in a good groove.
“Fine, enter the lair and leave your soul at the door.” Brown answered.

“So we’re all doomed to be alone the rest of our lives?” Lucy asked.
“I’ve got my cats. I’m good.” Mia said.
“If you die in your apartment and they get hungry they’ll eat you.” Lucy told her.
“Awesome. At least I’ll be feeding them on time for once.” Mia said.

“I’m fine, really. Besides I’ve got computer parts everywhere and I wouldn’t want you guys moving something or whatever.” Brown said.
Computer parts everywhere were an understatement. It looked like eighty PCS exploded in his office. Brown frowned at the mess and wondered where all the parts had come from. Then he remembered his own personal stash of parts and rubbed his forehead. He really needed to clean up and ditch things to a scrap yard. Or start building shit for fun. Maybe Boss and Bossette would want new computers with their new office.

“Right. Well, I’m going to do the luminol test then rip apart the seats.” Lucy said.
“You sound really excited about doing that.” Mia told her.
“Yep. After I take pictures of bloodstains, I get to rip apart seats with a knife. Do you know how fun it is to do that?” Lucy questioned.
James looked at both women and didn’t know what to think.
“Sarcasm?” James asked.
Lucy smirked. Despite the horrible week she was having she was surviving somehow. James knew that something in her life had made her into a survivor. She bounced back from a fall instead of shattering.
“Nope. Seriously, you should try it sometime. It’s relaxing.” Lucy said.
“As relaxing as breaking into a glove box with a hammer?” Mia asked.
“Hell yes.” Lucy said.

They all turned to her when they heard something crack.
“Sorry. I think I broke a rib.” Lucy called out.
“His or yours?” Mia asked.
“His. Jeez, wouldn’t it suck if it was mine?” Lucy questioned.
“She’s got a morbid sense of humor.” Samson muttered.
“Eh, you get used to it.” Mia told him.

“You mean like foot prints or tire tracks? No, nothing suspicious except the smell. That should have made me turn back but I thought it was normal. Ah, not to sound rude but, is it normal for your third detective to be poking the body with a stick?” Dave returned.
James turned to see that Lucy was crouched on the edge of the bank and was in fact poking at the body with a stick. He realized the stick was actually a ruler. She was measure how deep in the water the body was to check water levels. That made him feel better.
“Actually, that’s our Forensic Specialist Lucy McGregor and I believe she’s measuring water depth. At least I hope she is.” James said.
“She’s not weird enough to poke dead guys with sticks.” Mia added.

“Daffodils symbolize rebirth and new beginnings.” McGregor offered.
“I’m going to start calling you Chief G.” Michael said.
“What? Why?” McGregor asked.
That didn’t make any sense.
“G for Google.” Michael said.

“May I ask why you went into Forensics instead of surgery?” Henry questioned.
“Your main function is to save lives. Mine is to find out why a life ended and how. If I screw up in surgery, some make-up, stuffing, and a few extra sutures can fix the mistake. If you screw up, well,” Lucy answered.

"What a month." Mia said.
"Tell me about it. I'm just glad the station is paying for my glasses and your car." James said.
"I wish I could've seen that hit. It's not every day you see someone's eye pop out off screen." Lucy remarked.

“You can thank me with food, plushies, virgins, your souls or tech.” Brown said.
“I rather like my soul and don’t know any virgins so, yeah.” Lucy returned.
“I don’t know any, okay, that would sound weird coming from me.” James started.

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