How bad a first impression can a new employee make? Pretty bad if you're Marcie Carmody. In my newest WIP, titled RETURN TO RAINBOW ROCK, I am indeed revisiting the scene and characters from my earlier six-book series. Here's a snippet to suggest how bad things can get for Marcie:
The policeman made notes and mumbled,
“Happened before, huh?” Behind him Marcie watched as the other officers led the
handcuffed suspect outside and helped him into the back seat of a patrol car. He
was eagerly protesting, but they were taking no chances. She couldn’t help
noticing how tall he was. Tall and impressively built. He looked clean-cut and
Marcie could easily see why he might be good at this sort of white collar
crime. “Miss Carmody? Ma’am?”
Marcie snapped her attention back to the
officer who had apparently just asked her another question. “I said, do you
have any photo identification?”
“Oh yes.” She reached into her purse for
her wallet. “Driver’s license okay?” She was pleased she had already received
her updated Arizona license. The one from California might not have leant the
same believability factor under the circumstances.
“Yes, ma’am.” The officer made another
note. “Looks good. Thank you, Miss Carmody. We’ll call you if we need you.”
“Thank you, sir, and thank all the other
officers who responded as well.”
“I’m sure Mr. Redhorse will be pleased
with the way you’re looking out for his interests.”
“I certainly hope so.” Marcie watched as
the third officer got into his car and pulled out. She wondered if she should
call Logan and let him know what had just happened. Maybe the officers take care of that? She was still pondering the
right thing to do when her cell phone whinnied. It was the ringtone she had
designated for Logan Redhorse. She answered immediately.
“Hi, Logan. I guess the police called
you, huh?”
“They certainly did. Listen, Marcie: I’m
going to send you a photograph of Ryan Fields, my new associate we talked
about? After you’ve seen it, I’d like you to go down to the police station and
please get our new colleague out of jail.”
“You mean… Oh no. Oh Logan, I’m so
sorry! I didn’t think he’d be here yet and when I saw someone going through
your files, I thought—”
“He was going through his files, trying to get moved into the
office. Wait just a second… There, I’m sending the picture. Is this the man you
saw?”
Marcie looked. She’d been fifty or sixty
yards away and the man she saw was wearing a hood, at least until the officers
escorted him outside. Still, she had no doubt she was looking at a picture of
her new boss. “Oh. Oh Logan. I can’t tell you how sorry I am—”
“Save the apologies for Ryan. He’s feeling
a bit … miffed just now.”
Susan Aylworth has written eight published novels, all now available as e-books. Her ninth book, ZUCCHINI PIE: GRANNY'S RECIPE FOR LIFE, is coming out from Covenant Communications in June. If she is lucky and the stars align correctly, RETURN TO RAINBOW ROCK will be her twelfth published novel. Reach her at susan.aylworth.author@gmail.com or follow @SusanAylworth. She also loves "likes" and friends on her Facebook page: FB.com/susan.aylworth.author.
