This ol’ sun keeps right on orbiting around the earth and days keep flying by. Yes, FB, I do realize that’s not how it works. Please do not send this through your truth storm troopers for verification. Our #1lineWed THEME is **RIDE** and we’ve all been on one lately, right? What a roller coaster Life is. Anyway, in this snippet, Sade is hot on the case and she’s gotta ticket to ride, she’s gotta a ticket to ri-i-ide, she’s gotta ticket to ride but she don’t care. And yeah, this is totally on the playlist for GHOSTS & THE ANCIENT STONES. And yes, I’m totally sitting here singing the whole song. FYI, “Ticket to Ride” is NOT the song for the chapter I copied this snippet from. Anyway…Sade and Caleb are in Paris. Stuff is happening. Here ya go…
****
“Sade?” Caleb appeared beside her, his cell phone in his hand.
“Hmmm?” The cat had her mesmerized.
“We have a problem.”
“Yeah?”
“Dead body.”
“Okay.”
“Burned beyond recognition.”
“So?”
He snapped his fingers in front of her face. “Sade!”
She turned her head and snapped, “What!”
“Burned body.”
“I heard you the first time.”
“Interpol says it was dragon fire.”
“Well, shit.”
“That would be my sentiment,” Ari agreed.
She whirled and stabbed a finger at the fae. “You stay out of this.”
“Too late, fair lady. I’m here and involved.” He flashed her an impish smile. “Need I remind you of the witch’s rescue?”
“Need I remind you that the perps are dead and their boss escaped?”
The three magicks exchanged glances that almost admitted their guilt.
“It’s not as if they gave us any choice,” Ari grumbled.
“I was diverted by the simulacrum.” Roman continued to stare at the cat in the garden. “I am…disturbed that I could not track it.”
Sade released a frustrated breath. “Yeah, if a gargoyle Sentinel couldn’t track the gawddammed thing, I’m not sure what could.” She turned from the window and squared her shoulders. “All righty then. Caleb, let’s go check out this body. Roman, you stick with Verity and check out the human connection. There’s got to be some magical muckity-muck who’d know about the simulacrum.” She stabbed a finger at Ari. “You go back to whatever rock you crawled out from and stay out of this.”
The cheeky fae just grinned at her before turning to glitter and disappearing. Caleb sneezed violently. Verity grumbled something under her breath as she watched the dancing motes of faerie dust settle onto the antique carpet. Sade closed her eyes and gave a little shake of her head.
She walked out into the soft Paris sunshine, Caleb at her side. “Where is this body?”
“Tuileries Garden, about six blocks from the Arc de Triomphe.”
“Cab, then.” Sade gave an exaggerated shudder to indicate her dislike of Paris cab drivers.
They quickly paced through the grounds of the Notre Dame complex and hailed a cab on the Rue de la Cité. In French, Sade gave directions. In English, the driver said, “You want we go fast?” Then he pressed the gas pedal to the floor and zipped into traffic.
Dodging cars, buses, and pedestrians, the cabby kept up a stream of curses punctuated by descriptions of the historic sites they passed. As an added bonus, he drove them past the Arc de Triomphe before bullying his way back to their destination. He pulled to the curb on Quai François Mitterrand, ignoring the plethora of police cars blocking the street.
Caleb offered cash to the cabby, who grinned at him. “You fine Americans in Paris will need a ride back. I will wait. I am Francoise and I will be your driver, oui?”
****
I’m about 1/3 of the way through edits and revisions–so basically on track. Sade is taking quite a ride in this book–figuratively and literally. I can’t wait to get it into readers’ hands. In the meantime, y’all know I’m gonna ask writers to share a “ride” snippet and ask a question of readers in hopes of generating a conversation. Put your imaginations to work: What type of conveyance is Sade using in the chapter where “Ticke to Ride” is the theme song? And I know you are totally singing the song too! Just say’n! 😉
Silver James 
Nope, nope, nope… not getting that as an earworm. If it pops into my head later, I’ll curse you then. Ahem… SQUEE! So much made of awesomeness going on there.
I finally have something to offer! Yay! Here’s a bit from Duke #2.
“O’Bannon. Mike O’Bannon.”
“Well, Detective Mike, you might want to get on the radio and let your boss know that Mrs. Lorraine Noble is madder than a wet cat before she gets on the phone with your police chief, the mayor, and half the city council.”
The tips of his ears turned red. “I told that schmuck to wait on calling the family until we were better than fifty percent sure the body belonged to Harry Noble. But did they listen? If they get an earful from your mom, they deserve it. Now, about that coffee. Or should we make it a drink? I know this little joint down by the tracks. Quiet place where two men can talk like men.”
I thought about it for a second. I needed coffee more than I needed a drink, but I needed a quiet place to get information more than I needed coffee. “Can I leave my car here?”
“I’ll make sure no one messes with it.”
I followed him to his sedan. It was a nice change to be able to ride up front in a cop car, even if it wasn’t a black and white.
AHahashahahahA! That last line is a corker! And you better play something quick to get that song gone because I’m still hearing it in my head and I’ve listened to a whole lotta other songs since I first played it yesterday. Setting up the playlist, doncha know. 😉
Ahem. I’m also totally loving Duke the Second. He rocks the noir, baby. Gives me a big ol’ happy.
I scrapped it when I commented on a FB post… why do fools fall in love? And now I’m walking around singing that. LOL
🤣🤣🤣
Going to be good
I hope so! Halfway through, I’m still liking it. Which is sorta scary. 🙄