So this was book 9 of the year, the first book written for July's Camp NaNo. I finished it in 13 days which is funny because there are 13 books in the series. Anyway, I then took a mental break and wrote a scene for a completely different world. I planned a bit of the 13th novel, wrote Best Friend: The Body Part Fairy and moved on the to the 12th book of the series.
This one wasn't as hard to write as the ones prior. It looked back to the events before Face Snatcher where James was on his own as a profiler and basically helped people. Also, this is the book that (with Dammit_Woman's help) inspired Best Friend: The Body Part Fairy. I was giving everyone body parts so...yeah. ONWARD!
Genre: Thriller/Mystery
Word Count: 67,010
Prompt: Voltaire's Ex Lover's Lover:
Main Characters: James Reeves, Mia Liu, Lucy McGregor, Michael Brown, Sable Abella, Gavriila "Karma" Saytakhmetov and our killer.
Minor Characters of Note: David Jones and his boyfriend Andy Smith (again, I know), Cade Golding, Patterson, and, Voltaire - the singer, animator, musician.
Summation: An old case that James tried to solve comes back to haunt him. It was his first official failure but not because of something he did. Now he has a chance to catch the killer who is systematically sending all the survivors of James' prior cases the body parts of the killer's new victim.
High Points: Voltaire.
Low Points: Michael, kind of.
The World: Ours. I'm going to be so glad when I don't have to type that...
Memorable Lines:
(James is 22 here:)
"It'll be fine, kid." Rogers (a much older detective) said.
James scowled. That was the other thing he hated about being a decade younger than the youngest detective. They all called him kid, son, sport, or boy because of the age gap. James had always hated those kind of nicknames.
"I am not a child, nor am I the offspring of a goat." James told him.
What if I were to cut you up and mail each part to a different town? It would take the most brilliant private eye the rest of his life just to put you together. Are you ready to play again Mr, pardon, Detective Reeves?
"Okay. So, what exactly is going on?" McGregor asked.
"Um, there's a severed finger in the box." Izzy said.
Sable dropped the folder she had been holding. Mia cursed under her breath and began moving the boxes and files off the table. McGregor raised her eyebrows and strode towards James. He offered her the box and true to whom she was; McGregor pulled a pair of bagged latex gloves out of her back pocket before taking the box.
"Huh. Do I dare ask where the rest is?" McGregor questioned.
"You can ask but you won't like the answer. The rest won't be coming for a while." James said.
They all looked at him like he'd lost his mind. The funny thing was that he was sure he had just found it.
"What?" McGregor asked.
"I've worked this case before. It won't end like it did the last time." James said.
"Okay. I'm going to go get my kit. Then we can get updated on the old case." McGregor said.
"Two old cases." James said as she started walking away.
"What?" McGregor questioned.
"Oh, James saved me from a serial rapist eight years ago." Izzy said.
"Of course he did. He's James." McGregor said.
"I wondered why I recognized the note." McGregor said.
"Bet you thought you were going crazy, huh?" Mia asked.
"Not really. I recognized the song lyrics." McGregor said.
"Song lyrics?" Michael asked before James could.
McGregor looked at the speakers then at James. It had been a song. No one had figured that out. They had simply thought it was a way for the unsub (The Puzzler) to taunt them.
"You guys had no idea it was a song?" McGregor questioned.
"No." James answered.
She snorted then started half-singing, half talking:
"What if I were to cut you up and mail each part to a different town? It would take the most brilliant private eye the rest of his life just to put you together, a piece in each mail box all over the planet, from Moscow to Tokyo to Guadalajara. I wait for the day when I finally defile, the bodies of my ex-lover's lovers. I'll pile high to the sky, the bodies of my ex-lover's lovers. I wait for the day when I finally destroy, the bodies of my ex-lover's lovers. It's a song called "Ex-Lover's Lovers" by Aurelio Voltaire." McGregor said.
...
"You okay over there?" Mia asked.
"I'm fine and not lying about it this time." James said.
"Oh, good. I guess you just needed to be given a severed finger in a box." McGregor said.
"He moved to live in Woodborough, followed the cases we worked on, and is now physically watching each survivor just to taunt me. I would be flattered if this wasn't so morbid." James said.
"Who gets the job of sewing that (the fingers to the palm) back together?" Mia asked.
"Sable." McGregor said.
"Huh?" Sable gasped.
"Hey, you're my assistant so you get the jobs I don't want to do. Plus it'll be fun putting the hand back together. Oh and you need practice with sewing body parts back to the main body. You're great at closing wounds but this is entirely different."
"Well, you found him. Hello Detective. Whatever it was: I didn't do it." (Hehehe)
The surviving victim of the Face Snatcher (blind among other things) :
"I never got to see what any of my rescuers looked like. That hurts."
"Now I know why dorogaya fits in so well with all of you. You are all weird." Gavriila said.
"It's an exclusive club." McGregor said.
"Well it's an excuse to bring you all over to the dark side with me and give you Gothic make-overs. This is going to be fun."
"Nah I'm good. Besides, it'd be weird to jump to protect James, you know?" Mia replied.
"Why would it be weird?" James asked.
"Cuz you're a guy and generally guys protect women." Mia said.
"Oh. Sorry?" James tried.
"I love you." (Brown)
"You do?" Gavriila asked.
"Yeah. You're my 42." Brown told her.
"And you did not even have to use a masterball." (Ha)
"You can say it, Ki-, detective. I know I made a mistake. I should've listened to you." Rogers said.
Eight years. It had taken eight years for James to hear Rogers admit that. It was not as satisfying as James had thought it might be. James was glad for that at least.
"But hey, I didn't think a 22 year old that looked so damned young could be right on something as simple as whether or not to go to the media. I should've known better with your track record and education." Rogers said.
This was getting out of hand...
"I know you made them for yesterday (McGregor made James cookies for slapping him), but, oh never mind. You know I'm giving most of these to Michael, right?" James asked.
McGregor snorted.
"I know. You've got to keep your girlish figure and all."
"It wasn't. Yeah I got all my homework done before 8PM and could spend my nights reading ahead in textbooks or just reading. But everyone who befriended my used me for homework help or passed off projects on me. No one wanted to be the one to pick me for a partner unless it was for a project that had a huge grade percentage attached then they'd trip over themselves and make me do all the work. Then there are the accusations of plagiarism, cheating, and the glares you get when you correct a teacher? Not worth it." (McGregor on being the smart kid)
...
"Would you give up being smart in order to be normal?" Sable asked.
"Never. Normal's over-rated." McGregor said.
"Though I'm not sure why I'm not improving." James said (about shooting)
"It's totally your eyes. Have you noticed that very few cops wear corrective lenses? There's a reason for that." McGregor said.
"I figured as much." James said.
"You could get laser eye surgery." McGregor told him.
"Well," James started.
"Then again there was this scene in "Final Destination Five" where the laser freaks the hell out and ends up making the hot chick's eye melt. When she finally gets off the table she trips on the button eye that popped out of the teddy bear she was squeezing and fell out the window. Then her other eye popped out. It was awesome though I'd never trust one of those machines." McGregor said.
...
"I don't like the thought of lasers penetrating my eyes." James said.
"Good reason. Why don't you wear contacts?" McGregor asked.
"Let me modify my last statement: I don't like the thought of anything going near my eyes including my own finger." James said.
"It figures you'd have ommetaphopia." McGregor said.
(It's the fear of looking people in the eye - he can still do that- or have anything going near your eye. Fun word for the day. :D )
"And I'd like to eat nothing but chocolate all the time and never gain an ounce. We don't always get what we like."
"Serial rapists are always fun."
Sable was sure McGregor's perception of fun was screwed up. Then again this was the woman watched horror movies and shows to point out what was wrong with them. It made sense that McGregor's perception of fun was off.
"Don't worry about it Michael. We can never win them all."
"You should watch "The Walking Dead." McGregor told him.
"Why?" James questioned.
"Zombies. Is there any other reason needed?" McGregor asked.
"He went to the library where my mother worked every other day for the entire time he's lived here." James said. (He is the unsub, the entire time is five years. Creepy, no?)
"I know, I know, I can't keep looking towards the past because I'll miss the future." James said.
"Oh look, I've trained you to lecture yourself." Mom said.
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