As
regular readers of this blog know, DSP Publications acquired the rights to the
BJ Vinson mystery series during last year’s holiday season. They have already
begun the process of getting the basics out of the way (learning about the
author, general thrust of the series, type of series -- these are associated, stand-alone
books featuring continuing players which can be read in any order -- and that
sort of information).The beginning of the editorial
procedure on the first book is set for May 10. I understand publication
follows the editorial process by around four months. So hopefully, we’ll see
the new Zozobra Incident somewhere around September or October of this year.
Except, it probably won’t be The Zozobra Incident by then. DSP has already
alerted me they may change the titles of the novels.
At
any rate, I chose a scene from Chapter 12 of The Zozobra Incident for this
week’s blog post. BJ is uncomfortable with his recent suspicions about the new
man in his life, Paul Barton. In the following scene, a telephone conversation
with Gene Enriquez, his former APD partner, he’s relieved to learn that a
witness has not been able to identify a photo of Paul’s as a suspect in the
case. When he asks for the photo back, BJ discovers all may not be well, after
all.
*****
THE ZOZOBRA
INCIDENT
“Yeah. Will you return the pictures to me?
I need Prada’s for the file, and I’d hate for Paul’s to get into your system
for no good reason.”
“He’s already in it. Don’t tell me you
didn’t check for a sheet?”
“Of course not!” Then I screwed up my
standard of ethics by asking why he was on record.
“Nothing serious. Drunk and disorderly at
an off-campus beer party. Got into a fight with another guy, barely missed
being charged with assault.”
“Oh, crap. Is it still pending?”
“Naw. He got fingerprinted, mugged, and
slammed into a cell overnight. But the judge let him go with a warning.”
“When was that?”
“A year back. Nothing before or since.”
“Thanks. I owe you.”
“Man, do you ever. But there’s more. One
of the guys in the Gang Unit tells me Barton flirted around with one of the
gangs back in high school. There’s no evidence he actually joined, but there
was some sort of blood connection, I gather.”
“Which gang?” I asked with my heart in my
throat.
“Probably the Santos Morenos. That was their turf, even back then. I can check it
out if you want.”
“No, thanks. Let me do it.”
I hung up and processed what I had
learned. The system snares a lot of young men for one thing or the other, and
Paul’s charges hadn’t been serious. A wake up call was probably what he needed
at the time.
The other thing bothered me, but maybe it
shouldn’t. Every kid in Albuquerque was exposed to a gang like the Saints
sooner or later. And in Paul’s part of the South Valley, half the people were
related by blood or marriage. The fact Gene’s contact was vague about the
details was both good and bad: Bad because whatever brought Paul to his
attention was enough for him to remember it years later. Good because it meant
Paul hadn’t been seriously involved with the Saints or any other gang.
*****
Hope
you enjoyed the glimpse into Zozobra. As always, let me close by urging you to
keep on reading and by inviting you to contact me.
See
you next week.
Don
New Posts are
published at 6:00 a.m. each Thursday.
No comments:
Post a Comment