Kurt Stevens's Blog, page 12
September 30, 2013
Chapter 21: Boxes and Bags
The morning light provided just enough clarity to give me an idea where to look. The slab was still there. I bent down, pried it loose, and grabbed a deflated bag of nothing. I yanked out the bag and stuck my hand in to be sure. No money. When I turned, my mother was standing at the base of the stairs, her arms folded, a smile on her face.
“Jesus,” I said. “How did you know?”
“He thought I was an idiot,” she said. “He thought I sat home all day painting my nails and reading romance novels.”
I st...
September 28, 2013
Week 4 In Review
It’s been another exciting week of Capital Offense. If you’re enjoying this book, help us to reach new audiences by sharing on Facebook or Tweeting the links to your favorite chapters.
In case you missed a day, or need help finding your spot, here are the chapters released last week:
Chapter 16: Beating the Clock
Chapter 17: Swearing In
Chapter 18: Price of the Truth
Chapter 19: Home Is Where the Heart Is
Chapter 20: Capital
Need help finding something before this? Check out Week 3 In Review or Week...
September 27, 2013
Chapter 20: Capital
Years before he died, my father told me a secret, or one of them at least. He came to me as I sat under the dim light over the kitchen table struggling with geometry homework. He told me he needed to talk to me about something. I hated geometry so I was all ears. That and he never said cryptic things like that.
“Did you finally buy a gun?” I asked him. It was his continual threat to my hippy mother.
“No, no, it’s nothing like that,” he said, and laughed, hoarse and snake-like. All his life my f...
September 26, 2013
Chapter 19: Home Is Where the Heart Is
I stood outside of my mother’s front door, on the step where my father died in the dead of night, and I knocked, hard, over and over, looking around the neighborhood after each knock to see if Mr. Gathers or Mrs. Marsh or any of the other neighbors poked their head through the curtains.
“Who is it?” she finally called from somewhere inside, not close to the door, which meant I had to continue shouting.
“It’s Kurt,” I called back.
“Who?”
“Kurtis, Mom!” I waited for footsteps but none came. “It’s K...
September 25, 2013
Chapter 18: Price of the Truth
My parents always told me I had to tell the truth. They were fanatical about it. My father literally washed my mouth out with Ivory soap one night when I was six.
But that didn’t mean I had to be good. My dad was the fun one. He would take me to poker nights with him just about every week. He wasn’t home a lot so it was a good excuse to spend time with me. I never realized until later that it meant he wasn’t spending time with Mom.
Had I stayed home my only solace would have been that the drone...
September 24, 2013
Chapter 17: Swearing In
“I, Kurt Stevens, do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of Ohio, will administer justice without prejudice, and will faithfully and impartially administer justice by means of lethal measures as executioner for the State of Ohio according to the best of my ability and understanding. This I do as I shall answer unto God.”
Speaking those words that day sent shivers down my spine. Being an executioner was admirable, something that society...
September 23, 2013
Chapter 16: Beating the Clock
It had been a long time since I’d looked forward to going to my mother’s house. It was 8:30 a.m. as I cruised north on Route 256 toward her home in Reynoldsburg, a working-class suburb on the far east side of Columbus. I drove an hour south from Greg’s before I turned east to circle around the city to make sure I skirted any road blocks. If I didn’t get out of Greg’s vintage Toyota Tercel soon, I was going to break a window.
Fortunately, Greg always had at least three lame cars on his property...
September 22, 2013
Capital Offense Now Available for Your Kindle
Prefer to read on your Kindle? Me too.
Now, Capital Offense, is available for your Amazon Kindle! Just like on the website, daily installments will be automatically delivered to you device for just 99 cents a month. That’s a pretty good deal!
If you don’t want to shell out the cash, you can also use the browser on your Kindle for the paper-like display. Our website is optimized for display on lots of devices. But for just 99 cents, you can’t beat the convenience.
This service uses Amazon’s blog...
September 21, 2013
Week 3 In Review
In case you missed it, or just need help finding your spot, here’s what happened this week:
Chapter 11: The Big Squeeze
Chapter 12: Prison Area
Chapter 13: A Man’s Best Friend
Chapter 14: The Wait
Chapter 15: The Favor
You can also jump back to “Week 2 in Review” for those chapters, or hop all the way to the beginning.
If you’re following the book on GoodReads (click here), the full book is now 16% complete.
Don’t forget to check us out on Twitter or on Facebook. Connect with us on social media and y...
September 20, 2013
Chapter 15: The Favor
Greg finally returned with a small case in one hand and a duffel bag in the other. He threw the duffel at me, full of clothes. He set the case on the countertop and flipped it open.
“This is what I got, man, you can take my Sig.” It was his precious Sig Sauer P226, a 9mm, Swiss designed semi-automatic handgun. The case also contained two loaded magazines.
I stared at him. “Are you sure?”
He shook his head. “No, but I know you couldn’t have killed her. You’ve got a temper, but I know you’d never...
