Kurt Stevens's Blog, page 7

Chapter 53: Yo Yost

Ryan Yost. At least I had a last name this time. I needed a quiet place to use a computer and to think, and I found myself at the Old Worthington Library. I walked down the steps to the bank of computers and used Tonya’s library card to sign in.

I started by browsing her Facebook account. I searched her pictures, but most of them were posted more than a year ago.

It was amazing what becomes obvious in pictures once you know what to look for. In several pictures Daryl Madison was in the backgrou...

Chapter 52: Wheel Worries

That night I didn’t sleep, I just walked. I thought about laying down in the woods, but it was cold. I wondered what would happen if some homeless, cracked-out guy found me asleep in the middle of the night.

So I just walked. Sometimes I’d find a little place to sit against a tree and look out over the muddy Olentangy River, but after a few minutes I’d start hearing things, and the paranoia would get the best of me so I’d be on the move again.

At daybreak, I found myself in Victorian Village, j...

Chapter 51: Another Turn

I needed to talk to somebody. I thought about calling Greg, but I was too hyped up, and I’d only freak him out. So I called the only other person I could. I pulled out the prepaid phone and dialed my omniscient benefactor, the one with all of the cryptic answers who warned me to leave Dawes’s house minutes before the police would have arrived.

He picked up on the second ring. “Yeah.”

“It’s Kurt.”

“New number. Good. I was hoping you’d call.”

There was no benefit in dancing with this guy so I got t...

Week 10 In Review – Daryl’s Gone With the Wind

Kurt’s up to the devil’s business again. He just can’t seem to help himself. In case you missed any of the action this week, here’s what we released to the web:

Chapter 46: Welcome Home

Chapter 47: Uncommon Bedfellows

Chapter 48: English Class

Chapter 49: Rest In Peace

Chapter 50: My Second

Of course, you can always find your spot in the Table of Contents or Start at the Beginning.

If you’re following along on Goodreads (here), we passed the halfway point. You are now 55% finished with the book.

Spea...

Chapter 50: My Second

I couldn’t take Daryl’s car because it would be too easy to trace. I was done with that MO anyway. Being predictable meant almost certain capture. I sprinted until I’d made it a reasonable distance and disappeared into the woods by the train tracks where the homeless guys hang out.

To the best of my recollection, I’ve only terminated one car thief—David Livingstone. That’s not to say that lots of them hadn’t stolen cars, but David made a career out of it. Of course, he was barely 18, just lega...

Chapter 49: Rest in Peace

Daryls’s old neighbor screamed with a nasal, dry palate. I heard him scamper up the stairs like a drunken rat and slam his door. I didn’t have much time. I didn’t have any time.

I rushed over to Daryl, where he sat laboring for breath, his body paralyzed against the wall.

“Where’s the book?” I asked, my hands jittery like a coke addict in rehab.

He tried to laugh but it came out as a hesitant cough. “There’s no book.” He smiled and then groaned.

“Who’s killed Tonya? Who called that night?”

He mana...

Chapter 48: English Class

I never went to church as a kid. My parents subscribed to a vague spirituality centered on the handful of times they’d dropped acid together in the seventies. They weren’t against religion, but they didn’t trust it either. Of course, when it came to Christmas, all bets were off. We sang carols around my dad’s guitar till dawn each year with howling voices grizzled by the need to overpower the buzzing amplifier.

But Tonya was a diehard devotee of every biblical law there was, except, I guess, f...

Chapter 47: Uncommon Bedfellows

“Were you sleeping with my wife, Daryl?” I asked him calmly.

“No.”

I waved the gun to remind him that I only wanted the truth.

“I mean, yes. Come on, man, if I tell you everything, will you let me go?”

“I’ll do my best,” I answered.

“I’m in politics. I know when I’ve been beaten and when the best thing to do is join the other team.” He breathed deeply. “We weren’t sleeping together…but we had sex. About a year and a half ago. That was before she met him.”

I nodded again. I had know idea who him was...

Chapter 46: Welcome Home

When I arrived back at Daryl’s apartment, a black Porsche sat outside—a car I hadn’t noticed before. It seemed like the right chariot for Gladhands. Guys like that live in a perpetual circle jerk where they try to keep both hands busy at all times. I imagine there’s a lot of chafing.

Like before, I bounded up the steps and pounded hard on the door. I could feel him come to the other side of the door and peer through the peek hole.

“Who is it?”

I flashed my corrections officer ID and then quickly...

Help Drink Up Columbus Choose a Beer for Kurt

Soon, Kurt will drink a beer at a bar near The Ohio State University which he’ll describe as “the best beer in the world.” We’ve enlisted the help of the fine folks over at DrinkUpColumbus.com to choose the beer that Kurt will drink, and forever immortalize as “the best.”

Drink Up Columbus wants you to help choose. Visit this link to vote for your favorite Columbus-brewed beer.

The result will be immortalized in fiction forever.

It’s not an easy choice with so many great breweries calling Columb...