Kurt Stevens's Blog, page 9
October 29, 2013
Chapter 37: Risky Business
The half-naked, middle-aged woman just stared at me, mouth agape.
“I…I forgot my card,” I stammered, which was true.
It didn’t take an expert to determine that I had made a poor choice of windows to sneak into the downtown YMCA.
“The guy at the front desk…You know that guy? The redhead? Roger? I think that’s his name. He’s kind of a jerk. I’d rather…” I pulled myself to my feet and tried to ignore the pain in my ankle, “break my leg than deal with him.”
The woman eventually closed her mouth. I sa...
October 28, 2013
Chapter 36: Change of Plans
I was so jacked up that I didn’t remember the phone until I was two blocks away. I nearly drove off the road and hit a mailbox trying to grab it off the floor. The phone was still flipped open, but the call had ended, which meant Daryl had hung up sometime during my conversation with the old guard. I sighed and rubbed my forehead. What had he heard? If he had listened to the entire conversation, he would have figured out who I was. And maybe it wasn’t even the right Daryl. But then why would...
October 27, 2013
Congratulations Emily! Winner of the Week 7 #kurtsalive Instagram Contest
Congratulations to Emily, Instagram handle Ethereal_E, for bringing Kurt to life with a very creepy photo!
You’ve won an $11 Amazon.com gift card.
Think you can do better? All you have to do is take a picture of something from Capital Offense (anything from the beginning until now) and post it to Instagram with the hashtag #kurtsalive. It can be something big (like a city skyline, or a police car) or something specific (like a cup of coffee or a radio dial).
This week’s contest runs through the...
October 26, 2013
Week 7 in Review
Thanks for sticking around for another week of Capital Offense! If you’re enjoying this serial novel, be sure to join us on Facebook and Twitter.
You also have a chance to help us bring Kurt’s story to life (and earn some Amazon.com cash), by entering our Instagram contest. Just take a pic of something from the story (big or little) and post it to Instagram with hashtag #kurtsalive. Each week we’ll choose one winner. Get the contest details.
In case you missed a chapter, here’s what we posted t...
October 25, 2013
Chapter 35: Parking Violations
I jumped so high my head brushed the ceiling. The phone flew out of my hands, into the windshield, settling somewhere on the passenger floor.
The cop was old, between sixty and one hundred twelve. He waved with his right hand, no gun out. He was average height and bone-thin inside his loose white shirt and black pants. He seemed irritated, to the point where something, anything, could push him over the edge. I wondered for a moment what I looked like to him. Probably a lunatic: exhausted, dirt...
October 24, 2013
Chapter 34: Cold Calling
During college I worked as a door-to-door salesman. There’s no better way to grow a thick skin than by selling something to people who hate you. It only takes one bad experience with some other schmuck, and they lump you in with every worthless door-to-door roof-cleaning scam. They open the door, look you up and down, and sneer at you as though you’re offering your sister for prostitution.
I sold coupon books. One out of every hundred people bought something. Maybe thirty percent treated me li...
October 23, 2013
Chapter 33: Anti-Social Media
I closed my email and tried to log into my wife’s Facebook account.
None of her normal passwords worked. I went through every name, birthday and relevant combination that I could think of. Nothing. So I did what I would have done if I forgot my own password, I reset it.
I logged back into her Gmail account. The password reset email from Facebook was the first one on the list. Before I opened it, I noticed her contacts list on the left for the first time.
Suddenly, I remembered Tonya complaining...
October 22, 2013
Chapter 32: Cost of Convenience
I don’t know why I carried the gun into the CVS. If the police showed up, I had no intention of using it. Just the sight of the weapon would get me killed. But I liked carrying it. I liked that its weight hugged close to my body, as if the weapon’s power flowed through me. It made me more confident, more powerful whether I used it or not.
Once inside the store, I grabbed the advertised three-pack of solid color t-shirts for $12.99, two pairs of gray sweat pants and a prepaid mobile phone with...
October 21, 2013
Chapter 31: Information
“She went to meet a Daryl once.”
Those were Martin Dawes’ last meaningful words–aside from all the whimpering, pleading and dying.
In the past two days I’d learned more about my wife than I had in the past two years. I loved her more than anything, but I was starting to realize that I didn’t even really know her. I was only beginning to unravel the tawdry, separate life she was living. Best case scenario, I tracked down a bunch of men she’d slept with and found out the truth. Worst case scenari...
October 20, 2013
Instagram Contest – Bring Kurt to Life
We need your help, and we’re willing to pay for it. We need you to help us capture the photos that will bring Kurt’s story to life.
Moving into Part 2: Fight of Capital Offense (starts tomorrow), each week we’ll be offering an $11 Amazon.com gift card to the best Instagram photo that carries the hashtag #kurtsalive. The photo can be of anything that relates to Kurt’s story up to that point (from the beginning). It can be something specific – like a refrigerator, a Tupperware container or a cup...
