Sunday Snippet: The Jade Claw

It's been a wildweek of big letdowns in my area of the universe. I'm not sure where things willland but I have decided to launch my side project sooner than expected. Moredetails to follow in a separate blog post.

I started a newwork project and picked up with one that's been on the back burner. I also tentativelyscheduled three new projects for November. Here's hoping they all pan out.

Had a pretty goodweek of viewing. I got most of my current slate of shows watched. But … I alsogot distracted by *waves at everything going on right now*.

I caught an episodeof The Batman and rather enjoyed the Green Lantern guest spot. Alsoenjoyed having one of Batman's rogues nose his way into the storyline.

Watched anotherepisode of Classic Rugrats and it was the Rugrat's Kwanzaa. I'll have tofind the other Rugrats holiday episodes and get ready to rewatch.

Enjoyed anotherepisode of Mr. and Mrs. Murder. It featured a behind-the-scenes look ata theater show, which is fun for me because my daughter majored in theater forundergrad.

Caught the firstseason finale of London Kills and, wow, some twisty-twists and big turnshappened. Looking forward to a behind-the-scenes special this week.

Watched the seasonten opener of Death in Paradise. I'm still annoyed by DI Parker and sadto see Ruby no longer with the team. Thrilled to bits to have Florance back.Looking forward to seeing more.

Started a new two-partSilent Witness. Terrific guest stars in this episode. I'm veryinterested in seeing where this case goes.

Enjoyed most of an Elementaryepisode. I'll get it finished up today and start over with a new run of mycurrent episodes.

That's pretty muchit for this week's life update. Tonight's post is from The Jade Claw, aparanormal mystery that brings a couple together over a missing artifact.

Here's theminiblurb:

Skyrah Yule is caught in the middle of a paranormal mafiagrab for power when several artifacts are stolen from the museum she works for.The agent investigating the break-in, Clay Wellstone, intrigues her, especiallywhen she discovers he's got close familial ties with the suspected culprits.

And a preview snippet…

Agent Wellstone droppedSkyrah off by her car and she entered the museum through the rear entrance,passing the ident crew on its way out. She appreciated their attempt atdiscretion, but the break in and theft would be all over the wireless with the earlynews. She groaned. Good gods, when Glen Bench got a hold of the details, he'dhave a field day. The man considered himself the primo source for bringingculture to the masses. Thinking of the fodder he'd get for his late-night chatfest made her head hurt. Didn't help she'd had a brief—very, very brief—hookupwith the guy before seeing his true colors. The man enjoyed digging up sordiddetails and parading them all over the airwaves for others to see.Too bad he rarely gotto the actual truth. She got a little nauseous thinking about the damage hecould do to the museum's reputation. She figured she'd better get everythingcleaned up and back into a semblance of order then ready herself to field phonecalls from the board before she left to teach her afternoon classes.Almost dawn by the timeshe finished, Skyrah got pissed off all over again about the staggering loss.Most of the artifacts taken had a connection to the Herac conflict. Animportant time in the history of the Twelve Provinces, before true unification,she not only hated to lose the value of the objects but their significance.She brewed a pot ofstrong coffee and grabbed a shower in the bath adjoining the office. Not thefirst all-nighter she'd pulled. Too bad it couldn't have been for more a pleasurablereason … like nonstop sex with a hot guy. An image of Clay Wellstone flashed inher head, and she shook it off. Figured her brain would go to him. The guy shutdown and locked up tighter than a drum after she mentioned Helena Cassus. When somethingpiqued her curiosity, her interest rose.Shrugging into a cleanshirt, she sat behind her desk and opened a browser. She could take a fewminutes and see what the initial reports looked like. Going out intocyberspace, she scanned the headlines. Romero Lightkin's byline caught her eye.It didn't surprise her the guy would be right up in the story. The man had aserious hard-on for the truth and nothing but. It could be a huge benefit or acomplete nightmare, depending on how the board reacted.Gods … she did not wantto think about the benefactors of the museum, especially since her diplomaticskills left a lot to be desired. She could play at tact and diplomacy, buthated how it used up every ounce of her patience. She'd much rather be leftalone to do her work than meet with the six-person committee, especially underthe crappy circumstances.Shrugging off thethought, she started a search for information on the way too good-looking to bewith the CDA, Agent Clay Wellstone. Waiting for the results, she poured a mugof coffee, thinking about the rapid way he shut down. Her gut said he hadsomething to hide, and she had a powerful urge to find out what it could be.The contrast between the affable, open agent she started out with didn't matchwith the closed-mouth, wary man who dropped her off.She might enjoy thechallenge of figuring him out. Sipping her coffee, she scanned the searchresults. Her eyes narrowed when Clay's named popped in a Romero Lightkin exposéon the He'ra'cic mob. Skyrah clicked on the detail bar and read through theseven-part series, which chronicled the more visible, lower-level enforcers wholiked to hang out in Little Heiro speakeasy joints.The last article hadher sitting up straight, a sick ball of dread in the pit of her stomach. Shefinally discovered the reason Agent Wellstone's name showed up in thisparticular story. And nowhere close to why she thought it would.She shook her head. "Shit.It couldn't be something simple like he'd pulled in a bunch of the gangstersfor questioning." Skyrah's mouth twisted. "Nope. Agent Clay Wellstonehas a very intimate connection with organized crime in Cantor City."Lightkin didn't go forsensationalistic journalism. Instead, he relied on using veiled references whenthe absolute truth could get him killed. And cold, hard fact made a bitter pillto swallow. The leader, big boss, man in charge of the He'ra'cic, known mainlyas the Heras … happened to be none other than William Wellstone.Agent Clay Wellstone'sfather. "Son of a bitch."And the avid collectorfull of questions about the antiquities, Helena Cassus? Lampkin's piece impliedshe belonged to the inner sanctum. Rarely seen, she apparently made thingshappen behind the scenes. Skyrah didn't need to know what that entailed, hermind supplied lots of vivid possibilities. No wonder Agent Wellstone shut downthe interview as soon as Skyrah mentioned the name. The woman had probably beena presence in his life from an early age.A dull throb started atthe base of Skyrah's skull and bloomed into a full-blown headache. The boardwould go beyond insane when they figured out the connection. And they would. Ittook her all of thirty minutes with a basic web search. No wonder he'd shuffledher out and dropped her off in such a hurry. Agent Wellstone hadsome big questions to answer. The biggest being where his loyalties would fall.She damned well wouldn't lose her job if he attempted to steer the case in anydirection but directly at the mob. Skyrah wouldn't let him try.Taking a gulp of thenow cold coffee, she picked up the phone and dialed CDA headquarters. No timelike the present to make her position clear.

Skyrah won't behappy because Clay isn't quite ready to play nice with her yet. But she'll makesure he comes around.

 

That's it for thisweek.

Cheers!

Skye