A 11/12/2025 Snippet, BANSHEE BEACH.

First snippet because I am spending a lot of time on the book today.

…

“You know how this goes, Dolores.” There’s a couple of ways to get that line out. I figured ‘I’m not mad, just world-weary’ was my best angle. “I gotta know, and you gotta tell me. So spill. I might guess the rest of it wrong.”

Dolores scowled around the drag on her cigarette. “Dammit, Shamus…”

“Tom’s fine, if it helps,” I told her. “I’ll keep my left eye closed, as long as I can.”

That surprised her, but she waved it away. “It’s not that bad. Tom. Or at least the king’s already keeping his own eye shut.” Dolores stubbed out her smoke, then went looking for… the music box.

Now it was my turn to be surprised. I hadn’t pegged Dolores to be a Christian, or anything like that. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, of course.

She waited for the melody of [song] to start before talking again. “You know how my family does a lot of dirty jobs, right? Well, one of them is helping people out who need to be nice and far away from the Dominion. As far as they can be. You understand me, Tom? Shamus?”

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