Goodreads asked Rick Stepp-Bolling:

What mystery in your own life could be a plot for a book?

Rick Stepp-Bolling When I was much, much younger, my parents decided to attend a party, and for the first time they didn't hire a babysitter. Apparently my brother and I were considered old enough to look after each other. After they left, we watched Disney and fell asleep. I awoke to a news broadcast later that night. A reporter was going through a house that looked vaguely familiar. Then I remembered, it was the house of a friend of mine from second grade. The reporter went from room to room in the house explaining where each body was found. Someone had entered my friend's home and systematically murdered his entire family with a knife. The killer, if he was ever found, remained a mystery to me, and for years afterward, the pale image of my dead friend haunted my dreams.

flag