Featured Contributor ~ Fiction
Doug Hawley picked up writing after earlyretirement. He switched from number to words with his writing hobby. His writing appears in most genres, short of novel lengths, and several countries. https://doug.car.blog/
Paperback Writer
Back at Jason’s apartment, Debra asked “I hope that you remember that it’s our one year anniversary of dating. Do you have anything special in mind?”
“I’m not proposing marriage if that’s what you think, even though we make a great couple. I do have some good news. Why don’t we drink to it?”
They both drank their martinis in one gulp.
“You probably know that I spent months trying to come up with a story to write since my last best seller ‘Murder Lurks’. I finally have an outline. A bright and gorgeous couple has been dating for a year. He’s having second thoughts because she likes to one up him. He’s a writer. If he mentions the sales on his last book, she will tell him about the contract she has to develop a new neighborhood for ten thousand people. It’s small thing, but her hair starts to bother him. She’s much too old for a ponytail and the clothes she wears. He decides killing her would not only set him free, but he could use her death as the basis of his next story.”
Debra innocently asks “How does he kill her?”
“He has an undetectable poison which mimics a heart attack. The writer knows that her family has a history of heart disease. He doses her drinks.”
“The murderer watches carefully to be sure she drinks the poisoned drinks?”
“Right.”
“There’s no cure or antidote?”
“No cure and the antidote must be administered before the poison is taken.”
“Why isn’t the writer suspected of the murder, if he writes a book based on it?”
Jason smiles. He loves the revenge for her lack of appreciation of his genius. “Here’s the clever part. He’s agreed to swap this story, with a few changes, for a sure best seller from one of the top writers in the genre. The other writer loved this story. Nobody would suspect the top writer, and the murderer gets another best seller.”
“Is the victim stupid or ugly? The murder doesn’t really seem justified.”
“No, she’s a real beauty and smart, but not so smart she wouldn’t fall for something this clever. The murderer will miss the dynamite sex.”
“Great plot. There is only one thing that could go wrong.”
“Like what?” Jason is sweating and trembling.
“What if the supposed victim knew the other writer, the one with the big dick and great stamina?”
“What? Big dick?”
“We can stop playing now. You know, Clark Samson - the one that’s a better writer and lover than you. I’ve been seeing him on the side. If you had paid any attention to anyone other than yourself you would have known. He double-crossed you and made a better deal with me. I got the antidote before our drinks. I have the same deal that you had, because I always wanted to be a writer. A best seller written by Clark but with my name on it is a good start. This way Samson gets the first deal plus mind blowing sex with me.”
Jason is suffering heart palpitations as he asks “Does she give the writer the same poison that he gave her?”
“That’s right sweetheart. You were so intent on making sure that I had the poisoned drink, that you missed me poisoning yours. It’s late enough for me to call an ambulance now. By the time it arrives, you won’t have anything to say.”
Appears in Terror House, Dark Dossier, and World Of Myth
To Read "Together Again" by Dough Hawley, also in this issue get your copy HERE