Paige Thorton, a sweet overachieving high school senior only has one month to come up with ten thousand dollars to pay for college, but her family mortuary has no business. Desperate to escape her little town and go to her dream school, she decides to take matters into her own hands and drum up some clients. Soon “accidents” begin happening to local residents. However when her boyfriend, Brock Harrington, the rookie hotshot cop begins to investigate things get hairy. Will Paige be able to pull it off in time or will she be doomed to forever sleep in the morgue?
“Well, I don’t know about that but I do know everyone here seems to have a little secret.”
Secret?
“Like what?” Paige asked.
“Patty drowned her baby a few years back.”
“What? Why?” Paige asked, astonished.
Brock shrugged, “No one knows. One day she was pregnant and the next day a baby was found in the stream.”
“Sick.”
“That’s not even the worst of them.”
Really? Her eyes widened at the thought. Brock didn’t even notice her shock; he stared straight ahead at the road as he continued on.
“Wait, how come she’s not in jail then?”
“Innocent until proven guilty. There wasn’t enough evidence to directly link her. So basically it just became a missing person’s case.”
“A missing unborn child?”
Brock nodded, “Mike said she claimed she gave birth while on the toilet and her fetus was dead so she just washed it down the toilet.”
Gross.
“And she got off with that bs?” Paige asked, not believing her ears. “Couldn’t Mike have done some DNA testing and linked the child to Patty? I mean there had to be some way. Fingerprints, skin tests, something.”
“It’s not like CSI, sweetheart. There’s protocol and warrants and lawyers in the mix.”
Paige shook her head, “That’s just not right.”
“Trust me I know. It would be a blessing the day some bird flu epidemic or something came through here and wiped all the scum out. Sure make my job he– of a lot easier. It would be a favor. A huge favor.” He began to laugh, “Charity even.”
“Charity?”
Did he just say that?
“Yeah, charity.”
Paige looked out the window, lost in thought. Does he know? He must. Why else would he have said that…charity. But how?
“But everyone’s got their secrets,” Brock said.
You could say that again.
Paige swallowed hard and gripped the handle on the door. Her nails etched into it.
Get it together, Paige.
“What’s yours?” she said, suddenly cool and curious.
Jennifer Tressen is a wife, mother and writer. A former actor, she spent nearly ten years in the entertainment industry appearing in commercials, print ads and television shows. It was her love of storytelling that pushed her to the other side of the camera and sent her to film school at Chapman University. Although she entered as a Cinematography major, Jennifer graduated with a degree in Screenwriting after a single required screenwriting class forever changed her path. She found a passion for writing she had forgotten in her childhood. Everything she learned about screenwriting and especially storytelling she attributes to her mentor, the late Blake Snyder.
After several years of writing and editing for producers and other screenwriters her curiosity led her into writing novels. As a huge fan of Young Adult and New Adult literature this is where her pen tends to lead her. However, she does have plans to release a few middle grade fiction and adult novels in the future.
Jennifer attributes her love of reading and writing to her mother who always reminded her of the power of literacy. Besides telling her and her siblings that they could do anything they wanted if they knew how to read and write, she said, “You can go anywhere in a book. You can be anyone.”
Links:
http://jennifertressen.net/blog/
https://twitter.com/JenniferTressen
https://www.facebook.com/jennifertressenauthor
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/sleeping-in-the-morgue-jennifer-tressen/1117116981?ean=9781492386780
The author will be giving away a $25 Bath and Body Gift Certificate. Please enter via the rafflecopter below. Be sure to follow the entire tour (dates can be found here) because the more comment, you the more chances you have to win.
5 Comments
-
I like the excerpt
-
@Amy Bowens
Thank you so much for your kind remark. I am following my dreams, wherever they may take me….
It’s an adventure!
Have a wonderful day! -
-
Thank you so much for hosting, Ruth and for all your retweets on Twitter! I would love to answer questions from readers and respond to comments.
-
-
I really enjoyed learning more about you. I’m glad you are falling your dreams.
-
-
Thanks for hosting!