Murder Deja Vu

too fucking weak to press the goddamn plunger, but promise me you won’t wake up some night wracked with guilt.”
    “Would you have done it for me?”
    Frank looked like he was drifting back in time. “I thought a couple of times you were going to ask me.” Frank stared into Reece’s eyes. “I would have tried to talk you out of it, but if you were sure I would have.”
    Reece nodded.
    “With three of you here, no one will figure it out. An old man finally let himself slide out of life. I wish I believed something better waited on the other side, but I don’t. Even if there were, there’d be no place for me.”
    Frank’s words hit Reece hard. “That’s where you’re wrong, old friend. If there’s a heaven, you’ll sit on Kingdom’s throne.” Reece took the needle. “I love you, Frank.”
    “Me too, son. Now, let’s get it over with before I change my mind.”
    “Will you?”
    Frank raised his hollow eyes and met Reece’s gaze. A smile twitched his lips. He answered in a weak voice. “No.”
    Reece took the needle, squirted a drop. He raised Frank’s sleeve and, through eyes filling with tears, stuck it in his vein.
    * * * * *
    R eece, Dana, and Lana stood where the walkway along Lynn Shore Drive jutted out into the ocean. The tide was receding; the wind blew out to sea. Lana opened the painted box she’d brought from Russia and gingerly fingered the gray powder. She glanced at Reece and Dana, then tipped the contents into the breeze. The three of them watched the dust that was once Frank Vance float through the air toward the horizon.
    * * * * *
    A fter closing the apartment, Reece traded their rented car for a van. The three of them packed what Lana decided to keep, took the rest to a mission resale store, and Reece drove her and her belongings to her daughter’s apartment in Brooklyn.
    “You’re always welcome to visit,” Dana said after they unloaded everything with the help of Lana’s son-in-law. “We have two houses, so if you get sick of us, you can have a house all to yourself.”
    “Don’t be surprised if I come. I won’t stay long. How is it you say here, fish and visitors stink after three days?”
    Reece smiled and threw his arm around her shoulders. “You will never stink. We would welcome you as long as you care to stay. Forever, if you want.”
    Lana looked on the verge of tears, but her granddaughter came into the room, and she regained control. “You are both kind people. I knew right away why Frank loved you so much, Reece.”
    “The feelings were mutual, but you know that.”
    * * * * *
    T hey flew back to Asheville from New York. On the drive to Regal Falls, Dana asked, “Whose house?”
    Reece looked at her. His eyes smiled again. “Ours,” he said.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

    Polly Iyer was born in a coastal city north of Boston, Massachusetts. After studying at Massachusetts College of Art and Design in Boston , she lived in Italy , Atlanta , and now resides in the beautiful Piedmont region of South Carolina in an empty nest house with her husband and family pets. Writing novels turned into her passion after careers in fashion, art, and business. Now she spends her time being quite the hermit in comfortable clothes she wouldn't be caught dead wearing on the outside, while she devises ways for life to be complicated for her characters. Better them than her.

    Learn more about Polly and her books at
    www.PollyIyer.com

    Following is an excerpt from
    Hooked
    I hope you enjoy it.



Hooked

Chapter One
    Gotcha

    I f Linc rated high-priced call girls on a scale of one to ten, Tawny Dell would score a twelve. Parked in the lot next to the public beach access, he trained his binoculars on the jaw-dropping beauty as two college-aged lifeguards carried her paraphernalia onto the beach. The third tugged a chaise behind him and set it down when she picked out the perfect spot. She peeled off her cover-up, and the three boys practically drooled.
    Even Linc sucked in a quick breath. The woman’s figure could incite a rampage of lusting men, him included. Though lean, she had curves in all the right places. Tight ass, tiny waist, topped off by magnificent breasts. He glanced at the photo the captain had given him, then retrained his focus on her. Yup. There couldn’t be two like her. Not on this planet.
    The young men huddled around her. One danced a jig to hide his boner, resembling a toddler too busy to pee. Tawny avoided looking at the boy’s embarrassing bulge and