Inspiration 19

http://goo.gl/1eLv66

Faith, family, friends! Those are the three places I draw most of my inspiration from. Even though at times, my faith can be shaky, at the end of the day, I know Whom I have believed. Scripture tells us nothing can take us from the hand of God. He will never fail us--even when we fail Him. My family is one crazy mixed up group. They have some serious issues, yet the love we share is the tie that binds. Friends--that might be the toughest place of all. I have friends that I've know since early childhood, and I still keep in touch with them. A few have criticized my writing, but most of them have embraced it with open arms and support. I can count on one hand how man friends I have with whom I'd share my deepest darkest secrets. Some things a just better left unsaid. Believe it or not, one person I feel the closest to I've never met in person--Yes, I dare call her name--Nidia Hernandez. 

Whatever It Takes draws on all these sources for inspiration and presents the complications through characters and their lives. I hope my characters become your friends and/or family.

Let's look at a real family dilemma. 

"Tasha Johnson!" bellowed Detective Parker Reynolds.

His father and partner, Detective Raiford Reynolds, echoed his sentiments. "This can't be happening."

"Oh, hell!" snapped Parker as he roughly clicked handcuffs on the burglary suspect. "You are under arrest."

"Damn it," muttered Tasha who was dressed in black spandex and apparently operating as a cat burglar. "Why don't you just shoot me, Parker? Arresting me would be the same thing. Take me somewhere so we can talk."

"I am—the station."

"Parker, if you arrest me, I'm as good as dead. Do you want that on your conscience? Take me somewhere so we can talk without being overheard. I can explain everything."

Parker was married to Tasha's sister. Tasha looked a lot like his wife, Sheena, except Tasha was three inches shorter and kept her blonde hair cropped short so that it would not be in her way when she had been an Olympic gymnast. At this time, Parker had thought she was in Arlington, Virginia. Nobody knew she was in town.

"I don't see anybody listening to us but Daddy. Start talking."

"Not here, moron!" She rolled her eyes. "A man your age still calling your father 'Daddy.' What should I expect?"

"What's there to explain, Tasha?" asked Parker, jerking her toward the car. "We caught you red-handed." He lowered his voice to a hiss. "How dare you? You know I will always call him 'Daddy' and why."

"Sorry," she muttered. "Listen. You didn't exactly catch me red-handed. There's a lot to explain. Just don't take me to lockup where possibly dirty cops can see me."

"Maybe you should explain that statement," said Ray.

"Here? On the street? I see where Parker gets it." She puffed out her cheeks and huffed. "His daddy."

Ray scowled. "Where then?"

"My apartment."

"In Virginia?" Parker cocked an eyebrow.

"No. Here, smartass!"

"I'd like to hear what she has to say," said Ray. "Just tell me this. You can nod." He leaned close to her ear. "Is it Shotz? He and Baines are the only other detectives on duty tonight."

Tasha gave a quick affirmative jerk of her head.

"Can you prove it?"

Tasha shook her head.

Ray said, "Let's take her home, but leave the cuffs on." Ray mouthed, "Shotz."

Father and son locked matching sky-blue eyes. Parker nodded. He had always felt something was off with Ezra Shotz. Until now, he was just happy the chief had not partnered him with the man who had made detective at the same time as he had. Although a good fifteen years older and with more experience, Shotz had made it no secret he resented Parker. Another niggling annoyance about Shotz was a vague facial resemblance to Ray. The man just rubbed Parker the wrong way, and he didn't know why. Now, his gut urged him to listen to Tasha although he was seething inside at the possibility of her being a cat burglar...

As they drove to the airport there was little conversation. Tasha's soft snore in the back seat brought suppressed chuckles to the men in the front. Finally, Ray asked, "Tasha, can you give us anything besides the fact that you don't like Shotz?"

She jumped awake and yawned. "My cover is already blown, so I guess I can give you this. Does the last name McAlpin ring a bell?"

"Oh, yes," Ray and Parker answered together, remembering when Parker first came to Eau Boueuse. He had a fight with Derrick McAlpin who had been Sheena's ex-boyfriend. Worse recollections entered their minds when they thought about Derrick's younger brother. A good year after the Lloyd Palermo case, Darrell McAlpin murdered his wife. When Neely, Ray's sister-in-law, was called for jury duty, she had to be released after identifying Darrell as the man who had come to Hawaii to threaten her and who had raped her and left her for dead before that in New Orleans.

Tasha said, "Start there. And the kids. Remember Kyle."

Cover by Christopher Chambers.

The characters as I see them: Ray, Parker, Tasha