I decided that my novel was too short, so I’m adding a couple more chapters. Here’s more of my WIP. Enjoy.
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The Case of the Cheating Girlfriend

“I do?” Jen stood up and moved over behind Molly to look at her computer. She looked at his picture. “You’re right. He’s that guy who advertises on TV to sell Fords. His motto is ‘Go to bat with Matt’ If he owns four Ford dealerships, he must be doing very well.”

The next Friday…

Jen and Molly agreed that the best strategy would be to follow Shanice from the gym after her class. They had a good picture of Jones, so they knew what he looked like. They parked where they could see the entrance to the gym and waited. Soon, Shanice arrived and went inside. She had walked from the hotel. At the time that Shanice should be teaching, Jen and Molly decide to go inside to see if they could spot Jones. They told the receptionist at the front desk that they were looking for a friend. They found Shanice’s class. They didn’t see Jones anywhere.

After her class, Shanice walked back to the hotel. Jen and Molly followed her in Jen’s car at a distance. They parked outside again and waited to see if Jones showed up. Nothing happened. Finally, as it was getting dark, Molly suggested they go sit in the lobby of the hotel where the lighting was better. They moved inside the hotel and sat down with their cameras ready.  Jen sat facing the main entrance while Molly sat facing the elevators.

Two hours later, Molly spotted Jones getting off the elevator. He walked swiftly toward exit. Molly tried to signal Jen, but Jen was talking on her cellphone. She realized they might not get a good picture. As Jones walked by, Molly started to get up and dropped her cane. Jones stopped to pick it up for her. As Molly struggled to stand up, Jones offered her his hand. That also got Jen’s attention, and she started secretly taking a few pictures with her cellphone. Molly stood up with Jones help and paused to look at his face.

“Oh my God,” she said. “You’re that guy on TV. The one who sell cars.”

Jones smiled. “Yes, ma’am, I am. Matt Jones is the name.” He extended his hand to Molly.

“Oh my,” Molly gushed. “I was thinking about buying a Ford-a pickup.”

Jones looked down at Molly prostheses. “Are you a veteran?”

“I am, sir.”

“Thank you for your service. We offer a discount for veterans.” He reached inside his coat and removed a business card. “Come see me. I’ll give you a good deal on a pickup.”

“I will.” Molly held up her cellphone. “Mind if I get a selfie? My girlfriends will be impressed.”

“Sure. Tell them to come by for a good deal.” He leaned in with his head next to Molly as she took their picture. After she took the pictures, they shook hands and Jones left.

Jen walked up to Molly. Both were grinning. “You are such a flirt,” Jen said.

“Yeah, don’t tell Marty. How did we miss him?”

“He probably arrived while we were at the gym watching Shanice and waited in the lobby until she arrived then went up to her room with here.”

“Okay, that makes sense. What do we do now?”

“I have an idea,” Jen said. “Follow me.” They walked over to the receptionist and were able to get Shanice’s room number. Jen also asked what time the maid service starts. Shanice’s room was on the sixth floor. Jen and Molly took the elevator to the sixth floor. Shanice’s room was near the end of a long hallway. Outside the door on the floor lay a tray with leftover food, two wine glasses and an empty bottle of wine.

“They ordered room service,” Molly said. She took out her cellphone and took some pictures.

“Makes sense,” Jen replied. “Jones is all over the TV. He can’ risk someone recognizing him. He’s a married man with a family.” Jen picked up the wine bottle and held it so Molly could take a picture of the label.

Once Molly and Jen got back to the office, they printed out their pictures.

The next day…

Jen and Molly decided no to follow Shanice to her Saturday class. They arrived at the hotel early and saw her leave. They figured that Matt and Shanice would have a rendezvous after her class. She had a late flight that afternoon. Jen saw the housekeepers arrive for work and followed them into their locker room. After fifteen minutes she emerged and walked over to Molly.

“Well.” Molly asked.

“All set. The housekeeper that cleans the sixth floor will bag up their trash and put it in a gray bag. They normally use clear plastic bags. She’ll leave it by the trash dumpster in back. Cost us $50.”

“What time,” Molly asked.

“Two pm when she finishes her shift.”

Jen and Molly knew that Shanice’s class was from 8 to 9 am. At 9:30 am, Shanice entered the hotel. Molly decided to wait in the car to avoid bumping into Matt since he knew what she looked like. Around a quarter after eleven, Matt walked into the hotel. Jen saw him took a time stamped picture.
Matt walked straight toward the elevators. After he left, Jen decided to join Molly in the car. They went for lunch at a fast-food joint. AT 2 pm, Jen and Molly pulled behind the hotel. There, next to the dumpster was a gray trash bag. Molly grabbed it and threw it into the back seat.

Back at their office, Jen placed a large plastic tarp on the table and Molly dumped the contents of the bag onto the tarp. The women began to shift through the trash from Shanice’s room. Most of it was paper products. Finally, Molly said, “Bingo,” as she held up a condom wrapper. “They definitely had sex.”

Jen took out her cellphone and snapped a picture. “here’s another on,” Molly shouted. “Twice? Lucky girl.” She placed both wrapper on the table and Jen took another picture.

“Any condoms,” Jen asked.

“Ew, I hope not,” Molly replied. “Probably flushed.”

Later, Jen finished their report and e-mailed everything to JB. They concluded that Shanice was cheating on JB.

Three Weeks later…

Jen and Molly were working on their next case when Jonah called from APD Homicide. “Jen, do you, or did you, have a client in Nashville, Tennessee?

“Oh, oh. This can’t be good,” Jen replied. “Wait, I’m going to put you on speaker phone. Molly and I worked that case together.” Jen put her phone on speaker. “What’s up?”

“I just had a call from the homicide department in Nashville. They’re working on a case, and they found your phone number and name on the vic’s cellphone.

“Oh, shit. Who?” Molly asked.

“His name was Joseph Brown, but he goes by JB.”

“Yes, he was a client,” Jen answered. “but the case is closed.”

“By any chance, was this a murder-suicide?” Molly asked.

“No,” Jonah answered. “It was double homicide; JB and his girlfriend Shanice Williams.”

“I’ll send you everything we have. What happened?” Jen asked.

I decided that my novel was too short, so I’m adding a couple more chapters. Here is part of one. Enjoy.

The Case of the Cheating Girlfriend

Thing had finally quieted down. Jen and Molly had no active cases to work on which was okay with them. Jen and Jonah married and went on a honeymoon soon after Molly had her baby. The pandemic was still going strong, but the woman had saved enough from previous cases to carry them for several more months.

When Molly arrived at the office, Jen informed her than she scheduled a remote visual chat with a possible new client for 1300 hours. They agreed to work the case together since they had no other cases at the time. Promptly at 1300, a young man connected with Jen and Molly remotely. Jen and Molly introduced themselves and paused for the young man to speak. He was a good looking African-American with close cut hair and a muscular build. His voice was deep. Jen introduced Molly and said they would both work on the case.

“My name is Joseph Brown, but you can call me JB, everyone does. I’m from Nashville. I played semi-pro football for the Nashville Kings until a year ago when it was recommended that I stop because of degenerative brain disease. I was a lineman and took several hits to the head; too many it turns out. I still work with the team as a weight trainer.”

“How can we be of service, Mr. Brown?” Jen asked.

“I would like you to investigate my fiancé.”

“What do you want us to investigate?” Jen asked.

“We got engaged about six months ago. I think my fiancé, Shanice Williams, is cheating on me. If she is, then the wedding is definitely off.”

“Okay,” Jen replied. “We can certainly do that for you. But first tell us more about your fiancé and then why you think she might be cheating.”

“I met Shanice at the gym. I’m a weight trainer for the Nashville Kings and she’s an aerobics instructor for the 24 Hour Fitness chain of gym. She is an advanced aerobics instructor. They fly her to different places to teach other aerobics instructors. We started dating and just clicked.”

“Did you bring a picture of her with you?” Molly asked.

“I can email that to you, along with other details like her age, height andweight,” JB said.

“JB, you’re from Nashville. Why do you want us to investigate her here in Atlanta?"

“That’s where I think she’s cheating. She’s having an affair with someone who lives in Atlanta. 24 Hour Fitness flies her there to teach an advanced class once a month. She trains other instructors at one of their gyms on Friday nights and Saturday mornings.”

“So, you think she’s meeting someone here on those weekends?” Molly asked.

“I do. I pray I’m wrong, but I have my suspicions. Maybe I just being paranoid. But I have to know.”

“So, why do you think she’s cheating on you?”

“I know her schedule, so I don’t try to call her when I know she’s teaching. Sometimes when I call after her classes, she doesn’t pick up. When she calls back, she says she was charging her phone.”

“Well, that’s possible,” Molly added.

“Then there’s this. We live together and she normally does the laundry. This last time, she had a meeting, so I decided to do the laundry. Then I noticed this odor on her clothes. I went to a drug store and niffed all the colognes until I found this.” JB reached into his pocket and pulled out a small bottle of cologne. He Held it up to the camera. 

Jen read the label, ''’Eros,’ Are you sure that’s the same as the odor on your fiancé clothes?”

“I’m sure of it. It was on her bra and panties. Also, she told me five months ago that she had reconnected with a classmate from high school. He lives in Atlanta. His name is Matthew Jones. Since then, she hasn’t mentioned him.”

“You think she’s cheating with this old classmate?” Jen asked.

“I don’t know. But I looked him up in her old yearbook. There’re a few pictures of the two of them together. I guess they were an item back then.”

“Do you remember his name?” Molly asked.

“Yes. His name is Jamar Johnson.”

“When does she teach in Atlanta again?” Jen asked.

“This week. If you do this, I will need pictures or positive proof. I don’t want to accuse her of cheating unless I’m 100% positive.”

After a few more questions, Jen told JB that they would take his case. JB agreed to the fee and signed a contract.

The rest of the day, Jen and Molly reached the background of JB and his fiancé. Everything JB told them about himself and Shanice checked out. True to his word, JB e-mailed pictures of Shanice along with details of her age, weight and height. He also told them which hotel Shanice would be staying and the location of the gym she where she would be teaching. The gym was just two blocks from the hotel.

While Jen was doing background checks on JB and Shanice, Molly was check on Shanice Williams’ ex-boyfriend from high school. She discovered that he does still live in the Atlanta area and now owns four Ford dealerships. He’s a successful businessman, married with a couple of kids. Finally, she pulled up his picture from the internet. “OMG, I know him.”

Jen looked at Molly. “You know Matthew Jones?” she asked.
​
“No, I don’t know him personally, but I know who he is. You do too.”

A couple of years ago, I read with interest an article on my news feed by Kate Villa, the “6 Things You Should Never Do on Your Work Computer”. Kate listed these things:

• Never Save Personal Files to Your Desktop. 
• Don't Go to Any Sites You Wouldn't Show Your Boss. 
• Don't Have Personal Conversations Over Office Chat. 
• Fight the Urge to Shop Online. 
• Don't Use Your Personal Email. 
• Don't Search for Jobs at Other Companies.

As usual, when people make these lists, Kate missed the mark by a mile. Here’s my list of the additional things you never should do on your work computer. Your work computer should never be used to:

• Sext from work. Clients might be interested in the junk your company sells, but they aren’t interested in your junk.
• Order food delivery to you at the office—unless you order enough for everyone.
• Gossip—unless it’s really juicy gossip.
• Participate in teleconferences in your underwear, especially while drink hot coffee.
• Troll for dates, especially among co-workers.
• Set alarms to wake you up—use a windup alarm or your iPhone.
• Purchase drugs—use the regular office dealer.
• Watch porn—unless, of course, your company is in that industry.
• Gamble—unless, of course, the entire office participates.
• Write a tell-all expose about your company. If you want to be a whistleblower, use your home computer.
• Write the next great American novel on company time, unless you dedicate the book to the company.
• Connect to the hidden cameras you installed in the restrooms.
• Plagiarize from co-workers.

 
I hope this will keep you out of trouble and employed.
 

For most folks now days, money is tight.  There never enough, so you can’t waste it on stupid stuff. A few years ago, I read with interest an article on my newsfeed written by Lia Sestric, “6 Really Dumb Ways Americans Waste Money.” Lia mentioned overspending on education, purchasing expensive diapers, buying unnecessary baby stuff, betting on lottery tickets, failing to shop for bargains, and insisting on lavish weddings. In my opinion, she wasn’t even close. Here is my list of more ways people waste money:
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1. Sending money to someone in Nigeria who claims you inherited a large sum of money. This is a scam, folks.
2. Using your savings to invest in your brother’s or brother-in-law’s stupid ideas. In the case of the brother-in-law, you can’t stand the guy anyway, but you married his sister. Your brother or sister is a different issue. This is a tough one. Never lend money to family -- period. Good luck with this.
3. Enrolling in Trump University. I’m sure you thought this was a good deal. It’s overpriced folks. Go to the local community college.
4. Buying swampland that might be drained. You don’t see this one much anymore. Here’s a hint; if you can’t see it, don’t buy it.
5. Spending a lot of money to buy a map to the Lost Dutchman's Gold Mine. Think About it; so many maps to the mine have been sold that someone must have found the gold by now.
6. Spending money to claim a prize someone says you won even though you never entered a contest. Another scam, folks.
7. Spending a lot of money on drugs (prescription drugs, over the counter drugs, under the counter drugs, meth, pot, cocaine, heroin, coffee, alcohol, cigarettes, candy, sugar and liquor). Enough said.
8. Buying bottled water. Tap water is just as good, and it has fluoride for your teeth. The bottles are made of plastic which comes from oil – bad for the landfill and the environment. Just drink tap water and save. You can reuse the old water bottles and fool your snobbish friends.
9. Paying too much for sex. Sex should be free. If you must pay for it, you’re wasting money. Now, “good” sex is something else. That’s going to cost you.
10. Spending too much on pets. Pets shouldn’t cost anything. If you have a dog or cat, yes, it’s expensive. Pets should be free. Forget dogs or cats; cockroaches make great pets and they don’t eat much. They never bark.

 
I hope this helps everyone to cut expenses. 

We recently had the Geminids meteor shower, the strongest meteor shower of the year. My wife woke up to watch it and saw some meteors. I stayed in bed. I may have figured out a way to count the number of stars in the universe. Follow these simple steps:

1. Section off a portion of the sky about a million square miles. You may have to eyeball this.
2. Count the number of stars in this section. Take your time.
3. Now multiply that number by infinity.

That should give you a rough estimate of the number of stars in the universe. If you have trouble doing this, try it at night.

A few years ago, I read an article on WritersLife.org by Bethany Cadman, “5 Signs You Might Not Be Cut Out to Write”. She listed things like you aren’t enjoying writing, you don’t make an effort, you have more important goals, you resent the time you have to spend writing, and you’re sick of being rejected. I couldn’t agree more.
 
I write a blog and often get discouraged. There are many more subtle signs that you aren’t cut out to be a blogger. These signs are:

Your family unfriends you on Facebook after your most recent post.
You write a controversial article but get no hate mail or threats.
People who don’t follow you try to unfollow you.
A writing teacher asks to use your blog as an example of poor writing.
Your mother corrects your grammar.
Your spellchecker underlines every other word.
You get in an argument with your spellchecker.
When you try to post something in your blog, your computer asks if you really want to post it.
No one tries to plagiarize your work.
Your friends give you dictionaries as Christmas gifts.
You google your name, and nothing comes up.
Your printer refuses to print anything you write.
All the comments on your posts concern grammar and not the subject.
No one is suing you.
Your significant other doesn’t know what you do for a living.
Your kids won’t invite you to Career Day at school.
Your friends and family are surprised to learn that you’re still alive.
You went on vacation for two weeks and didn’t post anything, and no one noticed.
No one shares your posts.
You don’t like coffee.
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If you notice any of these signs, maybe you should reconsider whether you want to continue writing a blog.

​     I getting to that point in my life where my memory doesn’t serve me. I make notes to remind myself of everything. I have shopping lists, do lists, passwords and reminders for appointments. I find if I put something in my line of sight, I’ll remember it. To help myself remember or to remind myself of future events, I post notes to remind myself, mark up my calendar and use visual aids. I put them on my computer, refrigerator, and kitchen counters. I even put outgoing mail near the door where I’ll see it as I leave the house.
     The other day I went to buy groceries at our favorite big box store. When I got inside, I realized I forgot my shopping list at home. After berating myself for one minute, I told myself to put on my big boy pants and try to remember everything on the list.
     I decided if I went down every aisle, whenever I saw things that I use, it would remind me to buy it if I needed it. I went down every aisle and loaded up my cart. By time I was done, the cart held twice the amount of groceries that I usually buy. I figured it was all consumable, so no waste, no harm done. I was proud of myself for shopping without my usual list. When I got outside, it hit me; I forgot where I parked.
     My memory is a strange beast. I think now that I’m older, my brain can’t retain any more data. Therefore, it seems to be doing a data dump. It pulls up an old memory file that I haven’t thought about in years. For example, it might pull up a name of someone from high school. Then my brain asks, “Do we need to keep this file?” If I don’t immediately try to contact that person, my brain dumps that memory. It’s lost forever. That leaves a little storage space for a new memory. I’ve learned how to use this to my advantage. Before I fall asleep, I might ask my brain to find the name of a long-lost friend. Bingo, the next morning, my brain shows me the file.
      The other day I forgot what day it was. I thought it was trash day. I got up early and took out the trash. When the trash truck didn’t come, I figured out I was a day early. No sweat, lots of folks take out their trash the night before. I was just early. The problem is that I have done this before. I often run into a person I haven’t seen for a while and can’t remember their name. I have on a couple of occasions, let the dog out and forgot to let her back in.
     In my experience, there seems to be three types of memory lost: the first is a total loss of memory of names, places or events; the second is a mixed match of memories (not remembering correctly or mixing two separate events together); and finally, false memories (remembering things that never happened – duh).
     What I really hate is remembering things that never happened. For example, I was trying to remember if I took my morning meds and decided that I did. Later, I discovered that I hadn’t taken them. I was remembering something that never happened.
     As we grow older, our memories are often the best things we have. I hate losing them. They say the memory is the second thing to go as you get old. I forgot what the first thing was. I thought I’d better write this blog before I forget. 

WIP—Junk Yard Dog

Here’s another page of my work in progress, a sci-fi short story. Please feel free to provide feedback. Recall from my last post that the Junk Yard Dog is a spacecraft designed to collect space junk. Zoe is the commander. They tried to capture a satellite and ran into problems when they touched it. I’ already rewriting—in my head. Here’s page 3.


“How far?”

Try a hundred meters for starters.”

Rudy reached over Walt and released the arm and claws from the satellite.

“Roger that,” Cyril said as he used the thrusters to maneuver the Dog away from the satellite. As the Dog moved farther away, the visions subsided until there were no more visions. Walt stopped screaming.

“A hundred meters and holding,” Cyril announced.

“Hold for now. Walt, take some deep breaths. Okay, talk to me. Is everyone okay?” Everyone said they were uninjured. “Does anyone have any idea what just happened to us?”

Rudy was the first to speak. “I think we experienced a self-defense feature of that satellite. That buzzing sound we all felt when we approached it was something probing our minds looking for our greatest fears. Then the sat somehow projected images of our greatest fears into our minds. Mine was a fear of drowning.”

“Mine was fire,” Walt added. “My house caught fire when I was a kid. I nearly died.”

“Mine was a car crash from a few years ago. I too almost died. I went through the windshield.” Cyril said. “What was yours, Commander?”

“Never mind. It’s not important. Which country has that technology?”

“None,” Rudy answered. “I don’t think this satellite was put here by any humans.”

“You mean it’s an alien satellite?” Walt asked.

“That’s the only possible answer.”

“Why would they put a sat in orbit around the earth and why in a polar orbit?” Zoe asked.

“I don’t know,” Rudy answered. “But think about it. In a polar orbit, the sat can see the entire earth in just a few orbits.”

“Okay, that’s enough talk for now,” Zoe commanded. “We have more questions than answers, Zoe said. “We’ll talk again later. Cyril, take us out of orbit and set a course for our barge. Let dump this cargo and then head back to ISS.”

“Aye, aye,” Cyril replied as he set a new course.

After a few minutes, Walt switched his communicator to a private channel to talk with Rudy. “Rudy, what’s the deal with the barge? I didn’t know we had one. What is it?”

Rudy chuckled, “Oh newbie. Our barge is where we stow the space junk until we’re ready to get rid of it. We get paid by volume since there’s little gravity. Every country has their own barge. By mutual agreement, once several barges are full, a space tug starts them on a collision course toward earth where they burn up in the atmosphere.”

“Cool. What about the rare earth medals?” Cyril asked.

“We keep those separate and get paid for them on the ISS?”

Unloading the space junk into the barge was routine, but everyone was still shook up about the encounter with the alien satellite. No one mentioned it. After a week of collecting space junk, the crew was looking forward to a day or two of relaxing, not to mention running hot water and hot chow.

As the Junk Yard Dog approached the ISS, Zoe said, “Let’s not tell anyone about what happened until we had a chance to figure it out ourselves.” Every agreed. Zoe radioed the ISS and received docking instructions and clearance.

The ISS consisted of three large rings or wheels, each bigger than the one below it. They were connected by a long center spoke that ran through the middles. Docking was done at the center ring where most personnel lived and worked. The top ring consisted of the life support systems needed to sustain the ISS. The bottom ring was the largest and was where more spacecrafts were built.
​
The Junk Yard dog docked on the center ring. The crew was met by a docking manager and a load master as they exited the airlock.

“Your barge is almost full,” the load master informed Zoe. “We can take control of it now and pay you if you like, or you can make one more trip to collect junk.”