Teaser Tuesday – What Lies Beneath (Lancaster Falls 1)

Today’s teaser comes from What Lies Beneath (Lancaster Falls 1)
Available now – http://rjscott.co.uk/Read-WLB

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“I’m a writer. CJ Ward?” He looked at me expectantly, like maybe he assumed I would recognize the name.

I wasn’t going to lie. “I’m sorry… I—”

He sketched a box in the air, although I wasn’t sure what that meant. “Horror? Fantasy? The Lake series? It’s a film now. Well, two films. The third starts filming next year.”

I shook my head, a little embarrassed that I’d not heard of the author or the books or seen the films. Not that horror was my thing, and our movie theater was small and permanently stuck in the fifties. Anyway, when I had downtime, I was much happier watching documentaries or reading biographies.

“That’s a good thing,” Chris said as if he meant it. “I’m fine staying under the radar, and if it’s all the same with you, I’d rather the town didn’t know that last bit about who I really am. I have a very short time to complete a manuscript, and I’m struggling.”

His smile slipped a little, and he covered it by ruffling Kota’s fur before looking back at me with another dimpled grin. I could really be attracted to an average guy who wasn’t a criminal and smiled like he did.

“I doubt any sane person in town would make the journey up here, even if you were Stephen King.”

“Except you, clearly.”

I thought back to Captain Sandoval and his mission to piss me off. “Except me, yeah. So if there is anything you need help with, you know who to call.”

“I do have a question for you, well, two. I want to get down to town at some point. Where do out-of-towners eat? And two, where’s the best place around here to go for a run?”

“Calabresi’s for food, Italian, and for running? I’d head up the mountain on some of the trails there. You have access to the lower valley from here, but avoid Iron Lake, the reservoir I mean. The ground is uneven, the bridges rotten, and a lot of it is cordoned off.”

His eyes widened with interest. “So avoid the reservoir because it’s one big scary mess? Got it.”

I saw curiosity in his expression, and my gut told me he wouldn’t pay any attention to my warning. I had the feeling that Iron Lake was precisely where he would be heading, and I could imagine the 911 call now when he put a foot through the decaying bridge.

“I have one more question,” he began. “When I get into town, will you have a drink with me?” he asked and stopped me in my steps as I was just about to reiterate the dangers of the reservoir.

“Huh?” Coherency 1, Sawyer 0.

He pointed at himself, then me. “Us. Together. A drink.”

That was my cue to leave because as my grandmother once said, you don’t shit on your own doorstep—or at least it was some saying like that. I looked at my watch, acted out a feigned surprise at the time, and opened the door, the wall of heat hitting me as if I’d opened an oven.

“Take care, Mr. Lassiter,” I said over my shoulder.

“Call me Chris.”

I pulled the door shut behind me and headed for the car before I changed my mind.

The last thing I needed was to go back and agree to a drink with the sexy man in the cabin.

A drink or something more.

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