Chapter Three
Detective Bill Parnelle’s black leather shoes and white tube socks mounted the stairs as he entered the squad room. During lunch, he’d accessorized his tie with ketchup and was personalizing it with a napkin when he saw Det. James Kazad from the missing persons division waiting for him. “I figured you’d get the Bettington case,” said Parnelle. “When did they call you?”
“About an hour ago. Apparently, they had to calm the father down before they could be sure about the boy and get more info,” Kazad said. He moved around to what appeared to be the front of Parnelle’s desk. Except for the chair, Kazad couldn’t be sure; piles of paperwork, candy wrappers and condiment-stained napkins made it a toss-up. “You got anything for me?”
Parnelle licked his fingers and then tossed yet another stained napkin onto his desk. “A little, but not much,” he said while shuffling through papers and wrappers. “My part of the investigation is over.”
“Already?” said Kazad. “It just happened last night.”
“I know, I know,” said Parnelle, still rummaging. “But I.A. was all over it and both the crime scene and medical examiner’s reports were like Windex — not a streak.” He suddenly stumbled onto the file. “Ah, here. Take a look. It was a clean shoot.”
“Still. Just one day?” said Kazad, flipping the file open.
“Jim, it’s not like 10 years ago. Nowadays, guys like Hollins can smell a bad shoot in a couple of hours. This one was wearing perfume.”
Ned's Blog 
Great story so far – got me on the edge of my seat. Do you want to know about typo’s or grammatical stuff? Picked up a couple.
So glad you’re enjoying item Susan! And absolutely. Even though I plan to make one more pass when I’m done, anything I fix now will save time later! One thing I’ve learned in my years as an editor is that I catch typos and mistakes in others’ manuscripts much easier than in my own — which I why I always seek out more eyes than mine. Thanks, Susan!
You’re welcome, and I totally get it. I can read my own stuff and miss all sorts of things.
For sure! In the newsroom, we always had someone else aside from a proofreader go through each page for the same reason; we fill in the blanks in our own minds when it comes to our own words, no matter how hard you try Lol! I truly appreciate it!