First peek at THE LIBRARY, follow-up novel to the bestselling short THE DEPOT.

Cover for 'The Library' is not available yet, but this library was my inspiration for the description.

Hello, friends. It's time for a new segment of Sample Sunday posts. This week, I'm giving you a first peek at The Library, which picks up six months after The Depot. But since I know most of you who've read The Depot want to know what's happening with Detective Mark Waters, I'm giving you the entire prologue and then a snippet of the first chapter. 

If you haven't read The Depot, please skip this sample and grab the FREE book via one of the links below.

PROLOGUE

Wade inserted the key into the deadbolt the same time he did every night. Only this time, the door glided open as though some unseen force had invited him inside. The house was quiet. Too quiet. Usually he’d hear the sound of the TV, a kitchen timer alerting that dinner was ready, or the constant boom from the stereo upstairs. But this evening, tomblike silence greeted him.

She’d threatened to leave; he just hadn’t believed her. After all, she’d been grumbling that same nonsense for twenty-two years. A romantic getaway for two would straighten her out. Their only child was going off to grad school in a few weeks. So for the first time in their marriage, they’d be childless.

His life had changed the night she told him she was pregnant two weeks away from high school graduation, but it hadn’t stopped him from working his butt off to accomplish his dreams. Yeah, he had to work two jobs, go to night school, and function without sleep, but they’d made it. They had a beautiful house in Edenbury, Pennsylvania, two stylish vehicles in the driveway, and their only child was heading off to Harvard.

And as soon as he finalized the contract he’d been working on for the last year, Wade could take Vanessa on as many getaways as she wanted. He’d cashed the first check on his way home. Just the first installment was more than they’d made their first ten years of marriage. That’d get her eyes twinkling again.

Burnt meatloaf singed his nostrils as he ventured into the kitchen in search of his wife. She’d killed their dinner again. His wife would get so busy typing she’d forget everything around her.

He turned off the oven, but left the charcoaled mess inside. Last thing he needed was the new smoke detector he’d installed to go off, once again alerting the neighbors how often his wife nearly burned their house down.

Wade emptied his pockets of his money clip, keys, and receipts onto the credenza by the stairway, as his wife had always requested, then started upstairs. “Vanessa honey,” he called as he trudged up the wooden steps, knowing she wouldn’t hear him, but he tried anyway. He gripped onto the banister, pulling himself forward. He was too tired to climb stairs before eating. But since she always wore her headphones when she worked, she wouldn’t hear if he screamed at the top of his range.

Tugging at his tie, he pushed open their bedroom door. Maybe they could have a quick romp before dinner, get a taste of what it’ll be like to be empty nesters.

Not believing his eyes, he launched headfirst toward his wife. “No!” he screamed.

Out of his peripherals, he saw the long black rod, but it was too late to react. The light extinguished the moment the object made contact with his skull, leaving him in a pit of blackness, a nightmare he’d never escape.

CHAPTER ONE

Detective Mark Waters slammed the phone onto his desk after he hit ‘send’. He’d added a heart and smiley face, but he knew Ashlyn saw through him. No, he wasn’t happy that she’d gone to stay with her mother. Especially since the two of them didn’t even get along.

But what could he say. He wasn’t her husband. He wasn’t even her unborn child’s father. He wanted to be, though. He’d asked Ashlyn to marry him last week, and though she’d accepted his ring, she’d run off to her mother as soon as she’d gotten the time off work approved.

He understood she felt guilty that she was pregnant, blamed herself for the father’s death. But he’d told her a hundred times she was innocent, and he didn’t care that she was carrying another man’s child. Plain and simple, he loved her. He didn’t care about anything else. But for some reason, he couldn’t seem to convince Ashlyn.

Mark took a pull off the stuff the station called coffee, nearly gagging. He’d skipped picking up his normal brew in his urgency to pick up Ashlyn and take her to the train station. The last thing he wanted was her second-guessing how he felt about her, even though he was wondering if she returned his sentiment. 

The Library will be available in a few weeks, but if you haven't read the prequel short story, it's available at all eBook retailers FREE! Enjoy!

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Scranton Memorial Library image courtesy of: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/