dontravis.com
blog post #365
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| Artist: Maria Fanning |
DSP
released The Voxlightner Scandal, the sixth book in my BJ Vinson mystery
series, last month. I’d like to present an excerpt of that novel for you this
week. Part of the Blurb for the book serves to set up the narrative. Take a
look:
No good deed goes unpunished, as investigator B. J. Vinson is about to discover.
Writer John Pierce Belhaven was murdered before he could reveal the name of another killer--one connected to the biggest scandal to rock Albuquerque in years. Two of the city's most prominent citizens--Barron Voxlightner and Dr. Walther Stabler--vanished in 2004, along with fifty million dollars looted from Voxlightner Precious Metals Recovery Corp. It only makes sense that poking into that disappearance cost Belhaven his life.
But BJ isn't so sure.
The
following excerpt comes in Chapter 1. In the first part, BJ is calling his old
partner from his days on the Albuquerque Police Department, Lt. Gene Enriquez,
to solicit some information on the author’s death, but also to clear his
investigation with the police. He always does this before snooping into an
active police investigation. The second part is a conversation between BJ and the
love of his life, Paul Barton, about the case.
*****
THE
VOXLIGHTNER SCANDAL
Ignoring the mayor’s call, I scheduled my testimony on the
embezzlement case with the ADA before dialing Gene’s private number. Our phone
conversations, although increasingly rare, followed a pattern. Brusque
greetings and catching up on domestic affairs before getting down to business.
Given Gene’s family of five children, most afflicted with the dreaded teenage
condition, he talked a lot more than I did. Today was no different. After he
filled me in on Glenda and the brood, I brought him up to date with news of
Paul and me. Once everything was covered, I asked if there was a police
investigation of the Belhaven death.
“You mean the writer toasted in his garage? Why? Should there be?”
“You know the answer to that better than I do, but Paul’s convinced
something’s funny. Claims Belhaven wouldn’t have attempted to repair a lawn mower
or anything else. He wasn’t a hands-on type of guy.”
“We’ve had that feedback too.”
“So you’re looking into the death?”
“Like usual, we’re satisfying ourselves everything’s on the up and
up… unless the medical investigator declares it an accidental death.”
“Paul wants to write a story on it.”
“Have him touch base with a detective named Roy Guerra. He’s
handling it for us.”
*****
Midafternoon I heard Paul’s familiar voice in the outer office.
Hazel’s delighted rejoinder hinted I might be relieved of my current task, at
least momentarily. My office manager-cum-surrogate mother—although totally
perplexed by my gay life—nonetheless loved Paul as much as she did me. After a
hug and a once-over from Hazel, he came through the doorway to invade my
private space, and a welcome incursion it was. I never tired of looking on his
handsome features.
“Hi. Am I interrupting anything?”
“Nothing uninterruptable,” I quipped. “Come on in.”
“I talked to Detective Guerra. We’re meeting here later, if that’s
okay. Thanks for getting the contact for me.”
“Pleased to do it. What did he say?”
“He has reservations about Belhaven’s death, and I added to them.”
“Any theories?”
“Couple. I found out Pierce was interviewed on TV the afternoon he died.
The interviewer quizzed him about his new book, and his answers might have cost
him his life.”
“Why do you say that?” I asked as we moved to the conference table
in the corner of my office.
“He writes—or wrote—mysteries. Fiction. But according to the
interview, his next book was going to be based on an actual event. Do you
remember the Voxlightner blowup a few years ago?”
I nodded. “A big scandal. I was still at APD, so it was probably
late 2003 or early ’04.”
Paul flipped out a notebook and clicked his ballpoint pen. “What do
you remember about it?”
“Gene and I weren’t assigned the case, so I just remember bits and
pieces. One of the local lights, a guy named Barron Voxlightner, and a fellow
named Stabler found acres and acres of mine tailings in Arizona that tested
positive for commercial grade silver and gold. All they needed to do was
extract the precious metals and sell them.”
“Sounds like a sure thing,” he said.
“That’s what everybody thought. The whole town wanted a piece of
the action. The money poured in. People went crazy.”
Paul checked his notes. “I take it they formed a company called
Voxlightner Precious Metals Recovery to do the project.”
“Right. They took VPMR—as it became known—public and raised fifty
million.”
“That’s a lot of dough.”
“Absolutely. And yet the bottom fell out within six months. It
turned out the tests were rigged. The tailings were worthless. But before the
hammer fell, Voxlightner and Stabler vanished, and the lawyer exposing the
fraud was murdered. The thing was never solved.”
Paul’s face assumed a thoughtful look. “When I was a kid, I thought
anyone called Voxlightner was royalty.”
*****
I hope the above is
enough to hook you on the book sufficiently to follow the next chapter in the
career of Burleigh J. Vinson… do you blame him for going by BJ?
The following are buy
links for the book”
Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-voxlightner-scandal-don-travis/1132632844?ean=9781640809260
Universal Link: https://books2read.com/u/4AxPDo
Now
my mantra: Keep on reading and keep on
writing. You have something to say, so say it!
My
personal links: (Note the change in the Email address because I’m still getting
remarks on the old dontravis21@gmail.com. PLEASE DON’T USE
THAT ONE.)
Facebook:
www.facebook.com/donald.travis.982
Twitter:
@dontravis3
Buy
links to Abaddon’s Locusts:
See
you next week.
Don
