Whispers

Beginnings and endings together make up a story, right? Short answer: to a degree.

Body Heat

Beginning:

Night is falling in the Big Easy. She's rented a car.

Anna Marie Darkholme, Private Investigator, may have been riding point on a motorcycle from the time she was old enough to put on leathers and earn that nickname "Rogue," but even she knows when a gal gets called out by black bag kind of money from one of the oldest families in the city, that same gal better show up well-dressed in a vehicle on four wheels.

This sprawling Garden District mansion before her, lit in the hazy glow of a New Orleans night, is reportedly only one of several residences belonging to the LeBeau family. It is an old house, extremely well-kept, giving off the scent of blooming gardenias that have wound up its trellis and porch, but it does not welcome her as she steps out of the black sedan and up the front walk. The façade gives off a forbidden air.

A shadow flits across her peripheral vision and she looks up sharply to see a lone bird winging across the dark sky. Sighting along its path brings her to the house on an upper balcony and she is startled to see a shadowy figure leaning against the railing, blowing out smoke to trail into the dusk.

It's just a man, she tells herself. A member of the family.

She turns away and rings the bell.

~

Ending:

She finds him upstairs, but he does not look at her when she enters. Her heart still beats with another woman's pain, and she cannot help but remember the night she came to this city, stared up at this mansion, and saw then what she sees now and did not understand.

Remy LeBeau stands at the balcony door. Falling dusk gathers about him like so many shadows, lit by the hazy glow of a cigarette butt and two burning ember eyes.

Rogue thinks him the loneliest soul in the world.

~

There's a quote too:

"There is no solitude in the world like that of the big city."

~ Kathleen Norris ~

~

Good stuff, this. Usually enough to get me from point A to point B, something I'm sure lithiumlaughter would be very happy for me to do.

However...

In revising my original novel, I'm discovering there's this core that an entire storyline is built around, and while these hint at it, they aren't it. And I'm still searching. In both stories. :sighs:

Wish me luck.

First of all, I love Wanda W. She's my new beta for Carnal, and she's a dream. I'm halfway through the chapter and I think she might have helped me break my block.

Now...

If you don't like spoilers, I highly suggest you don't read beyond this point.

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