UNKNOWN

A sequel to Miranda In the Wind.

A Prisoner's Quest to Meet Her Only Child

On an off-ramp of a Los Angeles highway, a gunman killed a driver in an SUV, causing the vehicle to flip over and land on its side.

As the number of possible suspects multiplied, the lead investigator, Lieutenant Scooter Nagley, focused on the victim's wife, Miranda Pilday, who had two motives, no alibi and who had refused to take a polygraph test. Also, Miranda had just been released from prison, and she knew people who could readily pull off a job like that.

On the other hand, Miranda had been a model prisoner who desperately wanted to meet her only child, a son who was taken from her at birth. Miranda would not jeopardize that meeting for anything.

Nagley knew a lot about ex-cons like Miranda, and Miranda knew a lot about shady interrogators like Nagley. When two strong and opposing egos collide, only one can prevail.

Like most Americans I liked my career of several decades but I have to admit that I didn't always approach the mornings with wild enthusiasm. But then, I retired and discovered something I never would have guessed: When the day is mine, I love to get up even earlier. Now I'm the guy who wakes up the rooster. I still work as much as I ever did, only I now work on things that bring me a different form of compensation. Like writing books. Some have asked me where I get my ideas, but it's no mystery. I had a storied youth with six sisters and a wild family. When I wasn't engulfed in that world, I spent a fair amount of my time wandering the alleys and streets of our neighborhood. A fellow learns a lot from all of those people even before he arrives for his first day of school. If he has the ability to recall the characters and the activities in which they engaged, and blend that with a dash of make-believe, there's a goldmine full of fodder from which to draw his inspiration.