Now This - Hardcover

Nancy Star

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0671008951 ISBN 13: 9780671008956

Publisher: Atria, 1999

Synopsis

In Up Next, the premiere of her acclaimed mystery series, author Nancy Star portrayed "the cutthroat world of daytime TV with...wit and verve" (Publishers Weekly.) Now this exciting storyteller proves she's more than ready for prime time, with a thrilling new installment in the life of May Morrison. The savvy single mom and high-powered TV executive is on the edge of a story to die for in... Now This For May Morrison, senior producer of TV's hottest talk show Paula Live, last season's tragic murders by a crazed coworker yielded one unexpected spinoff: flex time. Now, working three days at the office and two at home, May can better juggle the demands of her impatient bosses, who want every show to be a ratings-winner, and her children, who want every day to start with her standing alongside the other bus-stop moms, waving good-bye as they set off to school. Then she gets a call from a stranger... An agitated young man demands to know why his aunt, a school librarian, had been scheduled to appear on the Paula Live show -- and why she ended up dead before she ever got on the air. May never heard of the woman, but the relentless caller makes himself a dangerous nuisance. In fact, May's boyfriend, Police Detective Paul O'Donnell, asks her to carry a gun. Meanwhile, May's flex time starts turning to wrecked time when she breaks one of her cardinal rules: mixing home and work. Intrigued that a fellow bus-stop mom, Stacey Blum, seems to have found a fountain of youth that's taken years off the way she looks, May pitches a show about Stacey and the Southwest spa that's worked its wonders on her. Paula loves the idea of scooping Montel and Ricki with this one, but May starts to have the nagging feeling that something is wrong. And when Stacey Blum falls critically ill with a mysterious "flu," a strange pattern begins to emerge between the dead librarian, Stacey, and Stacey's friends -- a pattern which may have fatal consequences for all involved, including May. Detective O'Donnell will do anything to keep May in daytime TV and off the eleven o'clock news. He's putting their relationship on the line, and unfortunately for May, a killer is planning to put her six feet under. Nancy Star again comes out on top in a riveting suspense thriller that keeps you flipping pages instead of channels.

About this title

About the Author:

Nancy Star hunted down and developed stories for several movie companies including the Goldwyn Company, the Ladd Company and Lorimar before turning to her own writing. Her first May Morrison mystery was Up Next, also published by Pocket Books. She lives in northern New Jersey with her husband, two children and a pair of lovebirds. This is her second novel.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.:

Chapter One

It was too noisy. Intolerable. She looked up from her desk to search out the culprits.

There they were. Children -- two of them. Her eyes drilled into theirs with a well-practiced look of reproach. They stared back but didn't stop.

It was the little one who was worse, making noises with his nose. He'd probably say he was just breathing, but those weren't breathing noises -- at least not any she'd ever heard before. The big one, well it was hard to tell for sure, but it seemed to her as if that awful slurping sound came because he was sucking his own tongue. Unbearable.

The thought flew in: Why aren't any of the other people who are browsing the shelves bothered? How is it possible to hear the noise of a child sucking his tongue from all the way across the room? Just as quickly the thought was gone and all she knew was this: she was the one in charge of the children's room of the library and it wasn't going to run amok on her shift.

Who are these ill-behaved monsters? she wanted to know. Who left them here?

She banged her blue pen down on the desk. The noise of it resounded in her ears like a cannonball. She burst out laughing.

Eyes looked up out of books with a mixture of surprise and fear. There was absolutely nothing funny going on, especially not to her. But on she laughed, an unstoppable girlish laugh. She stood, thinking, Maybe fresh air would help, but before she could get her feet to move, she was back in the wooden chair, looking to the world as if she'd meant to sit down.

When a child's nervous giggle joined her own, her laughter stopped, like that. The room became silent, too silent, even for a library. No pages turned, no spines were pulled off crowded shelves, no keys clacked on the computers' card catalogue.

The small boy started crying, bawling, sobbing so loud it made her shake. She clutched her arms, rubbing goose bumps that weren't there.

"Don't you know how to read?" she heard herself bark. She watched her own arm stretch out, saw it tremble as she pointed to the sign on her desk, its antique font spelling the words QUIET, PLEASE.

The mother appeared before her out of nowhere, as if she'd flown across the room. She was shouting, too, so loud her words were garbled, unintelligible.

"...three years old," the shrill voice broke through. "Just a child," she continued.

Me? the librarian thought. I'm just a child? Rage began percolating in the pit of her stomach. That mother looked awfully familiar. She'd been coming every day, sitting, watching, waiting for an opportunity to disrupt the place. Why? What was she after, anyway?

The child coughed with a force that rattled the windows as well as her brain.

"He's doing it on purpose. You came on purpose," the librarian shouted. Now her teeth were chattering, too.

She didn't notice that all around her people stood gathering their bags, abandoning Eric Carle picture books; skinny chapter books about Amelia Earhart, Michael Jordan, Lenni Lenape Indians, well-worn copies of Your Big Backyard magazine.

"I know about you," she yelled, because suddenly it seemed there'd been warning signs she'd been ignoring for days.

"Don't stare at me," she shouted, but she was talking to people's backs now as they scurried out.

Within minutes, she was alone. It was quiet. Finally she could work. She stood up, slowly.

There. This was better. She would shelve books. That was always relaxing. And it needed doing. They were starting to pile up again. It was so easy to get behind.

She was considering why it took so long for her to walk over to the cart today, why her legs were so uncooperative, as if they were on strike, when Mr. James, the manager, came downstairs to see her. He looked sad, as if someone had died.

Later, walking home, she reviewed what he had said. She was scaring people, especially the children. She didn't look well. She should see a doctor, right away. He offered to make the call.

That's when the warning light clicked on. Call whom?

As she walked, half stumbling, the short distance home, her head began to clear. Was it because of the heat? Was she having a relapse of the flu? The thought made her laugh again, but this time she managed to stop before the trilling sound got under her skin.

Already the afternoon's events were becoming hazy, like a dream. Had it been a dream? Was she that unwell? Had Mr. James actually told her she'd scared away a room full of people? But how could he know when he wasn't even there?

It must have been the woman with the boy who told him. Something was wrong with that woman, coming every day to watch her. Something was terribly wrong. Again, she laughed.

When the laugh passed, she considered what to do next. Should she go back and warn Mr. James? But then he hadn't seemed all that concerned about her to begin with. He'd made no move to stop her when she hurried out. Could he have wanted her to go all along? Had he been trying to get rid of her for some time? Had he sent that woman to spy on her?

Yet he'd always seemed so kind. Was she wrong about that, too? What else was she wrong about?

She pondered the dilemma, oblivious to everything else around her.

The account in the newspaper said the engineer saw her crossing the tracks even as the gates were lowering. As soon as he saw her lie down, he blew his whistle and engaged his brakes. She lifted her head, looked right at him and smiled. But she didn't move. By the time the train had stopped, he knew she'd been split into pieces. The only reason he was able to sleep that night was because it seemed so clear to him: she wanted to die.

There were reports that earlier in the day she'd been behaving oddly. She lived alone and had never before exhibited any signs of depression, though witnesses interviewed at the library said that lately she'd appeared unusually agitated.

A relative flew in from out of town to handle the arrangements.

Mr. James told the new librarian that if anyone asked what had happened, she should simply say, "I'm afraid I don't know," and then offer help in locating a book. And that was exactly what she did.

Copyright © 1999 by Nancy Star

About this edition

• Publisher: Atria
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0671008951
• ISBN 13: 9780671008956
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 352