Is the Middle in the Cards? @LucyBurdette #whatwerewriting

 LUCY BURDETTE: I’m grinding along in the muddled middle of Key West mystery #13. Before we made our trip from Key West to Connecticut, I screeched to a halt at a scene where Hayley has lunch with her tarot-card-reading pal, Lorenzo. What would he tell her that could help her solve the mystery or sort out some questions in her own life? 

Believe it or not, it always helps me move the plot along if *I* have lunch with my real friend, Ron, the model for Lorenzo. So I did. Here we are, when I ran across him at Mallory Square.

And here's a bit of the scene featuring Hayley with her Lorenzo, from about Chapter 16 or so. I don't have it all worked out, but it's slowly coming together. (The sentence in caps reminds me later to somehow use this more expertly. Suggestions always welcome, of course!) 

I stopped speaking and slumped into my chair. “Are you having any messages from the universe about this mess?” 

I didn’t really expect him to be able to deliver an answer to that. That’s not how his gift worked. But he sometimes had sparks, bits of light that illuminated the path later on. I leaned forward to absorb whatever he said.

My friend cocked his head like a curious bird. “From what you’ve told me, I would want to know who had access to their knife. And who had a previous relationship with the man who died. And who stood to gain the most from his death. Or who became enraged by something he did when he was alive.” LATER REMEMBER A HINT THAT COMES FROM THIS READING

I sat back in my chair again and crumpled my napkin. “Those are excellent questions.” 

“Did you ever watch that cooking show called Rat in the Kitchen? One of the performing chefs is a saboteur, but nobody knows who it is. The person oversalts a competitor’s sauce or exchanges rotten ingredients for fresh, things like that. This reminds me of that. Although no one gets murdered on the show.” Now he looked a little sad. “It’s not only in Key West where those with the most money run the world.”

“You always come through. How are you doing by the way? I didn’t ask you anything about your life.” Belatedly, I noticed the dark circles under his blue eyes.

Those eyes blinked closed and then back open. “You know that Uranus is in my house, and that means a rocky stretch, a lot of disruption. But I’m coming out of it, I am fine.” He paused. “I will be fine.”

Lorenzo believed deeply in the meaning of astrological charts, and what he saw there, reflected his truth. It was often spot on. This reminded me of what my friend Eric the psychologist always told me. The caretakers in this world could appear to be all together emotionally, but the weight of carrying other peoples’ problems could begin to create tiny fissures in their hearts. Emotional stress fractures, to say it another way. It was important for a caretaker to reach out so that someone could care for them, too. Otherwise, the heart might shatter along the lines of those hairline cracks. Lorenzo, like Eric, was a kind person with a big heart whose first impulse was to carry other people forward when they couldn’t move themselves. 

If you’re interested in other posts about Lorenzo, here’s one from Fatal Reservations.

This one was written as Fatal Reservations was published and it follows the development of Lorenzo (and me and Hayley) across the series. 

I'd love to ask you what else you think Lorenzo might tell Hayley, but seeing as you don't know the story, it's hardly a fair question!

Meanwhile, #12, A DISH TO DIE FOR will be out on August 9, but you can certainly pre-order it now!