We are delighted to be sharing an excerpt from Marie Force’s In The Air Tonight, which releases on September 24th 2024, so read on to discover the synopsis first and then an excerpt!
I wasn’t supposed to be there that night, but my friend Sienna talked me into going to the party in Land’s End so she could spy on her boyfriend. While hiding out in the woods, we witnessed an unspeakable crime. And we did everything wrong afterward.
Connections run deep in our small town.
I was pressured into keeping my mouth shut, even though every part of me objected. I assumed I’d always do the right thing in any situation. I was wrong about that and a lot of other things.
I was wrecked by what I saw and how the victim was treated by kids I’d known all my life. I’ve been sick over it ever since, even as I moved on, far away from the town where I was raised.
Fourteen years later, I learn that the guy who committed that unspeakable crime is running for Congress, and something in me snaps.
I can’t bear the weight of that knowledge for another second.
Finally, I report what I saw, and all hell breaks loose for me and others who were at that long-ago party. Some of them will do whatever it takes to keep the truth from coming to light…even if they have to kill me.
In the midst of an epic battle, a new love gives me the strength to stay strong, to fight for my life and to right a terrible wrong.
EXCERPT
“Hey, Mom.” After kicking off my sneakers, I drop my bag on the sofa. It’s got my laptop and the heels I wear at the theater where I spend my days.
“I’m so glad you answered, sweetheart. I tried you yesterday but got your voicemail.”
I’ve told her—many times—I never check my voicemail and she should text me if she wants to chat, but she’s never gotten the hang of texting. My siblings and I have tried to teach her. She says she has a mental block. I say she couldn’t be bothered. “What’s going on?”
“Teagan is pregnant again.”
I’m shocked. My sister has four children under the age of seven. “Wow. Four wasn’t enough?”
“I guess not. She’s so happy. I could hear it in her voice when she called to share the news. Doug has a big new job that allows her stay home with the kids. She’s thrilled to be a full-time mom now.”
“I’m glad for her. That’s a lot to juggle with a job.”
“It was too much, and the daycare bills were sucking up most of her salary anyway.”
“I’ll text her to say congrats.”
“I know she’d love to hear from you.”
I hear the sadness in my mother’s voice. How could I not? It’s been there since the day I left home and never looked back. My family has asked over the years why I never come home, even for holidays I used to enjoy. I haven’t been able to provide an answer that satisfies them. This is what works for me. Staying away from there, from the memories, has made it possible for me to have a life of purpose without guilt swallowing me whole.Since I left for college nearly thirteen years ago, I’ve been home once—when my father died suddenly.
I’ve always been certain that if I go back there for any length of time, my carefully constructed house of cards will come crashing down.
My mother chats on about people I barely remember, kids I grew up with who are now parents many times over, her friends’ grandchildren and other gossip from home.
“Was Ryder Elliott your year or Arlo’s?”
The bottom drops out of my world at the mention of that name.
Ryder Elliott.
“Blaise? Hello? Are you there?”
I swallow hard. “I’m here. What did you say?”
“Was Ryder your year? Or Arlo’s?”
All the spit in my mouth is gone, and I’m right back in the woods on the night that changed everything. The scent of woodsmoke is forever tied to that night as is the Steve Miller song “Jet Airliner.”
“I, uh, my year,” I somehow manage to say.
“He’s running for Congress. Can you believe that kids you went to school with are now doing things like that?”
A roar overtakes me, so loud it drowns out every thought in my head. “No.”
“What? Did you say something, honey?”
I’m screaming to myself. No, no, no, no. He’s running for Congress? Oh no. No, he is not.
That cannot happen. Something about those words, he’s running for Congress, tips me over an edge I’ve hovered on for fourteen long years. I can’t stay there another second.
I remember every detail of that night as if it happened five minutes ago. It’s as vivid to me now as it was then, unlike other things that’ve faded into the ether.
“Mom?”
“You’re scaring me, Blaise. What’s wrong?”
“I’m coming home.
