Too Good To Be True

by C.M. West

About the Author: C.M. West is a pseudonym for two artists who spent years spinning dark tales on desolate road trips together until they collaborated in writing crime fiction. They live together in San Francisco and are working on a series of novels and short stories featuring artist and amateur sleuth, Tru Jameson.

Excerpt

Mostly naked and shivering in my underwear, I contemplated the dark river below. The same choppy waves were behind Evie when we’d last talked, right before trouble found her (and it always did). Although the circus entrance was just yards downstream, walking through the front door wasn’t a remote possibility. Lights made sparkling constellations on the surface of the watery abyss. I noticed crude strips of wood, meant for emergency ladders, were nailed to the dock supports but the swelling tide gave me second thoughts on my absurd plan. I’d left my clothes in a heap on the dock and wrapped the photo and knife into the black leather mask. Parcel clutched in my fist, a thunder of applause exploded into the night as I dove into the black water. I told myself it was for Evie, but was I making another huge mistake?

“Call me inflexible, Evie, but participating in a contortionist’s orgy was never on my bucket list.” I grinned into the camera lens on my phone.

“Not funny.”

Typically, she would’ve laughed. Evie hadn’t called for weeks, since she’d left town to join a traveling circus. I came to a standstill on the trail. She’d texted during my evening run and I called her back on FaceTime just to lay eyes on her again, if only for a few minutes.

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