While driving to work at six a.m. last Saturday, I took a close look at the world around me. I had to. Driving at a normal speed was out of the question. After a week of daily snowfall, it had begun to rain the night before and roads were rapidly flooding all over the lower mainland. City workers hadn’t had time to clear the dirty, three-foot banks of snow away from the drains and enormous pools were forming.
I stayed in the fast lane to avoid the worst of the water, but hadn’t gone far before I saw that the lights had gone out in this section of town. There were no street lights, no traffic lights, and certainly no lights in anyone’s window. Instantly, Port Moody looked desolate. Ahead, I spotted a light-colored vehicle stopped at an odd angle. About the time I realized the car had been abandoned in deep water, I also realized that I was in the water. I kept moving and mercifully, my four-wheel RAV got me out safely.
More strange sights occurred along that drive until I reached Coquitlam, where the power was on. All day long, images of that abandoned car, the darkness and the water haunted me, so I did what I always do when images stay with me. I made notes. After all, that drive would make a pretty good opening for a noir mystery, don’t you think? Now all I have to do is come up with a plot to fit the scene.
To read excerpts of FATAL ENCRYPTION and TAXED TO DEATH, please visit www.debrapurdykong.com
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