Excerpt from my newest novel, Under A Covered Sky

Mark Lawson drove along the two-lane highway. The asphalt flowed under the tires, and his headlights reached for the tree-lined curve ahead. Maddie was by his side, and Faith sat in the rear seat. At seven years old, their daughter was beyond a booster seat and very proud of that fact. They had spent the day at the lake. Happy and tired, they were on the way back home, and once again Mark gave thanks that a woman as beautiful and warm as Madelyn thought him worthy. He concentrated on the road ahead and kept his speed down for safety. A flash of light in his driver’s side mirror made him look over his shoulder to see a sneering black shadow far too close. 


Mark turned the wheel and veered right. The right front tire crunched deeply into the gravel beside the two-lane road and pulled their vehicle into a skid. He turned the wheel, trying to stop the inevitable, and the roof of their car rang off the pavement as they rolled. 


The ringing kept on until he opened his eyes with his hands in the air in front of him, twisting an imaginary steering wheel in a failed attempt to prevent what had already occurred. Groggy from lack of sleep and regretting his late-night binge with a vodka bottle, he flailed out to pick up his cell phone on the table beside the couch. 


“What?” he said. “This had better be important.” 


There was no answer. He shook his head to clear his vision and regretted it as the pounding between his temples intensified. The ringing continued. It was the doorbell. He slowly got up and shuffled to the front door.


“Hold on. Okay, who is it?” 


Mark opened the door, and late morning sunlight dazzled his eyes.