Sam
Winslow, the main character of my new novel, Exposure, a Coyote Canyon Mystery.
At age 27, he’s the youngest sheriff ever elected in Colorado. Sam decided on a
career in law enforcement by following in his father's footsteps. George
Winslow retired from the Colorado State Patrol and now lives in Arizona with
Sam’s mother, Ellen.
While
earning a degree in law enforcement, Sam first worked for a short time as a
hospital security guard, then for the college police department before being
hired as a supervisor at the Eagle Mountain Ski Resort in Coyote Canyon. From
there, he ran for sheriff and was elected. He is well respected by his deputies
and staff.
Sam
lives in his childhood home on a mountain overlooking Coyote Canyon.
Excerpt
from Exposure:
“Do
you know Richard Lucero?” Sam asked. He got a whiff of Sheehan’s foul body odor
and took a step back.
Sheehan
lit a cigarette. “He was a prick and a jerk. Always sticking his nose in where
it didn’t belong. He’s dead, right?”
“He
is.”
“We
worked together here in town and back in Placerville. What about him?” He blew
some out.
“I
understand he got you the job at Outfitters. Is that right?”
Sheehan
took another drag from the cigarette, then turned his head to blow the smoke
out. “Yeah.”
“I
also understand you two had an argument before his accident. What was that
about?” Sam asked.
“Oh,
it was nothing. Just something about a guided trip. He thought I’d scalped a
customer from him, but the guy had asked for me. We worked it out.” Sheehan
took another draw from this cigarette.
“That’s
not the way I heard it,” Sam said.
Sheehan
stood straighter. “Just who the hell said different?”
“You’ve
been in enough trouble to know that I can’t tell you that.”
“You’ve
checked me out? You think I had something to do with Rick’s murder, don’t you?
We’re done talking.” He turned toward the door.
“Who
said it was murder?” Sam asked.
Sheehan
stopped and turned back. “Everyone in town is saying he was murdered, but I
didn’t do it. I had nothing to do with it.”
“Where
were you that night?”
“When
did it happen?” Sheehan flicked his half-smoked cigarette out into the yard.
Sam
looked at where the cigarette landed, then turned back. “Saturday night, April
7.”
After
thinking for several seconds, Sheehan said, “I was at a bar in Cooke.”
Sam
took a small notebook out and jotted down a note. “Where do you work?”
“I’m
a night janitor at Eagle Mountain Resort.” Sheehan took a step to the edge of
the porch to spit.
“Do
you know anyone who would want to do harm to Lucero?”
“Nope.”
He walked back in front of his door.
“I
may have more questions for you later. Thanks for talking with me.”
“Whatever,”
Sheehan said, going back into the house.
Sam
walked back to his SUV. But first, he stopped in the yard to step on the
smoldering cigarette that Sheehan had discarded.
Carol