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Jul 14, 2023Liked by C.J. Stone

Whoooooooooaaaaa! Noooooooooo! Dude, my face actually kind of hurts from the huge ear-to-ear grin that I held for several seconds practically every time Beth spoke during this chapter. She literally was NOT scared to tell Lockheed off, like Book #2; very amusing.

And dang, Howard Vincent did a great job of saving himself there. Implying there was a mole without specifying who, to potentially throw everyone off his trail......crafty. Then again, Olivia Lockheed should now have those suspicions in her head, right? That there may have been a spy/mole at the meeting? Vincent single-handedly cowed her into withholding evidence (i.e., the guns) that could’ve cracked the case......fantastic. It would’ve taken me a way longer time to come up with that idea. xD

I know there’s no reasonable way (at the moment) that Olivia Lockheed should know that Beth Harper is Sapphire Angel. But could you imagine how much of a wham line that ending line would’ve been if she said “Now we can talk.....Sapphire Angel”? I’d practically be banging my head against the wall until Monday waiting for the next chapter!

I guess on the surface, Beth’s remarks were meant to be both humorous and awesome at the same time; like, she’s not scared to tell the harsh truths and deck the authorities for not doing a proper job, but I also felt bad for Olivia ‘cause Beth doesn’t know her (Olivia’s) full story. She doesn’t know that Olivia is plagued by insecurity due to a lack of parental approval and the fact that she turned out to be a girl and not a boy, which disappointed her father. She doesn’t know that Olivia desperately feels this need to be “in charge” or “in control” ‘cause that’s what makes her feel useful/valuable. In her eyes, if she doesn’t have authority, she’s nothing. And I can’t imagine that seeing Sapphire upstage her and the FBI’s performance is helping to alleviate those feelings.

Instead of asking “Hey, why are you like this?” Beth just immediately resorts to snarking at her first and finding other things out later. Gave me a small round of PTSD flashbacks from bullies in high school, but we won’t get into that. Maybe if/when Beth finds out, that’s when we can get a Sapphire/FBI partnership. Highly doubt it, though......Olivia seems too far gone.

Wavering towards Olivia’s side a bit, now that we know why she is the way she is.

Both of them sucked! ......But that changes, right? ......Right?

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I think that's a good point — I always try in real life, but sometimes fail, to remember that underneath some unpleasant emotions/behavior can be a person hurting for one reason or another. But I think Lockheed's repeated actions and behavior would be too much for just about anyone, such as Beth.

With Vincent, I can't remember what was going through my head when I first wrote this chapter. I know I wanted to show Lockheed's domineering ways over someone other than just Beth, which this meeting helped do. I think I may have initially planned for her to share info about the guns at the meeting, but then it didn't fit with where I had the story going, but I otherwise liked the scene, so ended up here. But I could be remembering that incorrectly.

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