I feel like I shouldn't just come out and say what I'm doing when I am caught taking photos of crevices at the stores I walk through. I'm over there in the lawn and garden area of my local Home Depot, and I'm taking photos of places that are out of the way, perhaps hidden by a big bulky pallet of bricks or bird feed. In the book one of the characters allows people to hide their (what we will call evidence) wares for a price. The price she charges isn't money. She asks them to provide the feed or the sawdust she needs to feed her livestock or to redress their stalls. If the supplies for these locations in her barn dwindle and their wares are seen where they could be found, well then, so be it. It's then up to the supplier to keep her grain-happy and saw-dust-aplenty!
I shouldn't just explain myself when I'm asked by the manager or a curious employee what it is that I'm doing. I should be coy and say I'm an artist or something, and I like to paint the scenes others pass by and never see. I suppose I could also say something like, "I'm about to dispose of a body I've just found lying about my house. I think it would be more interesting if it were found here." No, I can't do that. I'm not that mean and I don't want to face criminal charges for being flippant! The truth is, I'm a writer, and I do have a body to dispose of. I haven't exactly worked out the how, when, where, or why of the murder, but that's just murder. I need to find a way (or ways) to keep the legal wolves at bay!
Today, at Home Depot, I found Lyme, other liquids, and chemicals I could use in a pit or something. I found bird feed, bricks, concrete, sand, and other semi-solids that would be helpful. I could do what they did to the body of Elmer McCurdy, and pour a yard of concrete on top of the body - - maybe level off a sidewalk or a new porch. That would work if the character just purchased a new place and thought he/she needed to spruce it up a bit. Maybe I'll think of a way to do that in the country, but right now the body in question is just a piece of a body; the majority of it has already been...disposed of, and may I say, it will not be found. (CLUE!)
There are certain instruments that could be found and connected with the body parts. One would think throwing them into the lochs would be the best way to dispose of them, but perhaps dissembling them first would be better. Then again, if a young boy out fishing were to find just a piece of a saw blade without the handle, it could bring questions. If he were just to find the entire blade with the handle, it may only seem to have been dropped from a boat out on the loch perhaps, nothing to see here folks. Cleavers are good. No one suspects a cleaver in a kitchen to be anything except a cleaver in a kitchen. Sawblades without handles in the loch? No, it may be too risky indeed (and in deed).
I found grills too. I found lighter fluid. I found matches. I found shovels and rocks, bricks, and screens that could be used to build an outdoor fire pit. Did they have big grills in the 1930s? I'll need to research how a family would enjoy an outdoor meal (or twelve) were they to find the need (even the necessity) to fire up the charcoals. Can charcoal be used for other uses? I'm told it can whiten your teeth and more importantly, bind toxins or poisons in your gut if you've been slipped something dangerous. Would someone need a medical license to obtain activated charcoal in 1930? Was it even activated at that time? I'll need to read up on that as well. I found bags of the Kingsford brand on my Home Depot shelves. Was it in a hardware store in Chicago, New York, or Edinburgh in 1930? Maybe.
I found Master brand padlocks. How long have they been around? Would they have been made solely of brass? I just read that in 1919 an American named Harry Soref invented the padlock from layers of steel in order to secure military belongings and supplies. Before the lock, he created a Master Key, a skeleton-type key, but he wanted a lock that couldn't be picked by his own invention. A thinking man, that one. So, the Master Lock will play a part in my book. Soref was from Wisconsin, which is not so far from Chicago. Nick may have met Mrs. Soref at a military ball, you just never know. The Navy Pier is there you know, in Chicago! A Master Lock demonstration perhaps? We'll see.
It's so much fun to build and bring forth the characters in these books. I'm using the Perry Mason style of writing (author Erle Stanley was a master for sure) and I'll make sure to give credit where credit is due. Though a bit on the sarcastic and cheesy side, I love it, and I will use it when I can. Tongue in cheek is not beyond me. I live for the chance to use double meanings, innuendo, and clever wordage. I am NOTHING if not wordsy, and artsy-fartsy while being wordsy. It must be. It must be because it is in fact being written by me, and that is the only way I know how to present anything - - if you don't like it, you can always donate your copy! (Just as long as you buy one, that's all I care about. Just kidding. I want you to like it, too.)
What else did I find? I found hand tools. I found hammers, ball, claw, you name it. I found them. I found power tools, but there weren't many if any in 1930, so I'll stick with the basics. I think that's one point I love about these books, they will all be without many modern luxuries, and even the toilets will be crude at times. Think about it, when you make an outhouse you dig a hole. No one is going to go digging in that hole later, are they? Wouldn't it be a great place to stash a body, or maybe just part of a body? Maybe? Would it be so bad if I filled it up with concrete to seal it later? You know so that no one smells anything? Maybe?
I found fencing, wood, chain, metal, and wire. I found spools of wire. I found gloves, pliers, clamps, and vices. I found tool boxes, bags, places to store tools, and since there weren't really any scheduled garage pick-ups in those days, (people mainly burned their garage) I found a few garden spades. Garden spades would be of greater use if they were used to dig small holes in the side of a hill or moor. Small tools can do a lot of damage in the hands of a small tools expert; wouldn't you say?
I had fun. That's for sure. I ended up going to the mall, to the library, to the grocery store, and to an open farmers market today. One thing I had to do, something that wasn't available in the 1930s for sure; I hit up Target's Back to School sale and picked up 12 composition notebooks for .50 cents each! I LOVE this time of year. I bought index cards, pens, highlighters, and a binder to put my notebooks in. Yeah, I'm old school. I like to write things out first, then write them out using the keyboard. I think working with the pen works my brain - - I know this, when I'm writing quickly I'm thinking quickly. I have to physically slow my hand down in order to think of finer details - - are you like that too?
Write something. Find out.
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