Tuesday Tales: From the Word FRUIT

Welcome to this week’s Tuesday Tales. Each week, we provide a scene from our current manuscripts based on a word prompt. This week, the word is FRUIT. I’m continuing with my romance/suspense And Justice For All.

“This is just the latest face of terrorism, Maggie, and it’s aimed at us. Neo-Nazis and homegrown militias aren’t limited to any particular country anymore. We have our share of nut jobs, and they’re better organized and more powerful than we expected. Thanks to the Internet, it’s easy to find like-minded people. We believe that there’s a place on the dark web where you can take out a hit on a police officer anywhere in the country, although most have been killed in the Toronto-Montreal-Ottawa triangle.”

“You’re wrong,” she whispered. “You have to be. There were three teams of detectives on that day as well as half a dozen patrol cars. We weren’t supposed to be anywhere near that alley. There’s no way they knew who would answer the call.”

Lieutenant Morris harrumphed. “All it takes is a police scanner, Sutton, and they’re easy enough to get. Since we don’t know what the motive was, it’s possible any police officer or detective would’ve done. It seems that the officers killed were either women or men from visible minorities. Two of the three involved in the assassinations who survived were white males, like him.” He pointed to Harry. “You’re the third survivor, and my money says that was unintentional. If the guy was racist or misogynist, any female might’ve been as good as another.”

Maggie squared her shoulders and glared at them, two bright spots of red appearing on her wan cheeks. The lieutenant had been much blunter than Harry liked, but the man was right.

“You’re implying Cliff was killed because his mother was Mohawk, and they would’ve killed me just because I’m a woman. That’s ridiculous. How are we supposed to stop something like that? I’ve never considered myself a feminist, but I’m not ready to hide away in the kitchen for the rest of my life cooking, baking, and chopping up fruit to make fruit salad just because some man thinks that’s where I belong. I’m damn sure a large number of women feel the same way. As for the racism, homophobia, and the rest of it, when you peel away the skin, we all have the same bones underneath.”

Harry nodded. He’d always admired her wit, but this time, facts and logic wouldn’t be enough. “You’re right, but the fanatics don’t see it that way.”

Don’t forget to check out the other Tuesday Tales.