Drafting “Collateral Death” – A Work in Progress

By J. KUSHLEY, Council-Appointed Author |

Six months since the Council decided I was the man to turn an investigation into a publishable book, the manuscript of Collateral Death exists — in fragments, revisions, and dozens of slightly different versions of the same paragraph.
Some days it looks like progress. Other days it looks like evidence that no one should ever write anything down while angry, tired, or supervised.

It’s not a book yet.
It’s a standoff on paper.

Detective Hoover — G.B. still his preferred name for me, which I now choose to interpret as professional shorthand — insists the text should reflect “how things actually were.” I agree. Then he explains, in detail, why I’ve said it wrong.

We work differently. He reconstructs truth from contradictions; I construct contradictions until they feel like truth. Between us lies the gap where the story lives — a sort of British noir mystery that refuses to behave like one.

Writing about Bellwick means writing about weather, silence, and the kind of grief that files its own paperwork. It’s not a cheerful setting for a psychological thriller, but it’s real. The town never plays along — which, of course, is why he stays.

The case itself is harder to corral. Every version of it changes who’s responsible. Some facts whisper. Others shout. Chloe’s absence does both.

I keep asking him if he thinks the book will make any difference. He says it depends on what survives the editing. Then he adds, “Nice shoes today, by the way,” which is as close to encouragement as I’m likely to get.

So yes, the work continues. Drafts arrive, vanish, reappear with bite marks. The Council applauds our “productive tension.” They have no idea how accurate that phrase is.

When the time comes to release the first excerpts to subscribers, I hope they read between the bureaucratic lines. That’s where Bellwick hides. That’s where the truth usually does.

— J. Kushley