Lou Paduano | Urban Fantasy Novels | Sci-Fi Crime Series

Spectral Advocate Bonus Part 1

By

The initial conception of the DSA brought with it bonuses for each story. A short story, a scripted deleted scene, and in the case of The Bridge there was The Grissom File. Spectral Advocate introduced Cal Cooper, but never went as far as explaining why he was in Bethesda in the first place (in the initial draft, that is).

Presented here, for the first time anywhere, is the original bonus story The Commitment. It explains Cal’s reason for being in the Bethesda area. I’ve never shown this to anyone.

A warning: I thought about editing the piece, fleshing it out and really tweaking the prose. Like I said, this comes from 2015 Lou, a much different soul than I am today (I hope). At the end of the day, I decided to let the story stand as it is.

Here is the first of three parts. I hope you enjoy it.

The Commitment Chapter One

Cal Cooper always wanted to visit Washington, DC. He was one of those kids that looked forward to the Pledge of Allegiance in the morning. A point of pride every time it passed his lips. Seeing the history involved, the pieces of the puzzle that built the country, was fascinating to him. Even the secrets. Especially the secrets.

Then he grew up. Slowly, at first, with the stumbling blocks of adolescence. The fading of innocence. Joy turning to cynicism. Dreams were the last to fade. Always the last. Dreams of visiting the capital took a back seat to college, to a career, and to life in general. When his family passed all dreams left him.

Then the call came.

Drew Roberts was an old client of Cal’s father. At least, that was how the relationship started. Friendship came out of it. Close at first then slowly distant as the years went by. Life again, infecting things. The last time Cal last saw the man, a good looking man with a thick beard, was at his college graduation party. His father was shopping him around as the next great attorney for the state of New York. A dismal nightmare that Cal was sad to unburden his father of soon after. Things were not the same between them after that.

Drew didn’t know any of that. Hell, he didn’t even know Cal’s father had passed when he reached out to him. The call came through a proxy line Cal had set up after he lost his family. A way to keep in touch with the people that had disappeared from their lives over the years. A catch-all for the lost friends, relationships, and more. It was also a way to hold onto his father’s voice a little longer, the last message being left by him before the end.

When Drew called, Cal dropped everything. The desperation in his voice was enough to signal the need behind the call. He had been distraught. Rambling about his wife. He was looking for advice. Cal offered more.

He offered help.

His offer brought him outside DC in a small suburb in Maryland. The home of Drew Roberts had been left in shambles over the years. A broken gutter swung loosely along the corner of the stained and cracked siding of the home. Chipped paint ran along the metal door, a deep red contrasted against the snow piled up on the small porch. It was not exactly the Lincoln Memorial or the White House tour Cal had dreamed of as a child. It was where he needed to be instead of where he wanted to be.

That was his life.

It was enough for Calvin Coolidge Cooper.

Taking a deep breath, letting the winter air fill his lungs – a saltier mixture than he was used to as a New Yorker – Cal moved for the door, stepping inside the vacant property.

He worked quickly upon entering. Placing his briefcase near the entrance to the large open space of the dining room, Cal found the folding table leaning against the peeling wallpaper. Webs lined the corners of the room. Dust covered the floor, the table, the chairs, everything. Wiping it lightly to remain quiet, Cal lifted the small folding table and opened it in the middle of the room. The legs creaked but he kept his movements slow and controlled to minimize the echoes through the large, empty domicile. Then the young attorney from Albany grabbed the two stacking chairs in the corner of the room. He wiped the first clean and opened it on the far side of the table before doing the same with his own.

Looking upon his work with satisfaction, Cal retrieved his briefcase and placed it on the table. The clasps came undone with the flick of a finger, yet he kept the case closed for the moment. Taking a deep breath, Cal sat down in the chair. Dust filled his nostrils and he fought back a sneeze. Everything had to be done right. The right way. The right timing.

Cal sat in the chair, tucking it close to the table. Daylight broke through the webs over the windows leading to the kitchen of the home. It offered a unique look into the home. A home that looked like it had seen love. Wall decorations, the markings on the wallpaper from old photos long since removed, even the small nicks along the railing leading upstairs all told the story of the Roberts home.

A story Cal was hoping to close before the end of the day.

Cal tapped the table. It was a solid, plastic tabletop. Sturdy. He raised his hands so they hovered a foot over the table before slamming them down at full speed. Once, twice, then a third. The sound echoing throughout the vaulted ceilings of the dining room and spreading outward to encompass the entire home. After the third impromptu knock, Cal settled back into the chair and waited.

Not for long.

Around the corner of the room she came. Slow, deliberate steps. Soundless in her bare feet, she entered from the living room on the far side of the table. A tight dress showed off her curves, small but prominent on her slight body. A trail of smoke followed her into the room, the cigarette held loosely between her fingers. Caryn Roberts, wife to Drew Roberts, looked beautiful in the daylight.

Beautiful and angry, looking at the strange man with the messy brown hair sitting in her home. “What do you want?”

Cal cleared his throat, trying to fix his tie along his chest. He pointed to the chair knowingly. “Mrs. Roberts? Caryn Roberts?”

“Yes?” she asked impatiently.

The young attorney nodded. “Cal Cooper. I was hoping to…”

“Leave,” she said, pointing to the door. The dark red door with the chipped paint and lack of weather stripping to block the cool breeze cutting through the home. Not that Caryn noticed, even in her revealing dress.

“I’m sorry?” Cal asked, unsure.

“This is my house,” Caryn continued, taking a drag of her cigarette between breaths. “You come in here like you own it.”

“I did knock,” Cal joked. It fell flat against the wide eyes of his host.

“Did I answer?”

“Good point,” Cal replied. He sat down despite the disdain on Caryn’s face. “If you could please join me for a moment, I might…”

Caryn moved for the table. Her steps were light but she made a show of them, dramatically taking her time to reach him. She leaned hard over the table, blowing the smoke from her cigarette into Cal’s face.

“Banker?”

Cal didn’t flinch, flashing a smile. “Lawyer.”

“Same difference,” Caryn snapped, before sitting across from him. She kept her legs crossed and the cigarette dangling from her lips. “Vultures.”

“I’ll be honest,” Cal said, smiling. “I’m not a very good one so try not to judge too harshly.”

Her eyes thinned. “This is the part where we share a laugh, right? We laugh. Then I sit and hear about whatever horrible news you’ve come to bring me. Is that it?”

Cal waited a long moment, mulling over the question. He played with his tie and slid his chair closer to the table. Relaxing, he nodded. “Mostly.”

Caryn took a drag, pulling the cigarette away as the smoke filled the air around her. “It’s been days.”

“Excuse me?” Cal asked, suddenly confused.

“This is about Drew, isn’t it? I haven’t seen him in days and now you come here.”

“Days?” The question escaped his lips before he knew it was formed. He felt his hands tense and the tie tighten against his neck. Letting them fall away to the table, he faked a smile to keep his host talking.

“I’ve started smoking again because of it,” Caryn Roberts continued, holding the cigarette in front of him. “He made me quit after our wedding. Wanted it sooner but planning a wedding without a fix? Might as well have blindfolded me and shot me out of a cannon to the altar for all the good I would have been. But he’s gone and there was this pack. The reminder pack, you know? The one that stares at you telling you that you beat this. You beat me. Be proud. Yeah, I won all right.”

“Mrs. Roberts,” Cal called out quietly.

“Caryn,” she waved him off. “Come with bad news, at least pretend to be someone who gives a crap about me. No one else seems to. Don’t remember the last time I’ve seen a friend around here. And Drew? You know him.”

“I did,” Cal confirmed with a nod. His eyes remained on the table. “A friend of my father.”

She smiled at that. A quick smile that faded, pointing hard at him. “Talks about Drew well, I hope. Always hated friends that talked ill behind his back.”

“Actually, no,” Cal said. He caught her stare, holding it for a long moment. “My father’s dead.”

Caryn looked away quickly. “Just like my Drew.”

Cal shook his head. “I’m sorry, Caryn, but…”

“How did it happen?” she asked forcefully. “Why are you the first to tell me? The police should have…”

“Caryn,” Cal interrupted. His hands were clasped tight in front of him.

She refused to stop, puffing hard on the cigarette. “I felt it, you know? When he left me. So just tell me already. Tell me he’s dead, so I can…”

“He’s not.”

“What?” her eyes blinked hard at the statement. “Drew? He’s…”

“Not dead,” Cal repeated. His tongue ran along the back of teeth. He took short breaths, hesitant to continue yet completely aware it was too late to walk away now. Not after the call from Drew Roberts. Not after what Cal learned about Caryn. “Right. I’m sorry. I thought you’d understand what this was about by now.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Caryn yelled. He had worn out the little bit welcome he had been extended by the well-dressed woman. “Understand what?”

“Drew’s not dead. You are.”

Spectral Advocate Author Commentary 5

By

The Spectral Advocate author commentary continues this week with a look at Megan Daniels, the sinister threat behind the Specter in the novel. Whoops. Guess I should have led with the SPOILER WARNING!

Building the threat of Megan Daniels

Figuring out the villain for a story is one of the pure joys of writing. There are few tasks more gratifying than developing someone multi-faceted, yet truly twisted at heart. With Spectral Advocate, I knew the physical threat would always be the Specter. Nothing would come close to that level of terror.

But I wanted to try anyway.

On a purely psychological level, I wanted Megan Daniels to be a totally sympathetic character who simply goes too far. We’ve all been pushed into a corner, but how often do we push back to the point of, oh, let’s say, murder? (Don’t answer that, you’ll only incriminate yourself!)

Megan has a legit beef with Abigail Winslow/Hunt. She abandoned Megan’s husband the night of his death. If she had been present, they both might be dead, sure, but there was always the chance of their survival as well.

The first interaction

It’s still a favorite scene of mine in the book. Okay, there are quite a few in this one (the comic book store, of course, as well as the battle in Ben’s bedroom, to name a couple) but introducing Megan Daniels was a challenge I enjoyed. She needed to exude innocence and did so by leaning on the widow aspect of her life. She yearns for her husband, but doesn’t come off as needy, simply lonely due to the tragedy of Steven’s death.

I was worried about this scene. The reason was simple: I didn’t have another one with a different potential killer. Everything fell on Megan Daniels, and I was worried people would see right through the chapter and know she was the killer.

Every draft brought with it more desire to layer in red herrings. A boss, a co-worker, a secret lover, yet everything felt like a distraction from the main plot. Her inability to let go of the past mirrored that of both Cal and Ben, which I felt was more crucial to explore than anything else in the novel.

After the usual back and forth with myself, I left it alone and hoped no one saw through to the end too quickly.

Megan Daniels revealed

I’ve listed a couple favorite scenes in the book already, but the end of Chapter Twenty-Three remains one of the best images in the entire season. I still close my eyes and see Megan’s dead eyes staring at Ben and Cal, while pointing toward the door with her husband’s ghost hovering overhead.

“Show our guests out, would you, dear?”

It still brings me chills.

Influences

I might have mentioned this in the past, but of all Peter Jackson’s incredible work on the screen, my favorite film of his remains The Frighteners.

Jeffrey Combs, Michael J. Fox, Jake Busey, Dee Wallace, and so many other incredible talents worked on this movie. Dee Wallace, especially, helped bring Megan Daniels to life in Spectral Advocate. Not so much for the crazed mania she portrayed as Patricia Bradley, but with how attached she remained to Johnny Bartlett. They could not be apart, and that aspect I felt was key for Megan in Spectral Advocate.

It’s a freaking phenomenal movie. I might be the only one on the planet that thinks so. (Or so my wife believes…) You should check it out.

Next:

The never-before-seen bonus story I wrote back in 2015 that delves into Cal Cooper’s visit to Bethesda.

Spectral Advocate Author Commentary 4

By

Welcome back to another look at Spectral Advocate. As with the other author commentary pieces, there will be spoilers so watch out! This time I’m talking about the subplot threads in the book and the constantly changing team dynamics.

Team Dynamics

I’ve always said I like to play with the team when it comes to the DSA. For me, there is nothing more fun than seeing how the main cast handles their interactions with each other and with the randoms they come across. It is infinitely more satisfying to write a Lincoln/Sullivan exchange than yet another briefing from Zac to the entire department, because those types of exchanges don’t occur regularly, so they have to pack a lot of punch.

In my mind, I’ve always viewed the DSA as starring Ben Riley and Morgan Dunleavy. Everyone else is a supporting character behind these two leads. They are my Mulder and Scully. Everything centers around them.

Looking back on Season One, I find it funny to see that, though they might be my leads for the DSA, they really weren’t together a whole helluva lot. My personal memory imagined them together constantly, yet reading through the first season, only Promethean so far has had the two of them as primaries on a case.

It’s weird how the mind remembers things.

This was, of course, by design to some extent. In The Bridge, I needed the cast isolated and dealing with their own problems. Spectral Advocate, though, opened the door for Ben to feed off someone new. (Not to mention someTHING new as discussed last time.) I thought it was important, again, to keep Ben isolated especially in light of Abigail Winslow’s clear deception with the DSA. She was brought in to spy on Ben, but he couldn’t possibly know by whom.

That level of distrust made it easier for him to want to handle things solo.

But what about Morgan?

I’m not going to delve into her sexy time with Zac. (That’s for a different forum.)

Her time tracking down Lincoln, though, is something I thought was very important to develop for the series. Lincoln, since Promethean, has been M.I.A. in his search for the Witness. For me, subplots work best when there are touchstones to the main plot and/or main cast. You’ll see that again during Season Two, Book Three.

Bringing Lincoln and Morgan together again cemented the importance of his search and everything he had learned up to that point. He is carrying this massive weight, knowing what the Witness has seen with the DSA and the threat against them. Instead of questioning that knowledge, Lincoln hangs onto it like a lifeline.

Motivation was the key.

His motivation comes from grief over Ruth’s loss.

Morgan’s comes from somewhere else completely. Her rage at the Witness for Bellbrook puts her at odds with Lincoln immediately, something she never thought possible.

I really wanted to pull at the DSA cast. With each book, I want them questioning everything, even themselves. That’s where the true heart of the series comes from–through these relentless tests and situations no one could possibly understand.

Morgan, blinded by rage for the Witness’ crimes, can’t support Lincoln’s decisions. And Lincoln, lost to grief, can’t see any other way to move forward. The Witness is his only path in his eyes. That separation really sold the tension between them in the junkyard scenes.

Unintended consequences

Every choice needs weight. The scenes developed in these subplots were opportunities to give the cast a chance at redemption and to show the reader why some didn’t take that chance.

Building these moments, layering in the tension and the conflict behind the main plot, are some of my fondest memories from Season One. I wracked my brain with each one, wanting more and more from the characters, and they absolutely delivered.

Spectral Advocate Author Commentary 3

By

The author commentary for Spectral Advocate continues with a look at the strange paranormal angle used in the book. Here is your warning for spoilers!

Diving into the paranormal

The DSA was designed to handle scientific anomalies. That has always been the basis of the series, and when I look to build a new book that is where I start. With Spectral Advocate, I wanted to upend the board to do something completely different.

Why? A few reasons, really.

The first was discussed last week when talking about Cal Cooper and the potential spinoff available to tell his tale. I didn’t want to work on a second series dealing with something the DSA should be handling. It needed to be unique to justify its existence.

Another reason was to take the series out of its comfort zone. Tossing characters into new situations is fun and exciting. It creates a level of tension that maybe you haven’t been able to generate or builds a new layer into the character.

That was the angle I took with Ben being thrown into this ghost hunt/murder mystery. He is a cop at heart, using logic to handle problems. How can he do any of that when dealing with the dead? Tossing Ben into the deep end of a new world was an absolute selling point to me for that very reason. Seeing how he had to justify actions taken by the dead made the book for me.

The final and best reason? I really like ghost stories. Which is strange, since scary movies frighten the hell out of me and I can’t watch them. But something about that world speaks to me. I really hope to dive deeper into it with Cal someday.

Was it too much?

I always worry about this. True, the final decisions are mine to make, but I am always looking at the series from a reader’s perspective. Was the paranormal nature of the story too far from the beaten path? Absolutely. Was that the point of the book for Ben and for Cal? Absolutely.

Ben’s choice over all others.

It came down to Ben, as it should. He could have walked away and let the police handle things. He could have told Cal to get the hell away from him. Instead, he looked to solve the murder of a woman who was spying on him. That really helped define Ben for me. His drive for answers despite knowing NOTHING about anything (seriously, ever) makes him so relatable. He simply tries to help because he can.

The truth about the title

I love the title. It might be the best one I’ve ever managed to come up with. Was it always Spectral Advocate?

Nope.

It was… WAIT FOR IT…

Ghosts.

Super original, right? So glad I took another stab at it.

Spectral Advocate Author Commentary 2

By

The author commentary for Spectral Advocate continues! This installment takes a closer look at the newest addition to the DSA’s world: Cal Cooper. SPOILER WARNING is in effect!

Who is Cal Cooper?

I love guest stars. Watching television dramas growing up, it was always a treat when the main character(s) were able to play off someone new–some guest to their world who brought with them a unique problem to be solved.

Cal Cooper was my attempt to really sell the wider world to the reader. With all the focus on scientific anomalies and government conspiracies, Spectral Advocate allowed me to open the doors to new ideas and more bizarre threats.

Cal is the Spectral Advocate, a lawyer with the uncanny ability to look through the veil to see the ghostly plane. That dichotomy really sold the character for me. Here was a guy working firmly in the natural world. He’s rational, believing firmly in the law, yet there’s this other side of things. He can see ghosts and interact with them.

The first potential spin-off

When I originally put together my plan for the DSA, I did so with the intention of creating a broader universe of stories. DSA was the spine for this shared universe. Each season I hoped to introduce some element that might spin out from the DSA into something new.

Cal Cooper, Spectral Advocate, was the first. His story may start here (what will eventually – hopefully – be considered Book 0 of his tale) but there is so much more to tell.

What other spin-off’s are in the works? Look no further than Season Two, Book Three. (Hint, hint)

One of my favorite characters

I tell people all the time about my love for Cal Cooper. His story has been locked in my brain for almost a decade now. One of these days I’m going to get the chance to write it all down.

Why haven’t I?

Not enough people have reached out. I swore I would not write the first Spectral Advocate novel until a certain number of people demanded more.

Six books of his series are scripted, if you can believe that. They have been since 2016. Every once in a while, I get the itch and read through them. They still hold up, even after all these years.

Maybe someday I’ll be able to bring his world back and finish his story. You tell me if that’s something you would enjoy.

Spectral Advocate Author Commentary 1

By

Welcome to the author commentary for Spectral Advocate, the fourth book in the DSA series. I love giving background info on my books, so if there is ever anything you want covered, please don’t hesitate to reach out. SPOILER WARNING is in effect, as I will be discussing what happens in the book.

Let the author commentary begin!

The opening sequence

I’m going to be honest right now. Looking back through Spectral Advocate over the last few days, I did not remember the opening chapter. AT ALL. It actually surprised me that it was there. I always thought the story opened with the scream from Abigail Winslow’s apartment. There’s a reason for that:

That was how the book started in the original draft.

Ben’s childhood, his fear of ghosts, did not exist in that original rendition of the story. Even most of the second chapter didn’t, as the scream was the initial line in the book, and everything ran from there.

So where did the flashback scene come from and why keep it?

If you’ve read the book, you are no doubt aware of the role Ben’s father plays in the background. The big reveal at the end, where Cal Cooper has been seeing Ben’s father this whole time repeating the same phrase of “I’m sorry” over and over again doesn’t get the impact it deserves without the opening sequence.

Symmetry gets thrown around a lot when putting together a novel. Circling back to the beginning definitely strengthens a narrative on a thematic level. That was the reason behind the childhood flashback. Not only would it introduce Ben’s fear of ghosts, something he would have to face in the climax of the novel, but it also played on the dynamic between Ben and his father.

Kenneth Riley has been a figure mentioned briefly previously. This was a chance to build on that, and also foreshadow the revelations to come in Dark Impulses. Even Ben’s conversation with Cal in Chapter Sixteen doesn’t play the same without the flashback at the start of the novel, so that was why it came about and why it stayed.

“I’m sorry.”

I love this moment. It’s nice and ambiguous, leaving the reader to draw their own conclusions about what Kenneth is apologizing for. What has he done to his son that he now haunts him with nothing but regret?

The answers might be in Dark Impulses, or is there something more to it? I’m not saying anything on that front. You’ll have to wait and see.

The better opening

This is something I’ve been thinking about since revisiting the book for this commentary. Overall, I think the original opening focusing strictly on the scream and the situation was probably stronger. Could the flashback have been included somewhere else? Maybe while Ben is waiting for his coffee across from his apartment?

These are the kinds of questions that keep me up at night. I could second guess myself to death over every detail included, or erased, or revised, from the books, but then nothing would ever get published.

The flashback served a purpose and set the tone of the novel. That held its own importance, and I’m glad to have it in the book.

Next up: Cal Cooper!

Disclaimer: Links throughout this site may be affiliate links. All commission earned through these links go to Eleven Ten Publishing to produce more books for your reading pleasure.

You can view our privacy policy here.

Recent Posts