Stories of Tie Up Games

The sun has shifted since Erica first arrived.
The angle of the light in Room 314 is softer now, gilded and oblique, falling across the linoleum floor in long gold ribbons.

Elisa sleeps, draws shallow breaths.
One hand is curled like a question mark on the thin hospital blanket.

Erica hasn't ...

Dear @LunaDog, maybe Elisa will tell us more what brought her from Bolivia to Scarsdale in one of her lucid moments.

She passes the front desk, gives Elisa's name. The receptionist nods and makes a call. Within minutes, a tall man in scrubs and a navy fleece jacket approaches her with the calm gait of someone who has walked this floor a thousand times.
Late forties, maybe fifty, with thinning dark-blond hair and ...

Dear @LunaDog, indeed, doing what she believes her parents would have wanted her to do.

Dear @LunaDog, to say that Erica isn't on best terms with the woman is putting it mildly. We'll find out more in tomorrow's episode.

Claire Messner looks up from her desk just as Erica steps out of her office, coat draped over one arm, handbag slung over one shoulder, her expression carved from stone.
"Are you okay, Erica?" she asks gently, a note of concern threading through her voice.

Erica pauses, as if the question pulled ...

Dear @LunaDog, I promise, you will learn more about their relationship soon.

Late morning light slants through floor-to-ceiling windows, casting sharp geometric shadows across the office suite on the 25th floor of Sinclair & Associates in that sleek steel-and-glass tower on Park Avenue.

The hum of Manhattan pulses outside - distant sirens, the muted thunder of traffic - but ...

Dear readers,
Erica Sinclair's journey isn't over. Please allow me to invite you over to her new adventure "Erica Sinclair - Family Ties": https://tugstories.blog/viewtopic.php?t=24241

Also, please let me thank you for being such a sincere crowd.
When I started writing these stories back in the ...

When called upon to take care of her aging aunt, Erica Sinclair does not only have to deal with her own mistakes, but also with shady characters taking advantage of other people’s vulnerabilities. She learns that some battles are not won in the courtroom, but in the heart.

https://i.ibb.co ...

Epilogue:

The sky above Arlington is steel-gray – neither mournful nor forgiving. Just still.

Erica walks alone.

Her moccasins whisper along the path, the only sound in the hush of the morning.
There’s a light breeze, just enough to stir the rows of tiny flags and carry the scent of fresh-cut ...

Dear LunaDog , thank you for the praise. It took a while to train the AI so it has Erica's look, posture and the surroundings down, but now the images start looking kind of alright.
I'm not sure if I'll be able to illustrate all future stories as richly as I did with "Trek of Tears" due to the time ...

Alone again except for two kittens snoring softly in their bed, Erica sits on the couch, curled up in the corner like a woman not ready to re-enter the world just yet.
The kitchen is silent now.
Dishes rinsed.
Counters wiped down.
Even the washing machine hums only like background static.

In her ...

Dear LunaDog , initially just a side character in the stories, Claire Messner has become more and more important and she has grown into a favorite with many readers. For Erica and Claire, their relationship as employer and employee might still be keeping them from calling each other friends, but we ...

LaGuardia greets her with its usual chaos, but this time, no flashing lights part the sea of honking yellow cabs.
Her new driver doesn’t speak.
He just drives, weaving silently through traffic with a grim efficiency that suits the mood.

By the time they pull up in front of 135 West 72nd, the sun ...

Dear @LunaDog, no worries. I appreciate your constructive feedback. It helps me improve my writing and take it to the next level.

Dear @LunaDog, I will use it in my stories as well as it is the appropriate way to address Erica.

Dear LunaDog , thank you so much for bringing this up. You know that I put a lot of work into creating an authentic and realistic atmosphere with my stories and when I changed from "Miss" to "Mrs.", I fully overlooked that in the USA there also is the "Ms." (pronounced "Mizz"), appropriate for a ...

This needs to continue. I'd love to know if Lena gets released.

Awesome!

Greaves pours the coffee, his movements unhurried. He doesn’t offer cream or sugar this time. Instead, he glances back at her as he sets the mug down.
“Say, Mrs. Sinclair,” he begins, the tone conversational, but something sharp glints beneath the surface. “Have you ever considered working for the ...

Dear LunaDog , Erica is unmarried - has not been married - and is without a boyfriend. I stopped calling her "Miss Sinclair" a while ago when I figured that a woman of 35 is a little too old to be called "Miss". Is that a mistake on my part? In Germany we have given up the distinction between Miss ...

Dear @LunaDog, Erica has the evidence, Greaves the big gun backing him up and Hartwell is forced to accept the decision.
This might end well after all.

A long beat passes before Greaves speaks again, voice low and composed, but edged with something harder now - something real.
“Please sit, Mrs. Sinclair.”
She hesitates. Not out of fear - but calculation.

“Your investigation has raised questions that neither this Department - nor Mrs. Hartwell ...

Dear @LunaDog, she who speaks the truth should ride a fast horse. We'll find out tomorrow, though.
Hang on.