Read an exclusive excerpt from the newest Pete Fernandez mystery
Alex Segura is a busy man.
Check that out below, along with an exclusive excerpt fromBlackout.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY:Blackoutis your fourth Pete Fernandez novel.
Credit: Robert Kidd; Polis Books
Petes journey, in particular, has been a significant one.
For starters, he quits drinking, which then leads him to start rebuilding the relationships that he destroyed.
Im always learning about Pete, and the writing ofBlackoutwas no exception.
Polis Books
The book starts with a flashback to Petes high school days.
But Petes a complete mess, and botches the case in spectacular fashion.
It becomes one of the things that haunts Pete the most, and he cant seem to shake it.
He let this girl down.
He blames himself and his destructive, drunken behavior for not being able to do right by this person.
How does it tie into the Patty Morales case and this murderous cult?
Those are the questionsBlackoutanswers and more.
Also, being from Miami, I see the town differently.
How do you balance your crime fiction with your duties as co-president of Archie Comics?
I have a lot of gratitude.
In terms of the differences between comics and novels, I think the big thing is time and collaboration.
And each of those steps involves someone else interpreting what the previous people did, to varying degrees.
The artist takes the writers script and visualizes it, for example.
Theres no passing the baton.
Both are really creatively fulfilling in different ways.
I make playlists for each novel.
How is that even possible?
He yanked out the headphones that were blasting OasisDefinitely Maybealbum.
Hed hoped to get through his Saturday cleanup duty unnoticed.
He tried to avoid her eyes.
But it ended there.
They didnt hang out after school and Pete still felt a grating embarrassment when he relived their last conversation.
Hey, um, Patty, proms coming up, and I, uh, just wanted to see …
He could still feel the sheen of sweat on his hands.
Girls like Patty Morales didnt struggle for dates.
She was out of his league, and Pete knew it.
It was the look of pity lurking behind the smile that made him feel like shit.
Im on garbage duty until graduation, Pete said as Patty approached.
Theyd failed in spectacular fashion.
His dad, Pedro Fernandez, dropped him off at school.
He picked him up.
It made him seem dumb.
Because, well, it had been dumb.
But hed just shown Javier that he was a coward and fraud.
Well, thats only two months away, Patty said, a polite smile on her face.
How long are you stuck today?
I could use your help.
Youre always good at coming up with those zinger headlines.
She felt bad for him.
Petes stomach lurched at the thought.
He didnt want to be tangled up in the pull of her sympathy.
Yet her concern, which Pete could happily misinterpret as interest, beckoned him.
He wanted to be near her.
But what was left of his pride won out.
No, thanks, he said.
I gotta head home after this.
Im on house arrest.
Oh, okay, she said, a slight sadness creeping over her smooth features.
Even a girl as friendly and warm as Patty knew how the social hierarchy of high school chugged along.
They moved in different circles, only interacting for fleeting moments as they whizzed along their divergent paths.
Pete turned around, but then felt her hand on his shoulder.
When you asked me about prom.
Its not you, okay?
Its not that I wouldnt have had fun with you.
But, I mean, I dont think of you like that, you know.
When you asked me, I wasnt in a good place.
Id just gotten fucked over by my exthat guy from Columbus, Danny Castillo, she said.
And I had already told Mari and Illiet that wed go together, you know, as friends?
Single girls not needing a dude, right?
So, I couldnt change it up on them at the last minute.
Heat spread over Petes face and he knew his cheeks were red.
He clenched the half-full garbage bag tighter, the plastic burying itself in the creases of his palm.
He wanted to be anywhere but here.
The last thing he wanted to hear about was Pattys private-school ex-boyfriend.
But it meant a lot that you asked me, she said, meeting his eyes.
I just wanted you to know.
She moved her hand away and gave him a languid wave.
So … Ill be in the yearbook room if you want to stop by, okay?
Pete felt a surge of euphoria spread through him, like an energy drink kicking in.
But Pete never saw Patty alive again.
It also got her out of the house, away from her parents.
She knew her dad would leave.
It was only a matter of when.
Her parents fought daily.
The arguments never got physical, but the tension and anger permeated everything around the house.
Terse exchanges in the morning as the three of them bustled through the kitchen.
Snide remarks from her mother as her dad tried to make conversation over a rare family dinner.
Patty knew her mom was difficult.
Loud, brash, opinionated.
It was what had drawn her father to her when they were first dating, she guessed.
It meant her father came home late and left early, if he came home at all.
It was the nights spent elsewhere that sealed it.
She lived in the same house with her parents and heard the arguments, even behind closed doors.
Patty felt the disdain that festered between them, replacing the warmth and love Patty had once thought immortal.
Yet Patty wasnt mad at her father.
Her parents werent perfect.
Patty used the key the media advisor, Mrs. Vazquez, had given her and walked into the classroom.
She sat in her usual seat and powered up her computer.
As she waited for the Mac to awaken, her thoughts returned to her parents.
Patty heard her beeper vibrate and grabbed her purse, sliding her hand inside the small brown bag.
The pink pagers thin display revealed a familiarbut unexpectedphone number: Danny Castillo.
Patty wasnt sure if she could even count Dannythe tall, brooding Columbus High quarterbackas her ex-boyfriend.
It started and ended in a brief and blinding flash of activity.
They met at her friend Sorayas party a few months back.
Mild flirting at first.
His hand grazing hers as they sat on the long black couch.
A lingering look as the conversation lulled to a stop.
Shared sips from a lukewarm bottle of Corona.
An ironic, awkward dance to Semisonics obnoxious earworm Closing Time as the host ushered the stragglers out.
Ever the gentleman, she mused.
The all-night phone calls started next.
It all seemed so frivolous now.
Not time- time, but they did stuff.
More stuff than Patty had done before.
It had all been new, passionate, and special.
The first doubt crept up on her like a toothache, more overt and bothersome as time passed.
Hed invited her to go to church with him to some off-the-grid congregation shed never heard of.
Patty wasnt religious, but she was Cuban, and that meant she was Catholic.
It wasnt part of her routine.
The churchor, God, in some formhad become a significant part of her fathers life, though.
She still worried her father was having an affair, but there was little evidence to back that up.
With all that background noise going on at home, Patty didnt have room for much more.
So, she passed on Dannys church outing and he seemed okay at first.
Patty had enough to worry about, anyway, what with her entire home life crumbling before her eyes.
She thought thatd be the end of it.
It wasbut not in the way shed envisioned.
She opened PageMaker to mock up the next edition ofThe Lancer, Southwests somewhat monthly newspaper.
But she loved the work and enjoyed her staffmost of them, anyway.
Not a bad guy, even if hed made stupid decisions.
The prom thing had been strange, but not all that surprising.
Patty could tell that Pete had the crush of crushes on her.
The mixtapes slipped into her locker, how hed turn away when shed catch him staring in class.
The occasional, not-so-surprise run-ins between periods.
He was a sweet guy, but Patty wasnt attracted to him.
He was her friend, and she was sad theyd graduate and part ways before they could become closer.
Its for the best, she said to herself as she sent the double-page interior spread to print.
The first message was Dannys number, the next said 911.
Patty picked up the phone next to her computer.
She dialed 9 to get an open line and then Dannys home phone number, from memory.
It rang once before he picked up.
Hi, Patty said.
You beeped me 911?
I need to see you.
I dont think thats a good idea.
I can come pick you up, he said.
I have stuff to talk about.
She pinched the bridge of her nose and closed her eyes.Be strong.
Look, Danny, no, she said.
I have shit to do and I havent heard from you in weeks.
Its creeping me out.
So, yeah, I get it.
I told you I needed space, but you cant have it both ways, okay?
She heard him starting to respond as she hung up.
But she put the receiver down firmly.
She was done with the drama.
The cojones on this guy, using 911 like that.
Shed been worried for a second.
Patty went back to work.Patty finished up later than expected, but she felt satisfied.
The sections were laid out and edited only missing a game story on that nights girls swim meet.
She grabbed a large binder from Mrs. Vazquezs desk.
It contained the proofs for the upcoming 1998 yearbook.
Shed work on it tonight.
Patty locked up behind her and walked down upper A wing, away from the breezeway.
The steps seemed slow and hesitant, the person unsure they wanted to be seen.
Creeped out, Patty turned around quickly to make a run at glimpse whoever was behind her.
But the hallway was empty, and she felt stupid.
Been here too long, she said.
She was right, too.
She made it to the stairs at the end of the hall.
Then she saw it.
She didnt see any injuries, but it seemed like hed taken a nasty fall.
The black-and-blue marks might show up later.
But I didnt hear anything fall.
She reached for Dannys shoulder.
He hadnt noticed her yet.
Jesus, she said.
Danny, what happened to you?
She rolled him over and saw his eyes flutter.
The middle of his white Columbus High T-shirt was soaked with a dark, spreading stain of blood.
This cant be happening.
But now the footsteps she thought she had imagined were backlouder, more confident.
Thats when she saw him, looking up at her and the fallen Danny.
She let out a relieved sigh.
Oh, thank God, she said.
Helphelp me with him?
We need to get him to a hospitalI think hes dying.
