People always ask writers where they get their inspiration for new stories. The automatic answer that most often comes is, “Everywhere.”

Case in point. I was cleaning out my photo files tonight—mostly looking for unflattering pics of myself (I cull them ruthlessly!)—when I came across this one. It’s blurred. Elle James, Sylvia Day, and Jordan Summers are almost unrecognizable, and the background is overexposed. But my finger hesitated on the mouse while I contemplated deleting it.

Why? It’s creepy. And the longer I looked at it, the creepier it got. I started the old “what if” question all writers ask themselves when they start brainstorming a new project. “What if a woman takes pictures of friends in a familiar place, but the ghostly background isn’t the same one she snapped? What if she’s seeing how that same place looked fifty years ago, a hundred years ago, or five hundred?” And off my imagination went…