Spirit In The Trees
By
Morgan Hannah MacDonald
Spirit In The Trees
Copyright 2012 Morgan Hannah MacDonald
Published By Morgan Hannah MacDonald
Formatted By IRONHORSE Formatting
Kindle Edition
All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.
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Table Of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Bonus Excerpt: Spirits Among Us
Dear Reader
About The Author
DEDICATION
This book is dedicated to the one woman who has been there for me my entire life. The one who took care of me when I was sick. Bandaged my knee when it was scraped. Loved me even when I was a pain in the ass. And believed in me whether I wanted to be a rock star or an author. She said I could be whatever I set my mind to and she was right. Thank you Mother. I love you.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to thank my first readers; Kathryn Wilson, Jana Murphy, Tammie Pearson, Kathy Maxwell, Desiree Robinson, Tina Gallo. The magnificent women of Lethal Ladies whose input was invaluable. My editor Alyssa Linn Palmer for making my manuscript shine. James Cassimus of James Cassimus Photos for his wonderful expertise in photographing the cover model. Danaan Wilson, the remarkable model on the cover. Lee at Iron Horse Formatting. And finally I would like to thank Owen Moody a million times over for designing the fantastic cover. He is amazing. It's as if he can read my mind.
SOME FAMILY SECRETS ARE BETTER LEFT BURIED.
Madeline Anderson goes to Isabelle Island, Washington, to sell a family home abandoned over forty years before. Strange things occur the moment she steps on the property. Inside the dilapidated old house, items move about of their own accord. Noises come from empty rooms. She has a vivid, recurring dream of a woman running for her life. The wind rustling through the trees sounds like urgent, murmuring voices. When the cacophony dies down, one single word emerges:
Madeline, Madeline, Madeline.
At first, Doug Lindstrom, the hot fireman helping Maddy restore the old home, doesn't believe anything bizarre is going on. He’s certain Maddy is jumping at shadows because the local kids call the house haunted. That is, until he witnesses horrific violence he can't explain. After Maddy’s life is threatened not once, but twice, Doug vows there will not be a third time.
While searching for answers, Maddy uncovers astonishing secrets about her aunt's past. Finding more questions than answers, she digs deeper until she stumbles across evidence of a cold case involving a serial killer nicknamed The Seaside Strangler. Together, Doug and Maddy must unmask a killer. The lives they save just might be their own.
CHAPTER ONE
Sacramento, CA
Madeline Anderson wanted to pull her hair out. After putting her five-year-old daughter to bed, she called the highway patrol and the hospitals between her home and her husband’s law firm. Then she started on the others in the surrounding areas. At least he hadn’t been admitted to any of them.
But where did she go from here? The front desk at his work had shut down at six that evening, and he wasn't returning any calls from his cell phone, which just happened to be turned off.
As the clock ticked by the hours, her panic grew into hysteria. Exhausted from pacing the floor, she stumbled into the bathroom and splashed her face with cold water. Puffy, bloodshot eyes stared back at her from the bathroom mirror. Where the hell could he be? She was blotting her face dry with a towel when the familiar sound of someone climbing the stairs reached her. Her heart beat with both hope and anger as she rushed out of the bathroom.
Bob strolled into their bedroom a little past one o’clock, all in one piece. He was dressed in his usual three-piece suit, not a wrinkle in sight, his hair as perfect as when he’d left that morning. The urge to strangle him made her body tremble.
“Where have you been?” Choked with rage, the words came out with a croak. Her husband sat on the edge of their bed and began to take off his shoes.
“At work, where do you think?” Bob’s sarcastic tone cut right through her.
“Well, gee, I don’t know. Perhaps dead, or lying on the side of the road unconscious?”
“I’ve been working late for the last month. Why on earth would you suddenly think something was wrong?” He stopped fiddling with the laces on his shoe long enough to star up at her like she’d grown two heads.
Stunned, Maddy stood in front of her husband with her fists on her hips.
“Oh, you’ve been late all right, but it’s been more like the last two months. I just thought you could spare one measly hour from your busy schedule to attend your daughter’s first dance recital! I tried to cheer Emma up by taking her to the ice cream parlor, but she had no interest in her hot fudge sundae. It took three Dr. Seuss books to get her to sleep. How could you be so insensitive?” She paced back and forth in front of him.
He hung his head and sucked in a breath. “I forgot.”
Abruptly she stopped and turned toward him. “You what! I’m sorry, but I could have sworn you just told me you forgot. I must be mistaken, because I know for a fact that I reminded you as you walked out the door this morning.”
Maddy couldn’t believe what she was hearing. When was he going to start acting like a part of this family? “I left you a message on your cell phone at three this afternoon. Are you trying to tell me you didn’t get it?”
“Yes, I mean, no. Look, I was in depositions all day. I didn’t even know I had a message. I’ll watch the video, okay?” He went back to the task of shucking his shoes.
“No, Bob, it’s not okay. You should have been there. She was devastated. I’m tired of covering for you!”
He kicked
his shoe across the room and jumped up. “You know how important the Brown case is. We go to trial in less than a week!”
“Right, and before that it was the Bellagio case, before that the Horton case, and before that…You act as if your career is more important than mine. Yet it was my income from The Prince of the Seas that paid off your student loans. Lilies of the North has paid for all the renovations on this giant money pit of a house you just had to have--”
His face fell and his eyes began to mist. She clamped her mouth shut. She had gone too far. Without another word, he marched toward the bathroom.
She followed. “Honey, I’m--,” the door slammed before she could finish her sentence. “Shit!” Maddy stomped her foot.
She picked up her pillow, grabbed a blanket, and shuffled down the stairs to the living room. Once settled on the couch, she found herself staring up at the ceiling.
Why the hell couldn’t she have just kept on topic? She should know better than to argue with him. He made her so angry at times. She never knew what would fly out of her mouth. Sleep evaded her while she berated herself, but finally exhaustion took hold.
In her restless slumber, she felt strong hands grip her throat, her fingers clawed at her neck trying to loosen the tight hold before her oxygen was shut off permanently. Abruptly, she awoke gasping for air, her lungs burning. As the nightmare faded, her eyes widened as she peered into the face shield of a bleak looking fireman carrying her across the room.
“What the--” Smoke filled her throat cutting off her words and she went into an uncontrollable coughing spasm. Rolling gray fog surrounded her like a thick blanket. Not certain yet if she was still dreaming, she blinked a few times. Her eyes stung and tears rained down her cheeks. Oh, God, she was awake. This was really happening.
When they emerged from the house, the cool night air hit her like a slap in the face, the fog in her brain started to lift. The man hurried as he carried her across the lawn. As she turned back, horror gripped her. Flames engulfed what had once been her home. The upper floor windows had burst, the fire’s long tentacles reached toward the sky.
Panic hit, she struggled against her captor. “Where’s my husband, my daughter!” She yelled to be heard over the roar of the demon flames and the massive turrets of water cascading down as if from heaven. They were doing about as much good as spit on a campfire. “Are they still in the house?”
“Calm down, ma’am. Wait here with the paramedics.” The fireman placed her in the back of the waiting ambulance. “Now, what rooms are they in?”
She jumped up. “No, you don’t understand, my baby’s in there!” She ran forward, only to be stopped. The fireman braced himself in front of her and held tightly to her arms.
“Ma’am, please. Just tell me where they are.” He stared at her with quiet determination.
She pointed to an upstairs window and shouted. “That room, up there on the left, that’s Emma’s room. Bob is in the room behind it, the window faces the back. Hurry!” She planted both hands firmly on his chest and pushed.
After he took off, she collapsed on the lawn. “God, please keep my family safe,” she pleaded while the man disappeared into the burning structure. Rocking back and forth on her knees, her hands covered her mouth while she choked back sobs.
Time stood still.
At last she caught sight of the bright yellow figure in the open doorway; he carried a small bundle in his arms.
“Emma!” she screamed, jumped up and sprinted toward her daughter. A sturdy arm caught her hard around the middle, pulled her back. She fought against the strong grasp, kicked back and connected with his knee.
Maddy rushed toward the inferno, shouting her daughter’s name just as the fireman crossed the threshold. A thunderous explosion ripped through the night and she was airborne. The moment she recovered from the impact, she lifted her head toward the house.
Her family was gone.
A shrill keening filled her ears. A second later she realized the sound had escaped from her own throat.
CHAPTER TWO
Ten Months Later
Sacramento, CA
Maddy awoke to the faint sound of a phone ringing. Drenched in sweat, she struggled to open her eyes. The heat was stifling. The blinds on the windows did little in the way to bar the summer sun from the room, and even less at keeping it temperate.
Although she knew it was her phone ringing, she didn’t bother to answer it. She swung her legs over the side of the bed and wiped the perspiration from her face. A foot landed on a dirty towel resting on the floor; she kicked it aside. Glancing around, she registered the disarray of the room, yet it didn’t faze her.
Nothing seemed to faze her anymore.
Since the death of her family, Maddy simply existed. Sleep had become her constant companion. Although, even in sleep, her husband and daughter haunted her. They would not leave her alone. Nor should they. Their deaths were on her head. She thought the old wiring in the house looked faulty, yet she waited on her husband to check it out. She should have phoned an electrician the moment she noticed something wrong. That’s why it is she who should have died in that fire. Not Emma. Not Bob.
Her best friend from college, Gisele, had helped her cope with the funeral arrangements and the insurance companies. She found her this apartment. Although furnished as advertised, it was still as empty as her heart.
Poor Gisele. She’d selected a beautiful wardrobe for her in the hope of lifting her spirits. Now Maddy had a closet full of incredible clothes that in her past life she would have drooled over, but at the moment, she couldn’t care less. They were just possessions. She had no use for them. The most important part of her life was gone.
Maddy stood in front of the vanity mirror and stared at the hollow-eyed stranger that greeted her. She ran her hand down the faded emblem on her daily uniform-Bob’s old Berkeley t-shirt. She’d found it inside a gym bag in the trunk of his car. Lately, it seemed to be wearing her, instead of the other way around. She was shrinking. Her collar bones protruded more than she remembered. Maybe she’d just shrivel up and blow away.
She had kept his shirts, the ones she’d picked up from the dry cleaners weeks after the fire. They now hung in her closet, still wrapped in plastic. True, they no longer carried his scent, but she had so few of his items left. It was a comfort just to have them near.
Maddy shuffled into the kitchen, picking up her feet took too much energy. Her gaze fell on the answering machine; there were four messages. She pushed the play-back button and listened; one was from Gisele, two from her grandmother, and the last from someone calling to congratulate her. She had just won a Caribbean cruise! Amazing, I didn’t even have to enter the contest.
Maddy phoned her grandmother first, her voice had sounded strained on the message and she hoped she wasn’t the cause. While waiting for her grandmother to pick up the phone, she cringed at the thought of one particular incident.
The day after the fire, Maddy was in Gisele’s guest bathroom; her long brunette hair tied loosely at the nape of her neck. She stood naked before the mirror staring at her reflection.
Hot water ran in the shower. Rising steam encroached on her visibility. She held her hair in one hand and sawed at the thick ponytail with a pair of scissors. Finally it came free in her hand. She gazed down at her long beautiful mane. With Bob gone, there was no reason to keep it. Lost in a fog, she had no idea how much time had passed before a knock sounded on the bathroom door.
“Are you all right, honey?” came the muffled voice of her grandmother.
The door opened.
Her grandmother gasped. Maddy stood still in the middle of the room staring at her. Her left hand clutched her freshly shorn locks to her chest while the scissors dangled loosely from the right.
“Oh my God, what have you done?” Her grandmother raced to her side. Cautiously, she snatched the scissors before they fell to the floor, then tried to loosen Maddy’s grip on the hair. She held tight. Finally, her grandmother gave up
and wrapped a robe around Maddy’s shoulders before guiding her into the bedroom.
Although the memory itself was a bit fuzzy, a fierce pang of guilt shot through her from all the stress she heaped on her grandmother’s shoulders.
Maddy’s parents had died when she was just five-years-old, and it fell on her grandmother to raise her. She barely remembered her parents and never met her grandfather. Her grandmother had been the one constant in her life.
The ringing stopped and her grandmother came on the line. Maddy’s words tumbled out. “Grams, it’s Maddy. Is something wrong?”
“Thank you for calling back, dear. I don’t want to be a bother, but I wondered if you could come home for a bit?”
“It’s not a bother. Has something happened?” Maddy’s pulse quickened.
“It’s Madeline. She has bronchitis and she’s not responding to any of the antibiotics the doctor has prescribed so far. He fears she may have to be put into the hospital if she doesn’t show signs of improvement soon.” Her grandmother’s voice shook.
“I’ll be on the next flight out.” Maddy opened the cupboard and pulled out the phone book. She started flipping through it searching for airlines.
“There is one more thing I must mention.” Her grandmother hesitated.
Maddy’s finger stopped mid-page.
“Madeline has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. It’s gotten so bad that most days she doesn’t know who I am.”
“Oh my God, Grams. That’s awful!” Maddy abandoned the book, her knees felt weak so she slid onto a stool next to the counter. “How long ago was she diagnosed?” A tear slipped from her eye.
At first Maddy thought they’d been disconnected, until her grandmother’s voice broke the silence. “It’s been about six months, I guess.”
Maddy jumped to her feet. “And you’re just getting around to telling me now!”
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