Killer Reads: A Collection of the Best in Inspirational Suspense

by Luana Ehrlich

  A reggae band played in a corner of the marina. Patrons had gathered to listen as they ate their lunch. They walked over. After a minute, Reggie turned to Theresa. “I just don’t fit in with the other women. Don’t get me wrong. They are as sweet as can be. But they quilt and sew and can stuff. I try, but it never works out quite the way I envisioned it.”

  “That’s because you’re trying to be someone you’re not, girlfriend. God created you just the way you are for a reason. You need to find that reason.”

  Reggie nodded. “The doctor told us that I can’t get pregnant.”

  “Oh, sweetie, I’m so sorry.” Theresa hugged her. “I know that’s tough to hear.”

  Tears filled Reggie’s eyes. “It was, but we’ll get through it. With God’s help.”

  “I know you will.”

  Reggie thought about her words as they walked toward the hotels. Theresa was right about that. She’d been trying to fit herself into someone else’s mold. Maybe it was time to—a man walked by, his body and face covered with tattoos. Her gaze followed the man.

  Theresa turned to see why she’d stopped walking. “Interesting look, huh?”

  “It’s not that. His tattoos reminded me of something. When the man had me down on the bed, I saw his tattoo. I completely forgot about it. It probably wasn’t all that important, anyway.”

  “You never know.” She stopped in front of a hotel that announced it was also a conference center. “This looks like a good place. Let’s get a room and then time to shop.”

  ****

  “You get busy with the computer and I’ll call down to room service.” Dylan walked toward the phone in the hotel room. Well, more than a room—a luxury suite was a better way to describe it.

  Good thing, Billy Clyde was paying.

  “I like the way you think. No telling how long the women will be gone. Theresa had that shopping gleam in her eye.”

  Dylan nodded. “Hopefully, long enough for you to figure out what’s going on. Hamburgers ok with you?”

  “No way. Steak with all the trimmings.”

  “I like the way you think, Big Man.”

  ****

  Dylan looked at the two laughing women and the packages littering the sofa, floor and table of the sitting room in the hotel and smiled, glad to see Reggie smiling. Apparently, there were no after effects to her ordeal. “So, this is how it is, huh? The big man and I are off saving the free world and you two go shopping.”

  “Don’t worry, we bought a few things for the two of you.” Theresa hugged him and pointed at a door. “Your room and a shower is that way.”

  Dylan’s mouth opened up in mock shock. “Is that a hint? Should I be insulted?”

  “It’s neither one. Just a statement of fact.” She handed Billy Clyde some packages. “Our room is that way.”

  Billy Clyde shook his head. “Do you see, Monroe? Absolutely no respect.”

  When Dylan came out from his shower, Billy Clyde was seated back at the new laptop he’d purchased. Reggie and Theresa sat at the table watching him

  Reggie smiled at him as he walked toward the table but then looked back at Billy Clyde. “So, what’s the next step?”

  “If we’re going to stop whatever they’re planning, we’ve got to find out the who, where, and when.” Dylan added.

  “Well, we’re going under the assumption that the would-be victim is the president, but the Secret Service does provide protections to others as well.”

  Dylan nodded. “True, but my money’s on the president.”

  Billy Clyde looked grim. “Same here.”

  “So, now the hard part. Who wants to do harm to the president?”

  “A better question is who doesn’t. He hasn’t won many friends lately with all his budget cuts.”

  “We’re going to need to narrow that down a bit, Reggie.”

  “Well, it has to be someone who knew you might have access to sensitive information.”

  Billy Clyde nodded his agreement. “That’s going to narrow it down...a lot.”

  Theresa grabbed a pen and held it ready to write. “Well, let’s see. I know but I didn’t kidnap myself. Reggie and Dylan know. Again I think we can cross them off the list. Then, there’s your boss, but he has access to the same information so it’s not him.”

  “Our kids don’t know what I do so they couldn’t have told someone by mistake. They just think I’m a computer analyst.”

  “You mean you aren’t?” Reggie’s mouth opened in mock shock.

  They laughed

  Reggie shook her head. “This is impossible. There’s no way we’re going to figure this out. It’s impossible.”

  The other three looked at her and in one voice proclaimed, “With God, all things are possible.”

  She held up her hands. “Okay. Okay. I forgot about that for a moment. Keep going. Who else has seen your little computer lab, Billy?”

  “Good question. Let’s see Denny Reagan and Scooter came for a visit awhile back. And so did Moorehouse.” He held up a finger. “And a few months ago, I had the electrician in to add another fuse box.”

  “Honey, you don’t really think it was Jake.” Theresa looked at Dylan. “He’s also our preacher.”

  “I’m not ruling him out.” Billy Clyde’s voice had take on a stubborn tone. “He is new to the community.”

  “But you did a thorough check on him before you let the church hire him.” She rolled her eyes. “I mean a thorough check. I know he got detention in seventh grade for throwing a book at another boy. Anyone else?”

  “Not that I can think of.”

  “Remember what Mrs. Miller said about there being rumors about you. Maybe, you should do some follow up with her.”

  “Not a bad idea, Monroe.”

  “I’ll call her. I should anyway to let her know I’m fine.” Theresa stood and reached out a hand. “Have you got your handy dandy top secret spy phone that can’t be traced?”

  He handed it to her without comment.

  “Keep talking. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

  After she’d left the room, Reggie said. “The kidnappers must be computer savvy themselves, right? If not, what were they doing in your house all that time?”

  “True but you said there was more than one person in the house so I think that the person who knew me might not be the one with the computer knowledge.”

  They added a few more people to the list by the time Theresa walked back in. “Well, nothing really concrete. Mrs. Miller remembered some people at church laughing about it. Said something about the way you stayed holed up in that cabin made them a little suspicious.”

  “Dead end there.”

  “Hey, girlfriend, did you tell them what you remembered about the tattoo?”

  “I forgot. It’s probably not important anyway.”

  Dylan said. “You never know what’s going to turn out to be important or not. An investigation is like a puzzle. We need all the tiny bits of information to get the whole picture. What did you remember?”

  “When he threw me on the bed I saw his tattoo on his chest.” She pointed at her own chest, right below her neck. “It was a Bible verse.” Reggie closed her eyes as she visualized it. “Mark 16: 18.”

  “That’s good. A definite identifying feature if we ever get any serious suspects. Why were Denny and Scooter at your house?”

  “Just called me up and said they were in the area and wanted to stop in for a visit.”

  “What happened while they were there?”

  “They stayed for a few hours, ate lunch, and left.”

  “How’d they know where you live?”

  “You aren’t the only Marine I stay in touch with, Monroe. I helped Scooter out a few times and he wanted to pay me back the money.”

  “Sounds like Scooter. Good kid but not sure how he made it through basic training. Denny Reagan was a whole different story. If he hadn’t quit, he would have been dishonorably discharged sooner or later. He didn’t like to follow rules an
d he didn’t believe the rules applied to him.”

  “They say why they were in the area?”

  “They said they were passing through. On the way to some family, but they didn’t say where the family lived. Come to think of it, Denny had Scooter do his dirty work for him more than once.” Billy’s fingers moved on the keyboard.

  Dylan turned toward the women. “They were both with us in Afghanistan. Scooter wasn’t the brightest of people, but he was a good man.”

  “Can’t say the same about Denny Reagan. He’s the kind of man that could and would manipulate Scooter into doing something like this.” Billy Clyde looked up from the computer with a grim look. “I’ve got big problems.”

  “Why?”

  “Someone definitely used my accounts to get inside the Secret Service. They accessed several different sites, including the President’s schedule.”

  “What else did they look at?”

  “Double checked to see if I deleted the file. I’m going have to call Mark Johnson back.”

  “What are you going to tell him?”

  “Everything.”

  “Even about the deleted file?”

  Billy nodded. “No choice in the matter. It’s national security we’re talking about.”

  “But you’ll be in trouble.”

  “I always intended to tell them what I did. I simply had no choice at the time. Theresa’s life was in danger, but I knew I would have to face the consequences of my actions.”

  “But Billy—”

  “Don’t worry. God’s got my back, cutie pie. So get the frown off that beautiful bronze face of yours.”

  CHAPTER 50

  Billy walked out from the bedroom with his special cell phone in hand. “Glad that’s over.”

  All eyes turned toward him.

  “Mark’s on the phone to Secret Service as we talk. Reggie will be glad to hear it’s out of our hands now. He’ll have a forensic team at the house in the morning but between the fire and water damage, he isn’t hopeful to get any useable prints.”

  “What about you and the file?” Theresa’s voice was calm but Reggie knew her friend was worried.

  “There will be an investigation, but Mark said not to worry. He would have done the same thing if it was his wife. He’s got my back. And considering I backed up the file and made paper copies, it shouldn’t be too big of a problem.”

  “So you say.” Dylan stood and moved the food tray to the door. “Are you sure you’re not downplaying the situation for our benefit?”

  “What downplaying? An internal investigation by my company is no little matter. Tomorrow, I’ll need to meet the forensic team at the house but for now, I say we’ve had a rough few days and we need to go out and have us some fun.” He wiped his hands. “Oh, and I turned in my resignation.”

  CHAPTER 51

  Reggie stood on the dock watching the others get out of the boat. She breathed a deep sigh of relief. Two boat rides in two days was more than enough for her. Hopefully, it would be a long time before she took another one.

  Theresa stepped out of the boat, looking like Queen Nefertiti, thanks to their shopping excursion. Her hair was back to its funky style and her clothes screamed fashion diva.

  She could take a lesson from Theresa. Just because she was a farmer’s wife didn’t mean she couldn’t have her own fashion style. There wasn’t a law saying she had to wear jeans and T-shirts all the time.

  Dylan tied up the boat to the post. “I’m just saying you don’t usually give up this easily, Billy Clyde. You’re usually like a hound dog with his favorite bone.”

  Billy shrugged. “And I don’t usually have a wife who was kidnapped. I’m done. I’m retiring to Nashville and taking my grandbabies fishing and tell them stories about my crazy Marine buddies. And if you’re good, I’ll let you come visit.”

  The two dogs came bounding up to them.

  Theresa held out her arms and both of them jumped on her at the same time. “Oh, there’s my babies. I was so worried about you.”

  Reggie was happy to see the dogs. She’d thought her attackers had killed them but apparently not.

  Dylan took a few steps away from the group. “Those are mighty big babies.”

  The largest shepherd turned his gaze on Dylan. Then growled.

  Billy laughed. “Patches. Friend.” The dog left Theresa and walked to Dylan. He sat down in front of him and stared up. “He wants you to pet him, Monroe.”

  Dylan’s hand moved tentatively to the dog’s head. After a quick pat, he stuck his hand in his pocket. “Better put them in the kennel. Don’t want them to upset the forensic team.”

  Billy shook his head. “You aren’t fooling anyone, Monroe. You want them in the kennel and it’s not because of the forensic team.”

  After the animals were in their huge dog run, the group walked to the front of the house. Everyone stood staring at the burned out cabin.

  A vehicle pulled in.

  Billy’s voice held more than a hint of suspicion. “Too early for the team. Wonder who that is?”

  A skinny young man in his early twenties stood beside a pick-up staring at the house. His jaw hung open. Theresa left the group and walked toward him. “Robbie, what are you doing here?”

  “What happened, Miss Theresa?” The young man’s eyes never left the house.

  “We had a fire but everyone got out safely so I consider that a blessing.” She touched his arm and he tore his gaze from the burned house. “Why are you here, Robbie?”

  “I think it’s LaTisha’s time. She says no but something’s wrong. I can see it in her eyes. She’s in pain. You gotta come check on her.” His gaze strayed back to the house.

  “Not a problem. Billy, you and Dylan can stay here and wait for the people to get here. Reggie, why don’t you come with me? Another pair of hands always comes in handy.”

  Billy nodded. “Sounds like a plan, hon. You got your phone with you? Call me if you need me.”

  Robbie stared at Billy Clyde. “I don’t know. Maybe you should come with us. We might need help carrying her to the car.”

  “No reason for that, Robbie. He’d only be in the way.” Theresa smiled sweetly at her husband. “I can handle this on my own.”

  Robbie looked doubtful. “It’s not that, Miss Theresa, but...”

  “It’s going to be fine, Robbie. Let’s go take a look at your wife.” She touched his arm gently and guided him back toward the truck.

  “We might need them to help move her.” He looked back at Billy and Dylan but kept walking.

  “It will be fine. Billy needs to stay here. He’s waiting for the insurance adjuster.”

  ****

  They drove down the main road. Reggie sat in the back seat of the pickup. Theresa looked over at Robbie. “I need my medicine bag.”

  “Where is it?”

  “In my car at the grocery store.”

  From where she sat in the back seat, she could see him shaking his head. “No time. I’ll take you to her and then go back and get it later. Or maybe Mr. Billy can bring it to us. Yeah, that’s a good idea. Why don’t you call him and ask him to do that?”

  “He has something else he has to do right now. Let’s go take a look. Maybe LaTisha’s right and she isn’t in labor. As a woman nears her time, she often gets fake pains. They’re called Braxton Hicks.”

  “I ain’t never heard of them. Bracks and Hicks?”

  They turned down yet another dirt road.

  “No, it’s the man’s name. Braxton first name and Hicks is his last.”

  “Oh. Didn’t know about them. Maybe LaTisha does and that’s why she’s not worried.”

  A few moments later, Robbie stopped in front of a tiny white bungalow. It was surrounded by a picket fence. Outside the fence, wildflowers surrounded it. In the midst of the forest, the house was nestled among the trees as if it was the gingerbread house from Hansel and Gretel.

  “What an adorable place.” Reggie said as she slipped out of the truck onto th
e gravel road.

  Robbie’s eyes darted from her to the house. “Thanks, LaTisha works real hard to make it look so pretty.”

  “I’m sure that’s not easy in the middle of these woods.” Theresa looked back at her. “Ever helped with childbirth before?”

  The question made her stomach queasy. “What do you think?”

  Theresa giggled. “It’s one of the most amazing things you’ll ever experience.” She held the door open as she slipped out. Reggie walked into the house behind Theresa and Robbie. The room was empty. “LaTisha. LaTisha. Miss Theresa’s here to check on you.”

  No answer.

  A chill ran up, Reggie’s spine. The house was too quiet. Almost as if—Oh, please let LaTisha be OK.

  Robbie’s Adam apple bobbed up and down. “She’s gotta be around here somewhere, let me go upstairs and look for her.”

  He bounded up the steps without waiting for an answer from the women. To get her mind off of the negative thoughts flowing through it, Reggie turned to Theresa. “How did you become a midwife?”

  “It just sort of happened. It takes more than an hour to get to a hospital from Paw Paw. And people started calling me to help make the ride and one thing led to another. I love doing it. It’s an amazing thing to see a life come into this world.”

  Reggie turned away from Theresa.

  Theresa touched her shoulder. “Don’t worry it will happen when it’s the right time.”

  “Probably not.”

  Understanding dawned in Theresa’s eyes. “The diabetes?”

  Reggie nodded. Theresa hugged her. “Then God will have other plans for you. God created you just the way you are for a reason. Remember that.”

  “I’m trying. I really am.”

  “Good for—”

  Robbie came running back down the steps. “She’s not upstairs but she left me a note. She went out to the barn to check on... S..sophie—her horse. She’ll probably be back in a minute.”

  Theresa eyebrows furrowed together. “Maybe, we better go to the barn.”

  Reggie hadn’t seen a barn on the drive in.