Gingerbread Man: A Marlow and Sage Mystery (A Nursery Rhyme Suspense Book 1)
Page 22
My eyes sprung open. My heart beat frantically, thumping hard against my ribs. Teagan. When reality dawned, as it always did after a Teagan dream, a dark blanket of depression settled over me. It wasn’t Teagan’s body that slept soundly in the bed across the dorm room from mine. Teagan was gone. She was dead.
I squinted against the glow of morning light. An alarm went off and Nora’s red head popped up from under thick covers. She tapped her phone, killing the siren, and yawned. Then her freckled nosed wrinkled.
“What’s that awful smell?”
“I’m sorry,” I said, feeling fresh embarrassment. “I threw up.”
“In here?”
“I couldn’t make it to the bathroom.”
Nora turned on a light and a groan escaped my chapped lips.
“Well, are you going to clean that up?”
“Yes. I’m sorry,” I said again. I was sorry. I’d become a drunken idiot since Teagan died.
“Sooner would be better than later,” Nora said as she spritzed perfume into the room. She disappeared into the bathroom and I forced myself to sit up.
Nora O’Shea was my new roommate. We were in the same math and science program so we shared a lot of classes. Like me, she was focused and tidy, and she appreciated numbers and logic.
Teagan had been my best friend since grade school. She was an artist: messy, colorful and disorganised. She was nothing like me. And I missed her so much.
I heard the shower turn off, a signal that I had to start moving. After reaching for my glasses, my faves with bright purple frames, I managed to inch myself out of bed. I found an empty plastic grocery bag and gingerly picked up my pukey shoes and tossed them in. I stuck out my lower lip with regret. I really liked these shoes. I held the bag gingerly as I shuffled out of the room, down the hall and into the common lounge where I disposed of the bag in the garbage bin.
Nora exited the bathroom just as I got back, and I took a turn. I washed my hands then downed an extra-strength Tylenol with two glasses of water. I reached under the sink for a rag and the cleaning products, returned to my side of the room and started scrubbing the low-pile industrial carpet.
“Um,” Nora started. “There’s something I’ve been meaning to tell you.”
I held my breath as I scrubbed my vomit out of the rug. “Yeah?”
“I’ve been hanging out with Jake.”
My hand stopped and I looked up at her. “Teagan’s Jake?”
“He’s not Teagan’s Jake. They broke up two weeks before she…”
“I know. It’s just, I’m used to seeing him with her.”
“That’s why I haven’t said anything before.”
“So why are you saying anything now?”
“Because I think we’re about to make it official.”
I frowned.
“Sage, please understand. I really, really like him and he likes me. It’s awful what happened to Teagan, but life goes on.”
I inhaled deeply, but it wasn’t enough to soothe the swelling pain in my chest.
“Look, if it makes it easier for you, we won’t hang out when you’re around.”
I sighed again. “No. It’s fine. You’re free to date whomever you like.”
“Thanks, Sage. I know the last four months have been hell for you.”
Four months? Already? It felt like Teagan just left me last week.
Once the carpet was cleaned, I crawled back into bed and watched as Nora got ready to go out. She looked really cute in her jeans and trendy spring jacket. Her hair hung over her shoulder in a long, crimson braid.
She paused at the door. “Are you going to be okay?”
I nodded. “I’m fine. Are you meeting Jake?”
Her glossy lips pulled up into a smile. “Yeah.”
“Say hi for me.”
“I will.”
I watched her go and it was like the sunshine left with her. The room suddenly grew dimmer and it threw me back into my dream. The cabin. Teagan. The guy. The gun.
I’d seen the guy before. He’d called a cab for me once, on my first drinking spree after Teagan died. He’d saved me from a potentially bad situation. I saw him around campus on occasion, but we never had reason to talk since then.
I wondered why I dreamed about him. What was the cabin all about? And why did Teagan sometimes have brown hair instead of her natural blond?
I was just glad they’d caught her killer. Some hotline tip. It wasn’t the first time I’d dreamed about Teagan. That was normal. It also wasn’t the first time I dreamed about Marlow, a guy I barely knew. In one apocalyptic dream, I power-hosed him in a decontamination shower. He was buck-naked.
In fact, he appeared in almost all the dreams I had about Teagan. At least the bad ones. Why? What was it about this guy? I wondered if I should look him up.
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Books by Lee Strauss
The Perception Series (YA dystopian/sci-fi/romance)
Ambition (short story prequel)
Perception (book 1)
Volition (book 2)
Contrition (book 3)
Playing with Matches (WW2 history/romance)
Playing with Matches
A Piece of Blue String (companion short story)
Romantic Suspense (mystery-thriller)
A Nursery Rhyme Suspense
Gingerbread Man
Life is but a Dream
Hickory Dickory Dock
Twinkle Little Star
About the Author
Lee Strauss is the author of A Nursery Rhyme Suspense Serial, The Perception Series (young adult dystopian), and young adult historical fiction. She is the married mother of four, and divides her time between Canada and Germany. When she's not writing or reading she likes to cycle and hike. She enjoys traveling (but not jet lag :0), soy lattes, red wine and dark chocolate.
Lee also writes younger YA fantasy as Elle Strauss.
For more info on books by Lee Strauss and her social media links visit leestraussbooks.com. To make sure you don’t miss the next new release, be sure to sign up for her readers list!
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Acknowledgments
A big shout out to the fans of The Perception Series! Your enthusiasm encouraged me to keep writing in the science fiction/dystopian/romance genre. I hope you enjoy this new serial, A Nursery Suspense.
I have to thank my husband Norm Strauss who helped me develop the initial idea as we walked the streets of London while there doing research for another book. Also to my son and daughter Jordan Strauss and Tasia Strauss along with Diana Balcaen, who helped me brainstorm plot.
Thanks so much to my beta readers, A. M. Offenwanger, Wendy Squire, Denise Jaden and Melinda Van Patter who always get the worse drafts, and to my faithful reviewers, especially Mandy Anderson of I Read Indie. Also to Steven Novak for another great set of covers and to Marie Jaskulka for editing.
As always, I am grateful to my friends and family for their love and support and to God who keeps me balanced and sane through all the craziness that is independent publishing.
Gingerbread Man
By Lee Strauss
Mystery Sci-fi (Romantic Suspense)
Cover by Steven Novak Illustrations
Copyright © 2015
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
ISBN: 978-1-927547-34-2
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