Unintended Consequences (Jack Turner Suspense Series Book 3)

by Dan Walsh

  “Oh, I didn’t tell you that part of the story. This was very nice. Shortly after the war, Jack and Elliot flew to the US and had a wonderful reunion with him. Because of the extra money Elliot’s grandfather had been sending, their father was able to live in a nicer place and get someone to look after him. But they convinced him to fly back to England with them and finish out his days there. He had no family left in the US, so he agreed. Elliot and Jack took good care of him until he died in 1965. But he lived long enough to see all six of his grandchildren be born and was able to spend several holidays with them.”

  “Six grandchildren,” Rachel said. “That must mean Elliot got married and had kids.”

  “He did. I was so happy when he found Kate. A beautiful and very refined English lady. They were perfectly suited and had two children, a boy and a girl.”

  “Well, I guess the last piece of the puzzle is Jack and Elliot’s grandfather. You said the relationship mended a little. What happened there? Did he ever fully come around? What happened to the estate? Elliot thought he would lose it after the war, to taxes or something.”

  “Elliot was right. When the dust settled, it became clear the estate would become totally insolvent in less than ten years. Fortunately, their grandfather passed away before that happened. Elliot presided over the estate’s demise. It was kind of sad. But so many of the big manor homes fell into the same situation. Hundreds of them, Jack said. Very few were saved like the one in Downton Abbey.”

  “What happened to the house itself?”

  “Eventually, it was demolished. If you go there now, you’ll find some beautiful pasture land, but that’s all. The truth is, by the time it was destroyed, none of us were surprised. It really hadn’t been a part of our lives for years. Our lives were more about the things that mattered. Family and friends, church, work, holidays and anniversaries…making memories together.”

  Grandma reached over and gently squeezed Rachel’s hand. “And see, we’re still doing that, aren’t we? Making memories together.”

  58

  Jack drove his rental car the following day on Chambers Road toward the edge of town. He was on his way to the airport in Atlanta to finally get back on track with his honeymoon plans. He had crossed every T and dotted every I. There was absolutely no reason for--and he told the University staff he would not tolerate--another interruption to this trip. They assured him they would leave him alone from now on.

  Dr. Mendelson, Jack’s boss, had surprised him as soon as he’d arrived back in town. Mendelson decided to give Jack the sizable cash honorarium he had planned to give Dr. Watson. He was the speaker Jack had flown back to replace when Watson canceled because of a car accident. Jack didn’t expect the money. He figured he had to come back and fill in…it was his job.

  But the extra money was nice, and he instantly knew how to spend it. On two things he knew would make Rachel smile. Before he’d checked in at the university, he went home and opened up his laptop. There he’d quickly found on Amazon a beautiful, 14 karat gold emerald necklace that would complement the two emerald earrings he’d bought Rachel last Christmas. He ordered it after confirming it would be shipped to Cape Cod by Sunday. Amazon was the only place he knew that shipped on Sundays, and he wanted her to get it the day he came back.

  Today was that day.

  He wondered when the package would arrive. His only regret was not being there to see her face when she opened it.

  It was a few minutes past one o’clock. Rachel and Jack’s grandmother had just finished eating lunch out on the porch. Such a pleasant time, and such a beautiful day. Rachel had offered, actually had insisted, that Grandma let her clean up. She was in the kitchen now doing just that, while Grandma enjoyed the breeze and the view a while longer.

  Rachel turned off the sink. Was that someone pulling up in the driveway? Jack wasn’t due till later this evening. But she definitely heard the low rumbling sound of a vehicle. Drying her hands with a dish towel, she went to check it out. Through a tall window in the dining room she saw Grandma receive and sign for a small package from the mailman. On Sunday?

  Grandma read something on the package then looked at the house. She noticed Rachel at the window and waved. “It’s for you,” she yelled. “Something from Jack.”

  “From Jack?” What could it be? She hurried outside through the back doors.

  Grandma handed the package to her. “Looks like it’s from Amazon.”

  “Amazon?” What in the world? She quickly ripped open the thick envelope. Inside was a long, velvety jewelry box wrapped in bubble paper.

  “I bet it’s something nice,” Grandma said.

  Rachel got the paper off and held up the jewelry box. When she opened it, she gasped. She couldn’t believe what she saw inside. “I can’t believe he got it.”

  “Oh Rachel, it’s beautiful.”

  “Isn’t it? These will be perfect with the two emerald earrings he bought me last Christmas.” Then Rachel remembered how much it cost. Where did he get the money? They had already gone over budget on this trip by several hundred dollars.

  “There’s a card inside,” Grandma said. She pulled it out of the envelope and handed it to Rachel. “Could you read it while I put this on?”

  Grandma opened the envelope and pulled out the card. “But what if it’s…too personal?”

  Rachel laughed. “It wont’ be,” she said. “He might say something romantic, but nothing embarrassing.”

  “Okay. Here goes.” She put on her glasses, attached around her neck by a thin ribbon. “Rachel, I hope you like this little gift. Think I picked out the one you wanted. Don’t worry about the money. It’s all paid for. Just enjoy it. Sorry again for interrupting our honeymoon. Call me if you get this before I’m on the plane. I have another surprise to tell you about.”

  “Aww,” Rachel said. She faced Grandma. “How’s it look?”

  “Absolutely stunning,” Grandma said.

  “I can’t wait to see it with the ear rings.” They started walking toward the house. Rachel looked at her phone. “He should be on his way to the airport, I think. Mind if I call him now?”

  “Go right ahead. I’ll go inside, refresh this glass of iced tea. Tell Jack I said Hi.”

  “I will.” She pressed the button and listened as the phone rang.

  “Hey Hon, I was just thinking about you.”

  “Were you?”

  “I was. Can’t wait to get back there. Just heading out of town now.”

  “Guess what just arrived?”

  “So, it got there? I was hoping it would. They said it would arrive today, but I wasn’t sure, being a Sunday.”

  “Well, it came. And I absolutely love it. It’s beautiful.”

  “I’m so glad. Can’t wait to see it on you. How about we make that happen tonight?”

  “What are you thinking?”

  “If I don’t have any glitches, I figure I should be there by seven. Why don’t you and Grandma be all dressed up and ready to go, some place fancy?”

  “Okay? I’ll ask her. She seems a little tired right now. But I’ll go, either way.”

  “Well, tell her I’m fine if she’s not up for going out. We can bring her home something nice. So, did she finish up her story last night?”

  “She did. It was so much fun. And you weren’t exaggerating. It was like some kind of epic tale.”

  “Wasn’t it? I just wish I’d heard it all when my grandfather was still alive. I would’ve asked him a thousand more questions.”

  “Maybe it worked out best this way. Many military guys don’t like to talk about their war experiences. And even if he had, he probably wouldn’t have shared a fraction of the detail your grandmother included. For one thing, he would’ve skipped over all the parts where he did heroic things. You’ve heard these war heroes, they never think they did anything heroic.”

  “Yeah, you’re probably right.”

  “So, where are you now?” she said.

  “Just about two blocks
from getting on the highway.”

  “I can’t wait to see you,” Rachel said, then remembered something. “Didn’t you say you had another surprise to tell me about?”

  “Oh yeah, I did. After paying for the necklace, I had just enough money left to extend our honeymoon by two days, to make up for the two days I’ve been gone. And I’ve arranged for us to spend them at a waterfront Bed and Breakfast in Gloucester. It’s that little fishing town you wanted to see.”

  “The one we couldn’t fit in?”

  “That’s the one. We’re fitting it in.”

  “That’s great, Hon. It’’ll be so much fun.”

  “Well, I better get. I just pulled in to a 7-Eleven to grab some coffee before hitting the highway.”

  “Okay, you drive safe. I hate the traffic in Atlanta.”

  “I’ll be careful. See you soon. Love you, bye.”

  Jack hung up and pulled into the only open parking space. He was pretty certain he recognized the car on his right. Looking up through the windshield, he saw his good friend, Sergeant Joe Boyd, coming out the front door, holding his own cup of coffee.

  Jack got out of the car. “Joe, how are you doing, my friend?”

  “Jack? Seems like I’m always bumping into you at convenience stores. I’m doing great, but what are you doing here? And where is Rachel? I thought the two of you were on your honeymoon.”

  “We were. I mean, we are. We still are. It’s a long story. I got called back to the school to put out a fire. Rachel’s still up in Cape Cod visiting my grandmother. I was just talking to her. Heading back there now.”

  Joe walked up to him, gently grabbed his arm and leaned closer. “This isn’t good, Jack. Leaving your wife for work on your honeymoon? Take it from me, you don’t want to be doing things like this. I let work come between me and Kate, and it almost killed our marriage.”

  Jack thought about trying to explain, but he couldn’t come up with anything that sounded like a good defense. “I hear you, Joe. I just told the folks at school, they interrupt me again on my honeymoon I’m turning in my resignation.”

  “That’s good. You gotta be firm with these people. You give them an inch, they’ll grab a mile.” He let go of Jack and stepped back. “Say, Jack, I’ve been meaning to contact you about something. But it can wait till you get back from your honeymoon.”

  “Something personal?”

  “No, it’s about a case Hank and I started working on.”

  “A case?” Jack said.

  “Yeah. This one’s got a lot of layers, even some history angles in it. We were talking about it yesterday, thought we could bring you in as a consultant. You interested?”

  “Yeah, definitely. As long as I can work it around my schedule.”

  “Good. We’ll make it work. You and I work well together. It would be good to get connected again.”

  “Definitely, Joe. I’ll call you as soon as we’re back in town.”

  “Great. And give my love to Rachel. Tell her Kate says hi, too.”

  “I will.”

  “And Jack, if you mention this to Rachel, you know, the case…tell her we’ll try to keep the dead bodies to a minimum.” He kept a straight face for a minute, then broke into a grin.

  “See you soon, Joe.

  Want to Read More?

  Unintended Consequences is actually the 3rd book in the Jack Turner Suspense Series. If you’ve read it first, no harm done. I wrote it so that it would work just fine as a stand-alone book. But I think you’d really enjoy reading the first two, When Night Comes and Remembering Dresden. Those novels focus more on Jack Turner (the grandson of the Jack mostly featured in this book) and Rachel (the couple who appeared at the beginning and end of this book).

  Both are set mostly in the present time, although they do connect back to World War II in different ways. Fans absolutely love them. Really, it’s the success of those first 2 Jack Turner novels that have allowed me to write this 3rd book.

  Book # 4 is already being developed (sign up for my newsletter to get the word when it comes out).

  You can download either one (or both) of the first 2 books in the series now, and start reading within minutes. Here’s the link for When Night Comes:

  http://amzn.to/1xNat4G

  And the link for Remembering Dresden:

  http://amzn.to/1RO7WvN

  If I’m a new author to you and you haven’t yet read any of my other novels (besides this one, there are 17 others in print), let me start off by saying thanks for reading Unintended Consequences. I hope you thoroughly enjoyed it.

  The launching of the Jack Turner Suspense Series two years ago opened up something of a new door for my writing. I’m mostly known for writing inspirational novels that include strong emotional and/or spiritual themes (think Nicholas Sparks-type books with better endings). But I always enjoyed reading suspense novels and decided to see if I could write both. The great reader response to When Night Comes made that possible.

  For those of you who’ve read and enjoyed my other more inspirational novels, you are familiar with my character-driven storylines, strong romantic threads and, still, lots of page-turning suspense. You’ll find all of that in my Jack Turner Suspense novels.

  To make it easier to tell the difference between the genres, my suspense novels will have a totally different kind of cover than my other books (Classic suspense look). I decided to do things this way rather than to write under a different name.

  There is one exception to this cover idea. My first 12 novels were published by a major publishing house who wanted me to only write the Nicholas Sparks-type books. I was able to “slip in” 2 suspense novels that I think every fan of the Jack Turner Series would love (even though the covers look like they’re Nicholas-Sparks-type books).

  You can get both of these novels on Amazon, or anywhere. They are The Discovery and What Follows After.

  Want to Help the Author?

  If you enjoyed reading this book, the best thing you can do to help Dan is very simple―tell others about it. Word-of-mouth is the most powerful marketing tool there is. Better than expensive TV commercials or full-page ads in magazines.

  Dan would greatly appreciate you rating his book and leaving a brief review at any of the popular online stores, wherever books are sold. Even a sentence or two will help.

  Here’s the Amazon link for Unintended Consequences. Scroll down a little and find the area that says “Customer Reviews” (right beside the graphic that shows the number of stars is a Box that says: “Write a Customer Review”).

  http://amzn.to/2pvSvmG

  Sign up to Receive Dan’s Newsletter

  If you’d like to get an email alert whenever Dan has a new book coming out, or when a special deal is being offered on any of Dan’s books, click on his website link below and sign up for his newsletter. It’s right there on the homepage, right below the Welcome paragraph.

  From his homepage, you can also contact Dan or follow him on Facebook, Twitter or Goodreads.

  http://danwalshbooks.com

  Want to Read More of Dan’s Novels?

  Other Suspense Novels

  When Night Comes (Jack Turner Series – Book 1)

  Remembering Dresden (Jack Turner Series – Book 2)

  The Discovery (stand alone - looks like Inspirational novel)

  What Follows After (stand alone - looks like Inspirational novel)

  Forever Home Series

  Rescuing Finley (Book 1)

  Finding Riley (Book 2)

  Saving Parker (Book 3 – Will release Fall of 2017)

  Inspirational Novels

  The Unfinished Gift (Homefront Series Book 1 – Christmas story)

  The Homecoming (Homefront Series Book 2)

  The Deepest Waters (stand alone)

  Remembering Christmas (stand alone – Christmas story)

  The Discovery (stand alone)

  The Reunion (stand alone – set during the Christmas season)

  Keeping Christmas (stand alone
– Christmas story)

  Restoration Series with Gary Smalley (Inspirational)

  The Dance

  The Promise

  The Desire

  The Legacy

  To get a sneak peek at Dan’s other novels or see what others are saying about them, click on this link, then click the book cover you’re curious about:

  http://www.danwalshbooks.com/books/

  If you’d like to write Dan, feel free to email him at dwalsh@danwalshbooks.com. He loves to get reader emails and reads all of them himself.

  Acknowledgments

  There are a few people I absolutely must thank for helping to get Unintended Consequences into print. Starting with my wife, Cindi. Not just for her encouragement and support. Over the years, her editing skills grew to where the editors at my publishing house requested I not send in a manuscript until she’s gone through it. Once again on this novel, I promoted Cindi to senior editor. She provided excellent help on edits with the storyline and characters.

  I want to also thank my great team of Beta readers, who caught many things Cindi and I missed, even after several passes. Thank you Terry Giordano, Jann W. Martin and Debbie Mahle.

  Dan Walsh

  About the Author

  Dan Walsh was born in Philadelphia in 1957. His family moved down to Daytona Beach, Florida in 1965, when his dad began to work with GE on the Apollo space program. That’s where Dan grew up.

  He married Cindi, the love of his life in 1976. They have 2 grown children and three grandchildren. Dan served as a pastor for 25 years then began writing fiction full-time in 2010. His bestselling novels have won many awards, including 3 ACFW Carol Awards (finalist 6 times) and 3 Selah Awards. Three of Dan’s novels were finalists for RT Reviews Inspirational Book of the Year.