A Murder State of Mind Boxed Set

by Jude Pittman

  “Of course I’m not going to loan it to you. It’s a gift. I want you to have it. Gillian, please don’t argue with me. Meeting Kelly and you and finally Cam has changed my life. I have everything I’ve ever wanted and more. It gives me such pleasure to know that you’re happy with this gown and that you’ll accept it from me and wear it to those awards. Please don’t turn me down.”

  “Oh Stella.” Gillian grabbed her friend and hugged her as tight as she could. “Of course I’ll accept. I am just thrilled. It is beautiful.”

  “Well then, let’s get it on you and see if it fits.”

  Minutes later Gillian spun around in front of the mirrors and Stella glowed with pride at the vision reflecting back at both of them. “Just what I thought. It’s such a perfect fit everyone will know it was made just for you. I wish I didn’t have such big feet, you could have the shoes as well.”

  “Not to worry. I have a pair of strappy gold heels I’ve been saving for a long time now. They’ll be perfect. Thank you again. You’re quite a friend.”

  “I’m as happy as you are. "Promise me you'll get a picture of you and Kelly at the awards and make a print for us.”

  “Done.”

  * * *

  Back at the stables, Gillian changed into work clothes and headed out to the barn. Jake, who’d been laying out in the afternoon sun, met her inside the fence.

  “Jake. Kelly left you at home today did he? Must not have been sure what he was going to run into out there in Azle.” Jake wagged his tail and headed up the path in front of Gillian.

  Guess he’s going to help me get the chores done since his master hasn’t shown up yet. Gillian mused. At the barn she met up with Ben and Les, the two after school students who were her current part timers. It helped a lot to have the teenagers muck out the barns and fill the mangers. That left her time to see to each of the horses individually, give out a few treats and spend some time chatting with them.

  Jake gave a couple of sharp barks from the end of the barn and Gillian moved down to join him. “I see Saffron is still favoring that front leg of hers.” She slid into the stall and held out her hand for the horse to present the sore leg. “I think you’re right, Jake. Looks like we’re going to have to call Susanna in to have a look at this.” Susanna was the new vet who had replaced Dr. Morgan, the man whose name had been permanently stricken from Gillian’s vocabulary.

  After another hour Gillian finished up and she and Jake headed back to the house.

  “Looks like I’m going to be eating alone.” Gillian sat down in one of the rockers, but Jake sniffed the air and let out a couple of short barks. “Or maybe not.” She recognized his ‘Kelly’s coming’ alert, and smiled in anticipation.

  * * *

  Jake met Kelly at the gate for his rubdown. “I’ve got to call Gus right away.” Kelly leaned down and gave Gillian an ‘I missed you’ kiss. “I’ll tell you about it once I’m done. I wanted to wait until I was home before I called him, but I need to let him know right away. I’ll use your office phone if that’s okay.”

  “Of course. Go right ahead.” Jake flopped at Gillian’s feet and she reached down to scratch his ears. “We’ll be right here waiting when you get done. Want me to get you a cold one?”

  “Please. I’ll be as quick as I can.”

  Gillian went to the kitchen for an ice bucket, covered a couple of long necks with crushed ice, heaped a plate with nacho chips, and homemade salsa. She grabbed a couple of dog treats out of Jake’s drawer, loaded a tray and carried it out to the table in front of the swing.

  “Here you go boy.” She handed Jake one of his favorite chews, and settled down on the swing to wait for Kelly.

  It took another fifteen minutes, but when he returned to the porch, his eyes lit up at the sight of the tray.

  “Nice.” He settled down beside Gillian, gave her an appreciative kiss on the lips and reached for one of the long necks.

  “You’re not going to believe what I ran into out there in Azle.”

  “I’m dying to know. It took all my will power to keep myself from sneaking over to the office and listening outside the door.”

  Kelly laughed and ruffled her hair. “So, I have a little spy in the house.”

  Gillian gave him the look, the one that all men recognize as ‘you better talk, now’.

  “Okay,” Kelly held up his hand. “Turn down the laser. Let me get a couple bites of these nachos and I’ll tell you all about it.”

  She raised her eyebrows and kept her eyes on him while he chewed and swallowed and washed it down with a healthy swig of beer.

  “I had a funny feeling about this Clements kid. I’m not sure what it was, but thinking back, there was something off about the way Fred talked about the family. Nothing specific mind you, but just something that set my nerves tingling.

  Kelly took another sip of his beer and set it on the table. “Anyway, I drove up to the house. Nothing more than an old shack really, but there was a car and an old pickup in the driveway, so I figured someone had to be around. I got out, knocked on the door, and waited. No answer, so I knocked again, harder. When there was still no answer I walked around to the back of the shack, but there didn’t seem to be any sign of life.

  “So of course you decided maybe you’d better get back into your truck and get out of there in case the inhospitables who weren’t answering the door turned out to be really unfriendly.” Gillian grinned, knowing full well that’s exactly what he hadn’t done.

  “Well. I did check to make sure I had my 38 in the glove box.” He grinned back at her. “Anyway, there was an old dirt road that seemed to lead back into the property and I decided to follow it and see where it took me. Damn good thing I just had Old Blue tuned up. We rolled down that road so quiet you’d have had to be listening for us in order to know we were coming.”

  “I take it you found something that made you glad you hadn’t made any noise.”

  “I was about ready to turn around when I heard what sounded like a military platoon on a training mission.”

  “Oh no.”

  “Oh yes. I turned off the truck, got out and followed the sound on foot. I’ll be damned if I wasn’t right. It was a military training mission, but it sure as hell wasn’t our military.”

  “Not terrorist.”

  “Damn sure looked like it to me. I snapped off a couple of pictures with my cell phone and then got the hell out of there. I don’t think they heard anything. Hell, they were making so much noise the Texas guard could have snuck up on them, but I didn’t waste any time getting out of there.”

  “So you think Wade Clements has gotten himself mixed up with a terrorist cell?”

  “It looks that way. Anyhow, that’s way above my pay grade. I told Gus everything I knew, and sent him the pictures I’d taken. That’s as far as it’s going to go with me. I reminded him we were set to leave town this week and from the looks of things out there in Azle, Gus’ll turn the whole mess over to the Guard, and they’ll decide what steps to take from here on out.”

  “I’m glad we’re leaving town.” Gillian snuggled into Kelly’s arms. “I know it’s selfish of me, but even the thought of you dealing with terrorists scares me to death. Those people aren’t normal. They pretend they’re acting for a God, but even their own faith rejects them. They’re not acting for anyone but themselves.”

  “I don’t want you to worry about anything.” Kelly pulled Gillian into his arms and kissed her until she relaxed against his chest. “We’re going to Hollywood and we’re going to have ourselves a honeymoon that’ll rival the Kardashians.”

  “Oh please.” Gillian burst out laughing. “You really don’t want us to end up as the laughing stock of Fort Worth.”

  About the Author

  Jude Pittman and her husband John live in Calgary, Alberta. Retired after several decades of working in law firms, Jude now devotes her time to her love of Books.

  Jude is one of the Shareholder/Owners of Books We Love Ltd. As an author she h
as published the mystery trilogy "A Murder State of Mind", featuring Deadly Secrets, Deadly Betrayal and Deadly Consequences.. In addition, Jude has published the novella Healing Spirits, Bad Medicine and co-written with Author Gail Roughton, Sisters of Prophecy: Ursula, the first book in a paranormal, time travel, mystery series featuring Jude’s ancestor, the Prophetess Mother Shipton from 15th Century England.

  Jude is currently at work on the 4th Kelly McWinter mystery, A Murder State of Mind, California, Deadly Lights. And Jude and Gail are working on Sisters of Prophecy: Irene

  http://www.bookswelove.net/authors/pittman-jude/

  https://www.facebook.com/judith.pittman.56