by R. B. Conroy
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Cover
Acknowledgements
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
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
About the Author
Other books by R B Conroy
Back cover
Evil in
Paradise
by
R B Conroy
CCB Publishing
British Columbia, Canada
Evil in Paradise
Copyright ©2012 by R B Conroy
ISBN-13 978-1-927360-36-1
First Edition
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Conroy, R B, 1944-
Evil in paradise [electronic resource] / written by R B Conroy.
ISBN 978-1-927360-36-1
Also available in print format.
I. Title.
PS3603.O57E95 2012 813'.6 C2012-901565-2
Use of the cover image of Cody’s Original Roadhouse® is reproduced with permission by John Demetriadis, Co-Owner of Cody’s American Restaurants, LLC.
Cody’s Original Roadhouse® and Cody’s® are registered trademarks of COR Enterprises, Inc., Clearwater, Florida.
Cover art design by Jinger Heaston: www.jingraphix.org
Author photo by Julie DuBois: www.sunrisephoto.com
Disclaimer: This novel is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, and incidents either are a product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Extreme care has been taken to ensure that all information presented in this book is accurate and up to date at the time of publishing. Neither the author nor the publisher can be held responsible for any errors or omissions. Additionally, neither is any liability assumed for damages resulting from the use of the information contained herein.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the express written permission of the publisher.
Publisher:
CCB Publishing
British Columbia, Canada
www.ccbpublishing.com
Acknowledgements
Writing a novel is a rewarding, but lonely journey made much more palatable by the love and support of good friends and family. I would have never written my first novel without the unrelenting support of my wife, Cheryl, who is the love of my life and my source of inspiration, as well as my editor-in-chief. The kind remarks and encouragement from my friends and family continue to be a constant source of motivation while I am writing. My publisher, Paul Rabinovitch of CCB Publishing, is amazingly fast and efficient and is, in my opinion, the best publisher in the business. A good book needs a good cover and Jinger Heaston is a great Cover Artist-thank you, Jinger. Much appreciation to John Demetriadis, owner of Cody’s Original Roadhouse, for allowing the use of the image of his wonderful restaurant on the cover. A big thank you to Judy Roberts for taking time out of her busy vacation schedule to take the pictures that resulted in my cover image. Also, I am grateful to my fine editor, Penny Schlatter, for combing over my book and finding those nasty little mistakes that I always seem to miss. And last, but certainly not least, I can always count on the undying support of my beautiful daughters, Amy and Melissa, my son-in-law, Chris, and my beautiful granddaughters, Payton, Olivia, Gabby, Caroline, and Gracie. To each of you with love!
1
A small town in Indiana 1953
“Good morning, Mrs. Jacobs.”
“Good morning, Ellie, how are you today, honey?”
“Good. Is Cathy here?”
“Yes, she is, sweetheart, she’s right here in the kitchen having breakfast. Why don’t you come in and have a piece of toast with her. I’m sure Cathy would like that.”
“Thank you, Mrs. Jacobs.”
“Thank you, Mrs. Jacobs,” Cathy whispered, mimicking her nine year old friend. Cathy didn’t like it when her mother was nice to her playmates; it made her jealous-especially when it was Ellie. Ellie was the little doll baby of the neighborhood with her blond curly hair, rosy cheeks and cute little voice. Cathy resented Ellie, who wanted nothing more than to be friends with the pretty, appealing Cathy.
“Hi Cathy, your mom said I could come in and have some toast with you.”
Cathy’s legs gyrated back and forth nervously; she turned and looked at Ellie through slightly narrowed eyes. “Okay, you can have one piece of toast.”
“Thank you,” Ellie murmured. She slid the other chair back and started to sit down.
“No!” Cathy blared. “You have to stand up, that’s my mommy’s chair.” Her words were sudden and raw.
“Okay.” Ellie quickly slid the chair back under the table and stood with her arms folded, chin on chest.
Cathy quickly examined the three pieces of toast stacked neatly on a small plate. She slid the heel piece off the bottom and jabbed it toward Ellie. “Here, this is your piece. It already has butter on it.”
Ellie timidly took the toast from Cathy. “Thank you. Can I have some jelly, please? I like grape.”
“No, we’re almost out of jelly.” Cathy quickly slid the almost full jar of jelly behind her steaming cup of hot chocolate.
Ellie frowned. The dryer door banged shut in the laundry room. A few seconds later, Cathy’s mom came bouncing in the room smoothing her apron as she approached the girls.
“My oh my, Ellie! Why are you standing up? You sit right down this minute.” She grabbed the chair next to Cathy and pulled it out from under the table. She gave Cathy a stern glare and stabbed her finger at the chair. “Here you are, Ellie.”
A reluctant Ellie cautiously took her seat while avoiding Cathy’s glare.
“Do you want some jelly on your toast, honey?”
Ellie nodded.
Mrs. Jacobs spread a generous amount of jelly on the toast and handed it back to her.
“Thank you, Mrs. Jacobs.” Ellie’s eyes were locked on Mrs. Jacobs to avoid the wicked stare from Cathy.
“You girls have fun. I need to go back in the laundry room and finish the ironing.” Cathy’s mother smiled with warm spontaneity and hurried from the room.
With her brow raised and eyes bulging, Cathy continued to stare daggers at her little friend.
Ellie nibbled on her toast making an occasional attempt at eye contact with Cathy, but she was no match for the aggressive glare from her larger playmate and would quickly look away.
Then suddenly Cathy’s mood changed, her face softened. “Want to play in the woods today?” she asked nicely.
“We’re not supposed to go to the woods.”
“Our mommies said we could go through the woods if we’re going to somebody’s house. We could tell my mommy that we’re going to Janey’s house; she lives on the other side of the woods.”
“What if my mommy finds out and gets mad?”
“Your mommy won’t get mad if my mommy says it’s all right.”
“Okay.”
Cathy took a final sip of her orange juice and slid off her stool. “Ready?”
“Yeah.”
Cathy sprung toward the laundry room with Ellie close behind.
“Mommy, Mommy, we’re going to Janey’s house and play on her swings.”
“Are you sure her mother won’t mind? Maybe I should call.”
“No, no, Mommy, her mother said we could play on her swings any time, even if Janey isn’t home.”
“Okay, but stay on the big trail.”
“We will, Mommy. Bye.”
“Good-bye, girls, have a good time and don’t wear out your welcome at the Williams’.”
“Okay,” the excited girls squealed in unison.
The two girls raced through the house and out the back door. They snatched their bikes off the gravel driveway and hopped aboard for their trip through the nearby woods.
Cathy was still angry with Ellie for the look she got from her mother. Sometimes she wished that Ellie lived far away from her and wasn’t around all the time to making her feel jealous and upset.
Cathy pedaled hard along the winding road with Ellie fighting to keep up. After a few minutes, they swerved off the paved street and onto the big path that twisted its way through the center of the large wooded area that bordered the girls’ neighborhood. Suddenly, Cathy took a sharp turn off the big path and bolted down a narrow, less traveled path with Ellie peddling furiously to keep up. The two little girls followed the zig-zagging path through thick prairie grass until they reached the big hill by the old gravel pit. Then without warning, Ellie stood up, pushed back on her peddle and stopped suddenly on the narrow path behind Cathy. Cathy rode on, not noticing that Ellie had stopped. When she turned and saw Ellie straddling her bright pink and purple bike some fifty feet behind her, Cathy got angry and stopped on the side of the hill.
“You can’t stop, Ellie, we’re almost there!” she fumed. But Ellie wasn’t moving. Cathy spun her bike around and pedaled hard toward her defiant friend. When she got close, she hit the brakes and skidded to a stop next to the mulish Ellie.
“Come on, Ellie! It will be fun. We can throw rocks in the water and everything.”
“My mommy told me to never go by the old gravel pit. She said it’s dangerous!”
“No, it’s not dangerous. I’ve been up there lots of time. Just follow me.”
“No.”
Cathy put her hands on her hips and glared at her friend, her face red and blotchy with anger. “You better go or I’ll tell your mommy that you broke Mr. Brubaker’s window yesterday.”
Little Ellie’s eyes glazed over, a tear rolled down her cheek.
“You’ll get in lots of trouble and I’ll tell Mr. Brubaker too.”
Ellie stared at the ground and murmured so softly Cathy could hardly hear her, “You promise you won’t tell mommy about Mr. Brubaker if I go with you?”
“I promise.”
“Okay, I’ll go.”
Cathy twirled her bike around and started up the path again with Ellie riding reluctantly behind her. Soon the two of them were on top of the steep hill next to the old, abandoned gravel pit. Cathy came to a quick stop, dropped her bike to the ground and ran over to the edge of the pit. A chill ran up her spine when she looked over the edge at the steep drop-off.
“Wow, look at all of those big rocks at the bottom by the water!” she yelled.
Scared, Ellie stayed back straddling her bike on the trail behind Cathy.
“Come on, Ellie, come over and look.”
Ellie’s eyes teared up; she started to cry. “I want to go home. I’m scared, Cathy.”
Cathy looked fiercely at her terrified friend, angry that she had disobeyed her, but Ellie wasn’t moving. She screamed and pushed backward on the pathway moving further away from Cathy and the edge of the pit.
Once again, Cathy had an amazing metamorphosis. Her face softened, she smiled warmly at Ellie. “Okay, we can go home; but we have to go home this way. It’s the best way.” Cathy swung her finger toward the trail that bordered the deep pit. She smiled, but her eyes glinted viciously.
“No! That trail goes by the gravel pit,” Ellie protested.
“I know it does, Ellie, but it’s the fastest way home to your mommy.” Cathy spoke calmly to her frightened friend. “You can go first if you want to.”
“I get to go first.”
“Yes.”
“I wanna go real slow, okay?”
“Okay.”
“Don’t move when I go past you Cathy, okay?”
“Okay.”
With her hands quivering, Ellie rode around Cathy and started down the narrow path that ran along the edge of the pit. Her wobbling increased as she got closer to the steep drop off. Frozen in fear, she stopped, spun around and looked at Cathy with pleading eyes, “I don’t want to go home this way. I want to go home the other way.”
“It’s okay, honey, let me show you.” Cathy jumped off her bike and ran ahead of Ellie to the very edge of the steep drop-off. “Come here, Ellie. It’s not scary. Look here!” She grabbed Ellie’s handlebars and pulled her bike up to the edge of the pit. Wide-eyed and ashen, Ellie dragged her feet on the ground as she fought to stop the bigger Cathy from pulling her bike over to the edge. But, it was to no avail; she was soon looking directly over the edge of the terrifying drop-off. Cathy let go of the handlebars and quickly moved behind Ellie’s bike. Looking around to make sure no one was watching, Cathy laid her hands firmly on Ellie’s shaking back and whispered, “You’ll be fine, honey. It’s not that scary.” Then with the faint beginnings of a smile on her face, she calmly gave her friend a hard push to the back, sending the terrified Ellie tumbling over the side of the steep canyon wall. Cathy hurried over to the rim and watched her screaming friend tumble helplessly toward the bottom of the jagged pit.
About halfway down the terrifying incline, Ellie’s bike crashed into a huge rock. The impact sent her bike flying one way and Ellie’s flailing body the other. Eyes wide, Cathy watched as her friend bashed into a large pile of sharp rocks about twenty feet from the bottom of the dark pit. She ricocheted left and banged off several more rocks before her limp body fell with a thud on the muddy bottom between two large rocks. An instant later, her battered bike bounced to a stop just a short distance away. Her tiny body lay motionless with streams of blood pouring from her ears and mouth.
Cathy stood and stared at the horrid scene below-she had a blank, stoic expression on her face. She pivoted around and scanned the surrounding area again to be certain that no one had seen her. She picked up her bike, cleaned off a couple stray strands of grass from the seat, spun around and began peddling back toward home. Calm, and feeling no remorse, Cathy thought of how nice it will be not having the pesky Ellie around to bug her anymore. While gliding toward the bottom of the big hill next to the pit, she began to think of a good story to tell her mommy about what had just happened to her popular playmate.
* * * * * *
A short time later, a sobbing Cathy returned to the scene of the tragedy with her mother.
“Over here, Mommy.” Cathy rode her bike past her mother to the edge of the pit and pointed at the spot where Ellie had fallen. “I told her to be careful, Mommy, but she wouldn’t listen. She fell over here.” Cathy waited for her dog-tired mother to catch up. Her mom struggled to the edge of the steep crevice and looked down.
“Oh, my God! Oh, my God!” she shrieked. She collapsed into the tall weeds near the path and began sobbing, Cathy fell on top of her and wrapped her arms around her, screaming and crying.
Sirens wailed in the distance. Soon the area was crawling with police and medical person
nel. Two specially trained officers strapped on leather harnesses repelled down the steep drop-off with a stretcher and medical supplies. When they got to the bottom and examined the body, they both just shook their heads. The lead officer shouted up to the top, “She’s gone! It’s no use!” A short time later the little body was brought to the top by the officers just as Ellie’s mother arrived at the scene and received the horrible news. Unable to comprehend the ghastly sight of her nine year old daughter’s lifeless, battered body lying on a stretcher, the mother, her face drawn and ashen, collapsed into the arms of a nearby police officer.
2
The Villages, Florida, 2011
The huge red-orange sun dropped slowly beneath the distant palms, rays of sunlight filtered through the gangly trees and glistened on a nearby lake. A gentle breeze rippled across the water, pushing tall, willowy reeds into a rhythmic dance. Ed Roberts stood still on the sixth green, putter in hand, admiring the beautiful scene. He was shaken out of his temporary trance by the jabbing voice of his playing partner.
“Hit the ball, Ed! We don’t have all night, ya know. I told the little lady I’d take her out for ribs tonight at 6:30. It’s 5:35 and we still have three holes to play.”
Ed Roberts chuckled at the barbs from his old friend. Then he quickly fired back one of his own, “Then why did you insist on playing Pelican? The Mississippi River doesn’t hold as much water as this place!”
“Because I like a challenge, that’s why,” Dave groused. “Besides, it’s close to home.”
Ed shook his head. “Okay, let’s play ready golf then. When you get to your ball, just hit it.”
“Okay, ready golf it is. And, how about just a couple of practice swings, Ed. You act like you’re playing the U. S. Open or something.”
“Okay, okay.” Ed loved his friend Dave, even if he could be irascible at times. They had been the best of friends since their high school days at Wawasee High School in Syracuse, Indiana, where they played football and basketball together. The stubby Dave was a tenacious, ball-hawking, little guard who made life miserable for whomever he was defending and Ed was a tall, lean, forward with great hand-eye coordination and exceptional leaping ability. Together, they led the Wawasee Warriors to a Regional Basketball Champion-ship title in 1963-a huge accomplishment for a small town in Indiana. Their friendship extended on into adulthood with Ed attending Ball State University where he was a four year starter in basketball while majoring in Business Administration, and Dave, attending Purdue where he received a degree in Pharmacy. After college, they both settled in their hometown of Syracuse and resumed their friendship. Ed eventually became President of First Bank and Trust and Dave worked as a pharmacist at a local drug store. After raising their families together, the two of them, along with their wives, Cathy and Sally, who were also best friends, decided to retire to The Villages, a huge retirement community in north central Florida. They had been living at The Villages for nearly five years. Known as the “Disney World for Adults”, life had been good for the Roberts at The Villages, at least so far.
