The Curse Of Ivy
By
Josephine Aubrey
Copyright 2017 by Josephine Aubrey
Published 2017
All rights reserved. The author has exclusive rights to this book. This book may not be reproduced as a whole, or in part using any medium of communication without the permission in writing from the author.
This book is fiction created totally from the imagination of the author. The Author has invented the people, names, and characters to tell the story. Any likeness to real events, people, names, characters, or locations living or dead is coincidental.
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Six
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Epilogue
Chapter One
Most of us live our lives with an exaggerated sense of safety when the world around us is filled with unperceived threats such as criminals living next door in our own neighborhoods, a justice system that, for the most part, dispenses law not justice, and extreme weather and the consequences. These dangers seem far removed from the average person, and the chance of our lives being affected are like winning the lottery, very remote.
Patricia lived in a small town where everyone knew everyone else and feeling safe was the norm. Her best friend was Karen, who she had known since kindergarten, and the church she and her parents had attended was just around the corner from her house. She had just left her accounting agency, and she was tired and eager to get home so she could get ready to go out for the evening. She was going out with Steven, a young man who had also been a schoolmate, and who she had known all of her life. As she pulled into her driveway and heard her dog, Snuffles, barking wildly from the back yard, she thought nothing of it because squirrels would sometimes get into his kennel.
As she left her car in the garage, and unlocked the back door, a slight noise coming from inside the house caused her to stop. She leaned in listening intently thinking that she was imagining things, then laughed at herself because everyone knows that old houses are prone to making creaking sounds as they settle over time. As she made a move to step in the door, the sound of the barking dog took on new meaning as she heard what sounded like footsteps moving stealthily towards her. Panicked, she ran for her car desperate to get inside and lock the door.
Patricia screamed as she frantically clawed her way into the car, as the door on the car and the house flew open at the same time. As the intruder ran around the car, she locked the door and cringed away from the car window as she turned on the ignition. The man, faceless behind a hood, grabbed the door handle just as the lock connected, and then jerked wildly at the door. Patricia activated the automatic garage door backing out so fast she was lucky she had not taken part of the garage with her. Her speedy exit unsettled the intruder and left him scrambling to regain his footing after being jerked off his feet by the backward motion of the car. Patricia drove swiftly away from her house, and when she felt safe to do so, she pulled over to the side of the road and shakily dialed 911 on her cell phone.
A mans voice asked, “What is the emergency?” Trying to control her shaking, the girl answered. “This is Patricia Grayson and someone just broke into my house, and he was still there when I drove away.” She said, surprisingly short of breath “So you are in your car now?” the man asked. “Yes, yes.” Patricia answered frantically.
“I started to open the back door, but when I heard someone in the house, I ran back to the car. He was right behind me, but I locked the door before he could stop me. When I left, he was still in the garage.” She finished desperate to get him to send help
“What is the address?” Patricia gave him her address. “Please hurray before he gets away.”
“This was a man then?” the dispatcher asked. “Yes, it did look like a man.” Patricia answered. “Help is on the way.” he ended. “Oh, thank you.” Patricia said gratefully.
The young girl, still shaking, waited fifteen minutes, and then, feeling more confident knowing the authorities were on the way, drove slowly around the block to her street. As she neared her house, she was relieved to see a police car pulling into her driveway. She parked across from her house and watched as two officers exited their car and approached the open garage door. After a few minutes, one of the officers came from the garage and she waved him over. “Are you Patricia Grayson?” he asked. “Yes, and I am so glad that you are here.” she answered. “Well, we need you to stay in your car and keep the doors locked while we have a look around.” he cautioned her.
The officer disappeared again into her house where, up until this break-in, she had felt safe. Sitting there waiting for the officers to report back to her, Patricia wondered where she would stay for the night. She might even need someplace to stay indefinitely. She could not imagine sleeping here at her house tonight. It wasn’t safe. Someone could just come in on her while she was sleeping. After a short time, both officers reappeared in the garage and began peering at the floor
“They are looking for footprints.” Patricia thought. “Well, they probably wouldn’t find any. She had just cleaned the garage this week, and that floor was squeaky clean,” she thought. She actually wished she had not cleaned the floor. She had gotten a surge of energy while thinking about all of the fun she and Karen and her other friends would have this summer and decided that though it was late spring, this was a great opportunity to get everything done. She had called the servicemen to clean the swimming pool, had all of the hedges trimmed, and had a new mailbox installed. She was glad to get all of the work done.
After their search, one of the officers once again approached her car. “Did you find anything officer? Did you see anyone?” she asked. “No Ms. Grayson. There is no one in there now, but there is evidence, however, that someone has broken in through the doors that open out onto the back patio. Looks like they have broken the glass in one of the windowpanes to unlock the door. That is usually the way they break in, because that is easy for them to do.” he stated. “ That is just scary. I always lock all of the doors when I leave. I never dreamed that someone could break into my house that easily.” Patricia said completely disillusioned.
“You would be surprised at how many people don’t always lock their doors. But, even if you do, this kind of thing can happen, and does. It is kind of unusual for it to happen in this neighborhood though.” He added as he looked around noting the neat lawns around the older stately homes. “No one is safe, however, if someone decides they want to get inside your house,” the officer finished. This information was not reassuring to the already frightened girl, and made her dread when the officers would
leave, and she would be alone with her compromised home.
In less than thirty minutes the officers had looked over the crime scene, made their assessment, and left. Their assessment being that, aside from the possibility that the man might have left fingerprints, there was no tangible evidence to go on, so, unless someone had seen him, there was little chance that this person would ever be caught. On their way out, they told Patricia that they would send someone out to dust for fingerprints. “We will also need you to check around to see if anything is missing, and it probably isn’t safe here with that door busted. You might consider staying with family tonight.”
Shattered and feeling vulnerable, Patricia called her good friend and neighbor Mary, who had lived across the street from her family ever since she could remember and asked if she could stay the night. Mary had baby-sat Patricia when she was a child and had been there for her when her mother had died only a year ago. She was a dear friend, and Patricia really needed a good friend right now. As she packed a small bag of the things that she would need, forensics showed up to dust for fingerprints. Leaving them to do their job, Patricia walked across the street, where her friend waited on her front veranda to greet her. When Mary saw how upset Patricia was, she invited her into the living room where they sat while the young girl explained to the older woman what had just transpired. After the two of them had discussed all the details about the break-in, Mary made them a cup of tea.
“You can stay here tonight Patsy, and after that as long as you need to.” Mary said taking a sip of her tea. ‘We are like family, you and I.” She said looking fondly at her young friend. ’Yes. I can’t remember when I didn’t know you Mary. Thank you so much. This is so frightening. The police officers are going to keep watch on the neighborhood for the next few days. That is reassuring don’t you think? It sure makes me feel safer at least.”
“Yes. I agree. I feel safer too. That man could have broken into any one of the houses on our street. I am so sorry that he broke into yours. No one is safe if that man is still out there. In the morning we can have a look at the damage and maybe have your door repaired. Now lets find something to do to take our minds off this. Would you like to watch television? That is what I was doing when you called.”
That evening Patricia called Steven and broke their date. She could not relax and enjoy herself in the state of mind she was in now. The next morning, Patricia called Abby her assistant manager at the accounting agency and took off for the day to confront her compromised home, and the mess the intruder had left for her. Why me, she thought? Then she hugged her friend Mary, thanked her for all she had done, and they both walked across the street to her house. After a quick look around, nothing seemed to have been disturbed, and Patricia decided that, as far as she could determine, nothing was missing. This she reported to the police who reassured her that they would continue to check out her neighborhood daily.
The back door still needed to be fixed, so she called a repairman to restore the broken window. After Mary had looked over the house with Patricia to make sure no one was lurking in the shadows, she returned home cautioning Patricia to call her if she needed her for anything. The repairman arrived and had the door repaired the same day. By bedtime the young girl was locked in back to normal. Patricia feared, however, that her life would never be normal again.
Chapter Two
Rand Cameron was aware that Justin Grayson was involved in drug dealing. Justin was from a wealthy family, which would make you think that the boy didn’t need more money, but some people just can’t get enough, and everyone knew there was a lot of money to be had dealing drugs.
For days Rand had been following Justin hoping that he would lead him to the head of this drug ring. It was noon when Justin drove out of town to the freeway heading north, and Rand was right behind him. Rand’s unmarked car made him invisible while the red sporty convertible driven by Justin was like waving a red flag.
Although Rand and Justin were not friends, they had known each other all of their lives. Rand’s father had been the lawyer for the Grayson family for years, plus Rand also knew Justin from school as the rich kid who was always in some kind of trouble. It would not surprise Rand at all if Justin were mixed up in this drug fiasco. It was a shame though, because the Grayson’s were fine upstanding citizens even leaders in the city of Louisville. Their ancestors helped to found the city in it’s infancy, and Rand hated to see the Grayson name sullied by this young man who did not seem to appreciate his heritage.
Following Justin north, both cars took the exit to 65 highway. Rand followed Justin to Greenfield, a small town in Indiana just north of Louisville, Kentucky. He followed the sporty car to a neighborhood of very comfortable looking older homes. The flashy convertible slowed down in front of one of the houses and then drove away.
Rand, hanging back so as not to be noticed, followed the other car two blocks away to a gas station where he watched as the other car drove around to the side of the store. When Rand saw Justin again, he expected him to enter the store, but instead he walked away in the direction of the street where they had just been. Waiting until he was out of sight, the police officer drove around the block in the opposite direction so as to arrive at the house unnoticed. Parking far enough down the lane so as not to be observed, Rand watched as Justin approached the house and then walked around to the back. It occurred to him that maybe these people were Justin’s family or friends. Also, there was no law that said that a young man like Justin, possibly a drug dealer, could not own a house on a quiet street in a small town like Greenfield, Indiana.
Rand had been watching the house for less than thirty minutes when a small Toyota sedan, driven by a young girl, pulled into the driveway. The garage door went up, and the car disappeared into the garage out of his range of vision. Alert to this new development, Rand only had to wait a few minutes before the girl in the Toyota came flying out of the garage, backing into the street, and driving swiftly away. His instincts told Rand to sit tight. The man had yet to appear, plus the girl might return. In only minutes a police car appeared at the end of the block and pulled into the driveway. As an officer got out of his car and entered the garage, Rand became aware of a Toyota sedan as it came abreast from behind. Without thinking, Rand looked across into the eyes of a beautiful young girl who glanced over as she drove by. Stunning! As she parked across the street from the house, Rand wondered what her relationship was to Justin Grayson.
Refocusing, Rand could not decide if he should stay and see what developed here, or follow Justin, who had surely left out the back door on his way to retrieve his car. Rand decided he would stay. If this had been Justin’s destination, he would pick up his car and return to Louisville. He needed to know what the boy had been up to that would cause the young girl to need police intervention. Later, when he returned to Louisville, he would call the police chief in Greenfield and get the details.
Rand observed as the officers went into the house, and then reported back to the girl in the Toyota. After the police officers left, forensics showed up. When the girl crossed the street to the neighbor’s house, he decided there was nothing else to learn about the incident and drove away. Forensics‘ presence at the house, however, meant that this definitely was a crime scene. He would compare notes later with Greenville PD.
Later, when Rand had returned to Louisville, he received a report that came in from one of the officers stationed near Grayson Manor that the convertible was parked at the manor, at that moment, just as he had predicted.
Rand had expected a real breakthrough in this drug case as a result of following Justin to Greenfield. He and the other officers in his unit were convinced that Justin was going to lead them to the drug lords. The drug dealers flooded the streets with illegal drugs, which reached their kids corrupting and altering their lives in negative and sometimes tragic ways. Everyone on the police force wanted to stop this plague that destroyed the lives of their young people, and they would not stop until the criminals were all behi
nd bars.
In his office, Rand went to his computer to look up the address of the house Justin had visited. The owner was Patricia Grayson. Hmmm. Being a Grayson meant that she was probably kin to Justin. She could be a cousin. That meant that there was a chance that she was involved in this corruption. Then what was that cat and mouse thing he had witnessed this afternoon? Rand thought that maybe he was onto something.
Chapter Three
Justin Grayson had scrambled to his feet and ran back through the house leaving through the busted door after being jerked off his feet as he tried to stop Patricia Grayson from leaving. He had taken the back ally as he ran toward the place where he had left his car only a few blocks away. He was disappointed that he had not gotten his hands on Patricia Grayson. If he could have staged "an accident” while he was there, his problems would have been solved. This ordeal would have been over for him, and he could have moved on with his life.
Justin had felt the Grayson fortune slipping out of his hands ever since he had learned that his Uncle Flannel Grayson’s brother, David, who lived in Greenfield, Indiana, had a daughter. This might not have seemed a problem if he had not stumbled onto his uncle’s revised will.
Just recently, Justin had observed Grant Cameron his uncle’s lawyer meet with his Uncle Flannel in his office at Grayson Manor behind closed doors. Justin stood outside the door curious as to what legal matters were being discussed. Probably something to do with the family banking was his best guess. He would wait until all was clear, and then have a look around his uncle’s office and see what he could find.
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