Garrett Give Her Back to Me

1. Auflage 2014
ISBN: 978-0-9897473-3-2
Verlag: Dream Big Productions, LLC
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, 272 Seiten

Sixteen years ago, a serial murderer called The Apostle plagued rural Union County. Nine girls were abducted, born in the same year, all with identical physical descriptions. Only one survived the ordeal: Aubrey Clark. Her dad, Sheriff Don Clark, risked his life and rescued his daughter from captivity. Despite his heroics, the lawman became a casualty of The Apostle, who fled. Aubrey stayed by her dad's side, taking care of the bedridden man until his death, two weeks ago. Now, as Aubrey tries to get on with her life, the new sheriff receives a cryptic message: 'Give her back to me.' On the same night that The Apostle returns, another girl disappears, and Aubrey turns to her twin, Kaiya, for help. Together, the Clark sisters must confront painful memories to draw Aubrey's abductor into the open and end the reign of terror. This all new adventure takes readers on an adventure that allows them to solve a mystery and choose for themselves the outcome of the story!

Autoren/Hrsg.

Garrett, Jason

Leseproben

  one present day The Ripe Corn Moon sat low in the skies above Union County, and as she cleared the willow fields, Aubrey Clark believed she could reach up and touch it. Her grandma called the July moon by its Cherokee name, Guyegwoni. A full-blooded Cherokee from a long line of daughters, she called Aubrey her inali – or fox. Though Aubrey had the red mane of a fox, courtesy of an Irish father, she had the striking features of her mother’s Cherokee heritage. At thirty-five, Aubrey still took it as a compliment when people spoke of how she reminded them of her late mom, June. She found the memories sweet, but she was used to being compared to someone else. Every now and again, someone would ask about Kaiya, who was her identical twin. Kaiya had left home sixteen years earlier and had not returned since. Preparations would begin next week for Union County’s annual Green Corn Festival, and that always made her want her sister near. The event was a precursor for several autumnal festivals in their hometown of Anega and the surrounding counties. For Aubrey, it was her favorite time of year, and she wanted to share that with her loved ones. There were so few left; but she tried not to think about what she did not have. She reached the fence line of a farm along the old state highway leading into town, anxious to see some old friends. The farm was owned by a family whose children had left home when she was a child, and the ground was as familiar to her as her own yard. Aubrey smiled as a soothing breeze drifted over the tall corn fields across the highway and cast her long, straight tresses into a gentle wave. She could smell the oatmeal-based cold cream she used, and what her shampoo manufacturer decided was juniper. The scent of hay filled the air, and she spotted a speckled mare approaching at a gentle gallop. A Welsh pony named Silver Lady greeted Aubrey and took a calm stance. She stroked the horse’s neck and clucked her tongue to coo the beautiful creature. Silver Lady whinnied and pranced in anticipation. Her behavior made Aubrey smile as she leaned against the fence to admire her. Without creating a commotion, she reached for the canvas backpack around her shoulder where she kept a gift for the mare. “I’ll bet I know what you want. Have you been a good girl? Hmmm?” Aubrey revealed a succulent Honeycrisp apple and was delighted as Silver Lady nuzzled her palm before chomping into the sweet fruit. “Is that good? I’m gonna have to find another route one of these days, you know? I never get to eat my own apples because I save ’em for you two.” Silver Lady snorted and struck the ground with her hoof, making Aubrey giggle. She rested her cheek against her forearms, as sweetly as a child lost in a dream. Silver Lady struck the ground once more and shook her head as her tail pranced. “Don’t think so? Okay, I’ll keep this route.” While Silver Lady pranced and shimmered in the moonlight, Aubrey noticed the discolored gleam of light in the eyes of a tired dog on the farmhouse porch. The fabric of her blouse scraped her warm skin and sent a shiver up her spine, teasing her fear of dogs. Had the dog more gumption, it might have kept her away from the horses. Instead, the lazy hound plopped sideways and went back to resting. Aubrey noticed the absence of Silver Lady’s cohort, a cola-brown Quarter Horse named Sebastian. She whistled as best she could and walked along the fence a few yards, in hopes that the young stallion might spot her. She was dressed in an amethyst-dyed cotton pintuck blouse and a floral print skirt, which made her wonder how well she could be spotted at all. The moon gave her skin a silky glow, and she could only hope her eyes were more inviting than the dog’s. Ordinarily, Sebastian was the most reliable flirt in the county, never one to play hard to get. The showoff always put a smile on Aubrey’s face, and his lack of attention dampened her mood. Just the same, she pulled another Honeycrisp from her backpack and placed it atop the fencepost. She knew she would not have to scold Silver Lady from eating the second apple. They were both used to Sebastian’s antics. “We can’t have him thinkin’ we’re the type to wait by the fencepost,” she said with a wink of her blue eye. “Can we? You enjoy your night, pretty girl.” She gave the Welsh pony a pat, and cast another curious glance across the empty field before continuing her walk. The smell of a rusted mailbox filled the air as she crossed the gravel driveway, hurrying so she would not entice the dog to bark or follow. A wave of cornstalks with moonlit tassels attracted fireflies and gnats but swayed collectively to guide her toward her next destination. In the approaching distance, she could make out the landmarks and billboards welcoming travelers to Anega: “A place where the world doesn’t turn quite so fast,” according to a hand-painted sign at the town limits. Anega, population thirty-seven hundred, was established by Thaddeus Brewer near the end of the First World War. His wife, Aggie, loved the glee the native children showed while singing and dancing, covered in mud up to their smiling faces. “Anega” was the word on their lips, spoken over and over as the Brewers arrived with all that they owned in tow. Brewer named the settlement after that word, to please his wife. Once families and businesses settled, he learned from a native that anega was the Cherokee word for “go.” Aubrey had lived her entire life in Anega. She went to school there and enjoyed success as a teen athlete. Back then, she had lettered three years in soccer, and won state events in long-distance jumping and high hurdling. She had held a state record in the latter event until seven years ago. Those feats seemed like they belonged to someone else, and nowadays she wondered how many pain relievers would be needed to compete against her younger self. As she crossed the railroad tracks that established the beginning of town, she noticed the cracked lens on one of the signal lights. She had been a witness on the night that Billy Woods threw a beer can and struck the light. He was a classmate and baseball player determined to impress the Clark twins. It was not Billy, but Josie Dudnik, who impressed everyone when she decked him for making an unwanted pass at her at a party that same night. Josie was Aubrey’s closest friend, next to her sister. Josie’s precocious beauty had often smoothed the way for her to speak her mind, seldom with any repercussion. Billy’s dad was the high school principal, however, and it took only a few days before Josie was suspended from school on a lesser offense. That was how justice was dispensed in Anega; the good suffered, the bad got away with it. People complained about small-town life, but Aubrey imagined it was no different anywhere else. Somberness took over her mind as she followed the sidewalk alongside the post office and a tax office owned by an accountant who copied off of her in school. She kept her head down and shied away from the glow of signs on a gas station across the street. The tow truck parked under the sign absorbed most of the light and was in desperate need of washing and a coat of wax. Aubrey glanced toward the station’s plate glass windows but found the attendant was as absent as Sebastian had been. She made a diagonal path across an asphalt lot to stay away from the distasteful floral arrangements in large pots that were meant to beautify Main Street. The soil was overtaken by weeds and the flowers were mismatched, making her fail to see any beauty in them at all. She cut between a lopsided bench and metal boxes dispensing newspapers, and then realized she had come to a standstill. Across the intersection, cattycorner to her destination, the Union County Sheriff’s Department evoked an abysmal glow of light, much like the eyes of the old hound. It empowered her to turn her back on the building and she crossed the street with a confident, determined stride. There was no reason for her to verify her location or to look up at the Prussian-blue awning trimmed in white that covered the doorway. Nor did she have to look at a brass nameplate secured to the building’s brick face. She could smell the potted ferns near the entry door, pots painted to match the awning, and stepped into the shadowy recess. She could hear how the breeze rustled the patriotic banners, still on display from the previous weekend’s Fourth of July celebrations. The sound masked her own heartbeat, and she stood listening to it until she was ready to make her next move. She craned her neck to knead the tension, and rubbed the sweat from her hand into the shoulder strap of her backpack. On a deep breath, she unzipped the mouth of the canvas bag and removed another gift. No apple this time; the gift was far more costly. She had scoured the Internet for two weeks before following an online ad to an auction site where she had found it. Now, wrapped in gold foil and white ribbon, she held the gift for the last time. She knelt cautiously in her skirt, steadied herself with her right hand, and placed the gift at the foot of the door. She stepped back from the package and gave a bold nod, having taken a peculiar first step toward solving a mystery that had loomed over the town since she was a teenager. She pivoted, breathed steadily, and did her best to understand what walking at a normal pace entailed. It would all fall apart if she were spotted, she thought, and she wiped her palms...