Grave Doubts (A Paranormal Mystery Novel) (30 page)

Lee stroked Soldier's
head. She liked this boy. Maybe he could provide yet one more reason for Amy to
come home on the weekends. Maybe even move back permanently.

“Perhaps you'd
like to come to dinner. I think we should get to know each other better. After
all, you helped save my life. I could have Amy set another place at the table.”

He jumped at
the chance. “I'd like that. Tonight?” His eyes shone.

“Sure. How
about six-thirty? I'll tell Amy to plan on one more for dinner.”

The shy smile
widened into a full set of shiny, slightly crooked teeth, making him
irresistible.

“I'd like that.”
He began to back off the porch. “I'll see you at six then.” He turned and
nearly fell off the bottom step.

“Six-thirty,”
Lee corrected him as he gained his composure.

“Oh, yeah.
Sorry. Six-thirty. I'll be here.”

He practically
skipped to the curb and across the street. Lee watched him with a growing
feeling of warmth. When he reached the other side of the street, he got into
the tan sedan that had haunted her for the last several days, and the feeling
of warmth she’d had for him faded. As he pulled away from the curb, he looked
over and waved, then slowly disappeared up the street.

Lee sat in a
daze until Amy's laughter rang like a bell from inside the house, illuminating
her mistake. This boy hadn’t been stalking Lee. This shy boy had driven slowly
by her house every day and night hoping to catch sight of Amy. She chuckled and
shook her head. One more mystery solved.

Amy appeared at
the doorway. “Mom. I just talked with Maddie, and she said she's found someone
who will take Soldier if we can leave her here until next Saturday. Sound okay
to you?”

Lee looked down
at the noble head with its pointed ears and black muzzle. Soldier's eyes were
closed, and she breathed contentedly now that all the excitement had faded.

“No. I don’t
think that’s such a good idea.”

“But, Mom…” Amy
started to object.

Lee merely
raised her hand. “Tell Maddie…you've already found a home for Soldier.” She
patted the dog's head, waking her up. Soldier rolled over on her side with a
loud groan.

Amy gave a
broad smile. “I'll call her right back. Of course, you might change your mind
when you see what she did to your desk in the study.”

“Oh?”

“She must have jumped
up on the bench on the porch and pushed the window up with her nose. That’s how
she got in the other night.”

Lee smiled,
remembering how she’d opened the window in the study because of the burnt
popcorn.

“By-the-way,”
Amy added, stepping forward. “I found this on the window sill.” Amy held out
the onyx bird. “I wouldn’t use it as a window stopper, Mom. It could get
chipped.”

Lee took her
totem, smiling, knowing full well she hadn’t placed the bird in the window.

“I’ll take
better care of it in the future.”

Amy started
back inside when Lee caught her. “Amy, we're having company for dinner. Tell
Patrick to set the table for four.”

Amy looked
puzzled, but disappeared inside. Lee smiled to herself.

She leaned back
as far as she could and rested her head on the pillow, her hand idly stroking
Soldier’s fur. How life had changed in such a short time. She had lost her best
friend and felt an emptiness she thought would never be filled. She had
uncovered a blackmailing ring and almost been killed twice. She had avenged her
friend's death and could now finally deal with the loss. Although her body felt
like hell, she felt stronger emotionally than she had in fifteen years. Perhaps
she might even start to date again, once she healed. And, finally, she could
admit that what Brad had done had been the cowardly act of a pathetic man.

As she petted
Soldier, she thought of Perry, the good and loyal Labrador retriever who died
in order to give her husband the freedom he so desperately craved. She grabbed
a handful of Soldier's fur, fighting back the tears.

“You'd have
liked Perry,” she said aloud to the dog. “You'd have liked him a lot.”

Soldier whined
and twisted her head around to lick Lee’s hand.

Overhead, a
large black thundercloud had moved behind a tall tree, threatening to block out
the afternoon sun. Lee brushed the tears from her eyes and looked up in time to
see the hawk lift off from the branch, gain altitude and circle a few times in
the sky. She watched it, marveling at its grace and strength and thinking of
her friend.

Lee took a deep
sigh. “Thanks, Diane,” she whispered.

When the onyx
bird in her hand grew warm, she glanced down. A deep burgundy fire seemed to
glow from within, like the embers from a dying fire. Just then, a gray cat
jumped lightly onto the railing and began weaving back and forth.

“Well, Sasha, this
is your home now, isn’t it?” she said, reaching out to pet the cat. “I guess
it's time for your injection. We’d better go inside.”

She stood up,
disturbing Soldier. The dog jumped off the settee and went immediately to the
door, wagging her tail. The cat followed, pushing itself under Soldier's belly
like they’d been friends forever. Lee shook her head and pushed open the heavy
door, allowing the animals to tumble inside and head straight for the kitchen.

As Lee stepped
inside and began to close the door, she glanced back to the stormy sky. The
hawk had been circling in a wide arc. Suddenly, it dipped one wing as if in
salute, and sailed away over the rooftops to get lost in the thundercloud.

Thank you
so very much
for reading
Grave Doubts
. If you enjoyed this book, I encourage you to
go back to Amazon.com and leave an honest review. This will help position the
book so that more people might also enjoy it. Thank you!

About the Author

Ms.
Bohart holds a master’s degree in theater, has been published in Woman’s World,
and has a story in
Dead on Demand
, an anthology of ghost stories that
remained on the Library Journal best seller list for six months. As a
thirty-year nonprofit professional, she has spent a lifetime writing brochures,
newsletters, business letters, website copy, and more. Recently, she did a
short stint writing for Patch.com, and she teaches “Writing the Mystery Short
Story.”
Mass Murder,
her first novel, is available on Amazon.com as an
eBook and has been endorsed by Compulsion Reads as an “excellent read.” She has
also self-published a book of creepy short stories and mysteries called,
Your
Worst Nightmare
, and a single short story,
Something Wicked
.

Ms. Bohart also writes a blog on
the various aspects of writing and the paranormal on her website at:
www.bohartink.com
. She lives in the
Northwest with her daughter, two miniature Dachshunds, and cat.

Follow Ms. Bohart

Website:    
www.bohartink.com

Twitter:      @lbohart

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