Pastor Paul and the Not-So-Sweet Revenge Mystery , livre ebook

Inspiring Voices - P. Carter Curtis

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145 pages

English

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Pastor Paul McGill, with his wife and daughter, contentedly settled down in a small, rural, Central New York community surrounded by wooded hillsides. They enjoy coming to know their friendly, sometimes quirky neighbors, until late one summer when the angry, vengeful attitudes of some residents begin to ferment to the surface.Pastor Paul and the Not-So-Sweet Revenge Mystery invokes the feeling of the British Midsomers Murders transplanted to the rolling hills of New Yorks Finger Lakes region. It is easy to get involved as Pastor Paul tries to uncover who is bringing sickness and death to his peaceful valley. With the help of his wife, who acts as his personal Dr. Watson, and his close friend Doc Wimbley, the local medical examiner, he unsnarls the tangle of clues and suspects to find the person set on revenge.Pastor Paul reflects the authors decades of experience ministering to rural church communities. The dynamics of building and maintaining familial relationships are felt throughout the story, even as they join together to protect their community from harm. Pastor Pauls teenage daughter, Melissa, gets involved in the drama, establishing some unexpected friendships along the way. Many of the characters in this story learn valuable lessons about the importance of supporting one another.Rather than focusing on blood and gore, this story examines the hurts and fears that motivate someone to compromise their values and cause them to injure the lives of others. Join the narrative as Pastor Paul locates the vengeful killer.

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Publié par	Inspiring Voices
Date de parution	30 juin 2014
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781462409952
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0240€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

Copyright © 2014 Curtis P. Carter.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Inspiring Voices
1663 Liberty Drive
Bloomington, IN 47403
www.inspiringvoices.com
1 (866) 697-5313

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

ISBN: 978-1-4624-0994-5 (sc)
ISBN: 978-1-4624-0995-2 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2014910611

Inspiring Voices rev. date: 06/26/2014

CONTENTS
Chapter 1 Poor Sister Evelyn
Chapter 2 The Ladies
Chapter 3 Sherlock McGill
Chapter 4 Cranky Cranston is dead
Chapter 5 Melissa Gets Involved
Chapter 6 Charlie
Chapter 7 Just Another Dead Dealer
Chapter 8 Falling Down Drunk
Chapter 9 Complications Continue
Chapter 10 Rest in Peace, Rick Riley
Chapter 11 The Football Team is Down!
Chapter 12 First Contact
Chapter 13 Who’s Darth Vader?
Chapter 14 Things Heat Up
Chapter 15 An Unexpected Ally
Chapter 16 Returning to Normal?
Chapter 17 We Can’t Tell If They’re Alive!
Chapter 18 Sandy Speaks
Chapter 19 Trudy Faces Facts
Chapter 20 Evidence Piles Up
Chapter 21 Revenge — A Dish Best Served Cold
Chapter 22 A Not So Sweet Revenge

Dedication
“I dedicate this book to all the hard-working, dedicated pastors of small, rural churches and to the Lord Jesus Christ who called us to the work. I’d like to thank my live-in proofreader and beautiful wife of 37 years, Nancy, who offered some great insights during the writing of the book. And finally, I’d like to thank home- school mom, Peggy Slocum, who had the courage to write her own mystery that gave me the motivation to write this book.”

Chapter One Poor Sister Evelyn
Pastor Paul’s cell phone chirped again as he turned onto the long, winding driveway that led to Evelyn Arlington’s house. Large maple trees stood guard, overshadowing the road and hiding the house, but he could see the amber and red lights of emergency vehicles pulsing in the distance. He flicked his phone open.
“Yes, this is Pastor McGill,” he answered, “I know, I know… I’m almost at the house right now. I’ll get back to you after I get the details.”
He closed his cell phone and slipped it into his pocket as he steered around the last large tree and surveyed the scene ahead. There were a dozen or so cars parked every which way on the yard in front of the friendly, white-sided home with the large screened-in porch. There was an ambulance from Everett Memorial and he was sure that he recognized Doc Wimbley’s black sedan parked next to it. There were two sheriff’s cars with all their lights flashing, adding to the confusion. He wondered why there was so much commotion, as Evelyn had been ill for some time and had recently become quite weak. He drove slowly toward a young officer in a gray sheriff’s uniform with a “Smokey the Bear” type hat balanced on his head. The officer swung the beam of the flashlight he had in his hand right into Pastor Paul’s eyes as he approached the side window of the car.
“Who are you?” the officer asked quite briskly. He looked around as if deciding whether there was room for one more vehicle.
“I’m Pastor McGill from Castle Community Church. Evelyn Arlington is a member of our church. I received a call from Betty Keelty about Evelyn’s condition and came as soon as I could.”
“All right,” the officer said pointing his flashlight towards the other cars. “Park your car over there, out of the way. We have to keep this area open for official vehicles.”
Pastor Paul knew that the officer was suggesting that a hearse would probably arrive soon. That was the part that he dreaded - having the gurney come through the door guided by the men in dark suits on their way to retrieve the deceased person. He had helped a number of times to lift the cool, lifeless body of someone he had cared for onto the gurney for his or her ride to the funeral home. In the few moments it took for him to slide his car into a spot next to Carol Anne Victor’s SUV, a gallery of faces crossed his mind along with many amusing and touching stories surrounding their deaths. The thud of the car door closing brought him back to the duty at hand and he headed across the yard into the ever-dimming light of the September evening.
For some reason, in his mind he counted the three steps up to the screen door that opened onto the porch. As he stepped onto the porch, the door swung closed with a slam, which gave him a start and brought a chuckle from within the darkened recesses of the porch. He stopped, looked to his left and saw George Roth openly laughing while Bill Victor and Tim Keelty just gave him broad smiles. George looked like Santa Claus with reddish cheeks, and little beady eyes that crinkled almost shut when he laughed. He had that big, rowdy guffaw of a laugh that got everybody else going - at least when it seemed appropriate.
“Sorry, pastor,” he said with a chuckle, “Didn’t mean to make fun at a time like this, but you just looked so surprised when that door let go, I couldn’t help….”
“George!” Betty Keelty scolded from the open front door. “This isn’t time for playing around. And just to think that poor Sister Evelyn is lying right in the next room.” Then turning to the pastor, she continued, “Pastor, we’re so glad that you finally got here. Marilyn has just fallen to pieces and needs your attention right away.”
She yanked Pastor Paul’s arm and pulled him into the circle of light and sounds within the living room. He quickly glanced around to get a sense of how everyone was doing. Dorlene Johnston sat near the door, working on her knitting. Carol Anne Victor was trying to comfort a weeping Marilyn Roth on the couch. Dawn Keelty, Betty’s daughter, stood quietly by the kitchen door, stirring a cup of coffee or tea she held in her hands. A paramedic knelt on the floor near the door to Evelyn’s bedroom, putting a stethoscope back into his medical case. A hushed conversation came from the bedroom and through the open door, Pastor Paul caught a glimpse of the sheriff’s gun belt and handgun as the officer rounded the foot of the bed, carrying a clipboard. Betty was still trying to steer the pastor where she thought he was most needed, but stopped to ask if he wanted to go in and see Evelyn before she was taken away. As he moved toward the bedroom door, she let go of his arm and headed to the couch to help Carol Anne.
“Who are you?” another paramedic asked as he stepped into the bedroom.
“It’s okay,” Doctor Wimbley said. “He’s Pastor McGill from our church… Evelyn’s pastor.” Then he turned toward Pastor McGill. “Well, I guess her heart finally gave out with the stress of the cancer treatments and all, although I had been holding out a little hope lately.”
As the paramedic backed away and headed out the door, Pastor Paul stepped up to the right side of the bed and looked down on Evelyn lying very still in her flowered cotton nightgown. Her pillows and blankets had been pulled away to allow medical attention, but now her bare feet and arms being exposed made her look cold. A surgical scar was just visible at her neckline. Almost as a reflex, he pulled the covers up to her chest, tucking her arms underneath. He looked up at Doc and the sheriff.
“I hope that it’s all right for me to do this,” he said as he adjusted the blankets. “It’s just that she was always so sensitive to drafts while she was going through chemotherapy and this looks much more comfortable for her. Plus the ladies may want to come in for their final farewells.” He lifted her gently, slid a pillow under her head, and brushed her hair to the side like she usually wore it.
“Well,” said the sheriff, “I guess it’s all right as long it’s okay with the coroner here. I don’t think this is a case of foul play. How about it, Doc?” Doctor Wimbley had a somewhat quizzical look on his face as he looked up from the bottles he held in his hand.
“Oh… yes, yes, I think everything is okay,” he said, “It’s just that there are a few more things that I have to do before I have all the answers. For instance, I have to add up all the remaining pills in these bottles and compare them to the prescriptions. Everything has to be done right before I can go on the record. Don’t rush me, Ellis; I’ll let you know after the autopsy.”
“Autopsy?” asked Pastor Paul. “Is that really necessary? Didn’t she just die as a result of the cancer?”
“Well, there are some issues surrounding the conditions of her discovery.” Sheriff Richards broke in, “Whenever there is an unattended death we have to investigate by law.”
“But the ladies were always here, taking turns caring for Evelyn,” Pastor Paul replied. “I don’t think she would ever have been unattended.”
“Well, you’re probably right, but Mrs. Roth seemed pretty confused when I showed up. I came because she dialed 911 and we were close by. My deputy and I were coming back from transferring some prisoners over to Lawtonville County Jail and happened to be coming down Castle Valley Road just about a mile away.