Tainted Waters
by
Maggie Thom
He didn’t commit suicide but who’s going to believe her...
Frustrated at being fired from her latest job and overwhelmed by her consolatory family, Sam decides to move to the family’s cabin at the lake. A place she hasn’t been since her dad committed suicide there twenty years before. Or did he? Snooping is something she’s good at but someone seems to be taking offence to her looking too closely at what has been happening at the lake. What she discovers is shocking. Now she must uncover what’s real and what’s not. All that she learned growing up, may be false. Keegan, who has recently moved to the area, to finish his latest book is also trying to find out if his grandfather, who’d passed away ten years before, died of natural causes or was murdered? The descendants of the four families who own the land around the lagoon are dying off. Since Sam and Keegan are the only ones questioning the deaths, they find themselves working together to seek the truth. Are people being murdered? Who would benefit from their deaths? Why would there be barricades and armed guards at the north end of the lake? To stay alive, Sam and Keegan must find the answers and convince others, before more people are killed... including them.
"Thom’s book was like one of my Nana’s triple layered chocolate cakes, impossible to walk away from without licking the plate."
Maggie Thom's Bio
Maggie Thom made the hard decision to freefall,
leaving her successful, twenty year career in management, to follow her dream
and passion to write full time. The leap has been adventurous and very
enlightening. A long-time reader and writer, she was thrilled with the release
of her first novel, Captured Lies in the fall of 2012 and her second novel,
Tainted Waters released April 30th, 2013. She is busy writing her third novel,
Deceitful Truths to be published late 2013 or early 2014. Having married her
best friend, she is learning that humor, love and patience, help her navigate
her way through her twins’ teen years.
“We have to report it.”
“And how are we going to say we found it. We just happened to be
snooping ourselves when someone came and ransacked the place. Oh yeah and by
the way he was wearing a black baseball cap and he had a great, no let me
correct that, a verrrryyyyyy gooooooddddd body.”
“We don’t even know it was him. Why would he come back and rip the
place apart. If he was looking for something, why not the first time he was
here?” She glared at him as he grabbed her arm and pulled her outside. She
jerked out of his grasp.
“Maybe it wasn’t him but that doesn’t mean I want to stick around
and see if he comes back.”
“Just let me look around and see if I can tell what they took. You
watch for vehicles.”
The mulish look on his face let her know he didn’t like the plan but
he wasn’t going to stop her. She waited until he was in place watching the
driveway, then she kicked off her shoes and entered. Books from the shelves
were strewn about, some of them even ripped in half. Newspapers had been taken
from her neat stack of recycling and were torn up, shredded. The couch had been
flipped, the lamp overturned and the stuffing had been ripped out of the
pillows. The place looked like a bunch of wild animals had been locked in and
had gone berserk looking for food or a way out. The scene brought tears to her
eyes. It just wasn’t right. Mrs. MacNeil never hurt anyone.
She stepped forward carefully trying to avoid any broken glass. She
lifted some of the debris off the floor to see if there was anything under it.
It sounded super noisy to her every time she moved. Every few seconds she was
glancing over her shoulder to make sure that no one was there.
It didn’t make sense. All she could think was don’t let it be one of
her children.
“Come on. Let’s get out of here. This isn’t worth it. Let’s go.”
With one last look around she reluctantly walked out the door,
locking it behind her. Not caring that he saw her, she opened the panel under
the deck and slid the spare key onto the hidden nail. Obviously someone had
their own set anyway. That thought made her nervous. She only knew of a handful
of people who had the key to that place.
“Your place or mine?”
It was too much to take in. She couldn’t respond she just headed off
through the trees to the path. He followed but they continued on in silence,
accompanied by the shrill tweets and chirps of birds as they headed to her
family’s cabin. When they reached the end point of the lake, the path swung
back towards the pond, allowing them a clear view for a short while. It made
her think of her phone. It had vibrated earlier when they’d left Keegan’s and
were walking along the lake. Curious as to who called, she pulled it out. There
was a missed call and a text. They were from DD.
M :( u.
Sam knew that to mean Shelley was mad at her. Listening to her
message she understood why. Taking a chance that DD still had the cell phone
she quickly dialled her brother’s number.
“Asaaaaaaam. Asaaaaammmmmm. Aaaaaasssssaaaaaaaaaammmmmm.” DD started
blubbering out stuff that Sam couldn’t understand.
“Ssssshhhh. Stop. Ssshhhh. I need you to stop.” Sam repeated this a
few more times, speaking softly. DD finally snivelled, indicating she was
calmer now.
“You sound funny. What’s up?”
“Cold.”
“You’re cold... oh you have a cold.” Oh no. No wonder Shelley had a bee in her butt.
“Mom’s mad. Said your fault. I can’t see you.” She started to cry, a
loud wailing sound. Sam winced, sure that it would make things worse.
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