When I retired the end of 2009, we had plans of spending each winter in warmer digs, and that did happen until Covid invaded our nation. We have spent the past two winters at home in northern Michigan, and because of it, I developed a new hobby: writing books.
My first novel, Justice For Lindsey, debuted in June of 2020. Since then, I have written and self-published six more novels. Will any of my novels ever make any top anything list? I highly doubt it, but I so enjoy telling the stories running around in my head.
For my March entries to my blog, I have decided to share the first chapter or prologue of each of my books. This week, I am sharing the prologue of Justice For Lindsey, and chapter one of the sequel, We Meet Again. Of course, if you wish to find out how each book progresses and ends, you can purchase each of them on Amazon.com. I hope you enjoy.
Prologue to Justice For Lindsey
Stephen took a quick look at the three-year-old child sitting in the back seat of his car. She had her angel rag doll hugged to her chest. Her long auburn hair partially covered her face, but he could see the scared look she had. It was too bad what had started as a promising day had turned so disastrous. Looking at her now, he noticed how much she was already beginning to resemble her mother.
Just the thought of her mother brought tears to his eyes. He kept running the events of the day over and over in his head. When he had walked into the house and saw her tumbling down the stairs, he had been in total disbelief. Everything from that point on seemed to take place in slow motion. He knew he should have gone to the police but, these people were influential in the community and, Stephen could not take the chance that they wouldn‘t tell the police that he had pushed her.
He had been scared to death and had been instructed, “You and the child are to disappear. I don’t care where you go, but it had better be far, far away from here. If you don’t, we will see that you ‘disappear’ forever. We will take care of disposing of her mother‘s body, but mark my word, if you try going to the police or ever show up here again, it will cost you both your life and the life of the child.”
So, he had done as instructed. He knew he was a coward, but Stephen also knew he needed to protect the child at all costs and see to it that she was safe. He owed the woman that much.
He had driven around for several hours, trying to decide what to do. His only goal now was to get the child to safety. He had formed a plan, and he hoped it would work. He would leave his car at the mall and take a cab to the Amtrak station and the train to Chicago. Their destination was two hundred miles west. He had only been there once but knew the people were not only kind but also very rich and powerful. The only thing driving him now was to get the child to Chicago. The people in Chicago would know what to do to protect her and, hopefully, him as well.
By the time they reached the Amtrak station, they were in luck. The next train was leaving in thirty minutes. The last thing he wanted to do was spend hours sitting around the Amtrak station as people might start asking questions and run into someone he knew with his current luck. He was exhausted, and the child was confused. The sooner they got to Chicago, the better it would be for both of them.
Luckily, the dead woman’s husband and his father were not due back from Washington D.C. for a couple of weeks. There was no likelihood the husband would call to see how she was doing. From what she had told Stephen, the two of them rarely talked anymore, and apparently, he had developed no bond with the child either. That was one of the reasons she had wanted to go away now. She figured she could get far away before she would be missed. Because of it, Stephen was counting on this and believed he had time to get the child to safety.
When the cab dropped them off at the station, he grabbed their luggage from the trunk and took the child by the hand. He was fortunate she hadn’t asked too many questions, and he needed it to stay that way. She had asked about her mother only once since they had left the house. He told her he was taking her to her mother, which seemed to satisfy her. Stephen had read somewhere that a child’s long-term memory does not fully kick in until sometime during their third year. He hoped that was true as she had turned three only a few months ago. He prayed the events of this day would be erased from her memory forever.
__________
Amtrak arrived in Union Station at 10:30 p.m. The child had slept for much of the trip. Stephen had tried to sleep but was haunted by dreams of the past ten hours. He found a pay phone, and his hands were shaking as he deposited the coins and punched in the numbers to make the call. He knew it was late but prayed she would be there. The phone at the other end was picked up on the third ring. He supposed the butler answered and was told the woman he wanted to speak to was out for the evening, and he wasn‘t sure when she would return. The man must have sensed panic in Stephen’s voice and told him to hold. He was going to put the lady of the house on the phone. Stephen had only met her once and knew she was a kind and understanding woman, so he felt he could trust her. Stephen gave her a quick rundown on why he needed to speak to her daughter-in-law when she came on the line.
“Where are you and the child?” she asked.
“We are at Union Station in the Great Hall,” he told her. “We have no place else to go.”
“Stay where you are. I am sending the limousine for you. It will take about thirty minutes. Under no circumstances are you to go outside the station. My chauffer will come in for you.” With that, she hung up.
It seemed like the longest thirty minutes Stephen had ever experienced. Even though it was close to eleven o’clock at night, there was still a lot of activity inside. Every time one of Chicago’s finest walked by, Stephen was sure he was looking for the child and him.
The child was quiet again. He was very worried about her. What she had seen today had to be very traumatic; there was nothing he wouldn‘t do for her to make it all go away. He still wasn’t sure he was doing the right thing by bringing her here. If all turned out as he planned, she would have a new life, and the memories would be forgotten. He was thinking about just this when a man wearing a traditional chauffer’s uniform approached him.
“Are you Stephen Parker?” he asked.
“Yes, I am,” Stephen replied with a hint of relief in his voice.
“Come with me, sir. You and the child will soon be in good hands.”
The chauffer took their luggage and led them outside to where he had parked a sleek black Bentley. Stephen had never ridden in such luxury but, with all that was on his mind, hardly noticed. The chauffer put the bags in the trunk, and Stephen and the child settled themselves in the back seat.
Once again, the child snuggled up against him for the drive, which took less than thirty minutes, as traffic had thinned out. The mansion was located in the historic Oak Park area. As the chauffer turned into the drive, Stephen remembered the first time he had been here. It had been a much happier occasion. The darkness prevented him from seeing the house until they were entirely in the drive. He had forgotten how impressive-looking the place was.
The chauffer stopped in front of the three-car garage and got out. He came around to the passenger door and opened it for Stephen and the child. The child had finally fallen asleep, so Stephen got out and took her in his arms. He walked up the path and carried her up the steps of the well-lit covered porch. The front door was opened for him, and the butler greeted him. Once inside, he was again overwhelmed by the vastness of the grand reception hall.
Even at this late hour, the lady of the house was there to meet him, as were her son and daughter-in-law. By then, the child had awakened. She squirmed to get down. As soon as she saw the young woman, she ran toward her yelling, “Mommy, Mommy. Where have you been?”
Chapter One-We Meet Again
The rain slapped viciously at the lone multi-pane window of her room, making it the perfect atmosphere for watching a classic horror movie tonight. Since her room looked down on the courtyard, she could hear the wind howling as it bounced off the weathered brick building walls. It was all very eerie, and Lorna delighted in the mood the storm created. As the door to her room slowly opened, it made a creaking sound, so Lorna looked up and saw her favorite nurse standing there with a broad smile on her face.
“How are you this evening, Lorna? I checked your chart, and your vitals all look good.”
“I’m fine, but a little tired,” Lorna said as she sat up straighter in bed, checked her bedside clock for the time, and then added, “Aren’t you a little early tonight? I thought you didn’t start work until 11:00.”
“One of the second shift nurses didn’t feel well, so I came in a couple of hours early so she could go home. It seems there is some type of illness affecting some of the staff. I hear we have no orderly or custodian tonight either.”
“Well, I’m glad you’re here,” Lorna said as she gave Nurse Potter, what Lorna hoped, was a friendly smile.
Nurse Mary Potter always brought sunshine into the room, even when it was dark and stormy outside like tonight. Lorna never asked, but she thought the nurse was about forty-five. She was a tall woman and
quite strong, but Lorna guessed nurses had to be strong to move their patients. Nurse Potter always wore bright-colored scrubs with flowers and other nature themes, putting Lorna in a good mood. Unlike the olden days, nurses didn’t wear caps anymore, so Mary Potter’s light brown hair was always showing. Tonight she had it pulled back into a bun, but little whisps of hair escaped and now framed her round face and blue eyes.
“There is a movie on television tonight I want to watch, but I don’t know if I can stay awake that long,” Lorna told the nurse as she slunk lower in bed. “You are right about the storm, and with the sounds it is making, it should make my movie even scarier.”
“You really like those old classics, don’t you, Lorna?” Nurse Potter said as she puffed Lorna’s pillows and straightened her sheet and blanket. “My mother likes them too, and when I visit her on Saturdays, we spend time watching them. Do you want me to close the curtains? This old place is scary enough at night without a storm raging outside.”
“That would be nice,” Lorna answered. “Even though my room is on the second floor, a scary movie might have me seeing a face at my window that can’t possibly be there.” Lorna laughed when she said this.
Then, Lorna looked around her room. It wasn’t a large room since she was its only occupant. However, the walls were an attractive cream color, and the drapes were burnt orange. The only furniture patients were allowed was their hospital bed, a nightstand, a small dresser, and a comfortable stuffed chair that sat by the window. The chair contained a soft pillow for Lorna’s back that Nurse Potter had given her and a handmade lap quilt for cooler days and nights. The quilt was a gift from one of the nurse assistants on the second floor who left last week to have a baby. Then, one day, Nurse Potter brought Lorna a small fabric-covered footstool that made sitting in the chair more accessible. A small round wooden table containing a reading lamp sat next to the chair, but it had been a while since Lorna could use the chair. The room also included a private bathroom and a small closet to hold Lorna’s clothes. Of course, Lorna didn’t have many clothes, just a couple loose-fitting dresses, two pairs of sweat pants, and a navy blue cardigan sweater. She didn’t need very many clothes as she never left the sanitarium. The dresser held her changes in underwear, a few cotton tops, nighties, and a variety of paperback novels she liked to read. However, Lorna didn’t mind as this was home, and seeing everything as it was made her feel safe from the outside world. Lorna was afraid of ever leaving the sanitarium because she couldn’t remember her life before coming here. The doctors and nurses took good care of her, and Lorna had every comfort of home and even had friends. Why would she ever leave?
As the nurse closed the drapes, she turned to Lorna and asked, “How is your leg feeling tonight, Lorna?”
“It hurts, and you can see it is still swollen, plus I can barely walk on it at all. I sure wish it would get better so I can visit Mr. Hodgkins. How is he doing? Does he ask for me? I worry about him.”
“Mr. Hodgkins is doing fine, and all the nurses explained to him why you haven’t visited. Why just the other night, he told me to tell you he hopes you feel better soon and that your leg gets better. Dr. Carter wishes your leg would also improve and is sending you for an MRI first thing in the morning. He is concerned and hopes the MRI will explain why the medication is not working. Taking two doses a day should have made the swelling go down by now, and he wants to see if more is going on there than the clot.”
“What will happen if he doesn’t find anything?” Lorna asked in a worried tone as it sounded like her condition was serious.
“Then, Dr. Carter may decide to insert an IVC filter to catch any blood clot before it reaches your heart. You don’t want it making its way to your heart,” Mary Potter said as the nurse made sure Lorna’s bed was raised to a comfortable position for watching television.
“What happens if the clot moves?” Lorna anxiously asked the nurse. She certainly didn’t want that to happen.
“It would probably cause you to have a heart attack, so the doctor is taking no chances. Try and get a good night’s sleep and not worry about it. I’ll be back to check on you at midnight, and if your leg still hurts, I’ll give you some pain medication. Meanwhile, turn on your movie, and if you are asleep when I come in, I’ll turn the TV off for you and adjust your bed.”
After Nurse Potter left her room, Lorna picked up the TV remote, turned the television on, and went to her favorite station, the classic movie one. Tonight’s movie was one of her favorites: The Haunting. It was the perfect movie to watch on a rainy night light tonight, and Lorna was sure she watched it often before she came to the hospital. I wonder what my life was before I came here, Lorna thought. Was it a good life, or did something terrible happen that made me lose my memory?
During her therapy time with Dr. Carter, Lorna tried to remember her life before ‘waking up,’ as Dr. Carter called it. The only knowledge of her past life was what her nephew, Jack, told her. Jack said Lorna had had a mental disease for as long as he knew her, and then when Jack’s mother, Lorna’s older sister, passed away ten years ago, Lorna’s mental condition seemed to worsen. When she turned delusional, Jack sought mental treatment for her. At least, that is what he said, but at times, Lorna did not believe Jack’s story. She found it too rehearsed and thought perhaps he made it all up. There were also inconsistencies in his story, but Jack always had an answer to explain everything when Lorna asked him about it.
“If your mother was my sister and she was married, why do you and I have the same last name?” Lorna asked Jack during one of his visits about a year ago.
She remembered Jack thought for a minute before he answered.
“My mother’s husband was only my adopted father because my mother had me before she married, and that is the reason yours and my last name are the same.”
Jack also told her that psychiatrists diagnosed Lorna as schizophrenic, and before Jack could get her treatment, she fell into a catatonic state. Jack insisted that is what happened and told Lorna’s psychiatrist, Dr. Carter, the same story, but Lorna didn’t believe it. There was something about Jack’s eyes when he told her this story, and Lorna was sure her nephew was lying, especially when he informed Lorna that her dreams were nothing more than her imagination and that nothing in them ever happened.
Lorna had dreams all the time, and regardless of what Jack said, her dreams were too vivid and too real to be her imagination or the result of the movies she watched, which was another excuse Jack used. Sometimes, when she had dreams of another life, her nephew told her that was all it was, a dream. The last time he visited, Jack was angry with her for insisting her dreams were real.
“How many times do I have to tell you, Aunt Lorna, you have never been married and have no son. I am all the family you have. I don’t care what your dreams tell you; it is all in your imagination, and I don’t want to hear anything more about it, and I especially don’t want you telling your psychiatrist otherwise. Do you understand?”
“I know there is more to my past than you are telling me,” Lorna persisted as somewhere in the back of her mind, she knew what Jack told her was not the truth. “I don’t believe you because I think the things I dream of really happened. Dr. Carter said there is a drug he can give me to help with my memory. When my leg is better, he said he would give me the drug, and I will prove to you I am right.”
Her nephew shot Lorna a look that frightened her, and for the first time, Lorna felt threatened by his presence.
“I am going on vacation next week, Aunt Lorna, so don’t do anything until I get back,” Jack told her. “I’d hate to have to move you to another hospital, as I know how fond you are of this place.”
“I promise,” Lorna whispered in a quiet and timid voice.
When Jack spoke to her like this, she became frightened, and there was no way she wanted to leave Windsor Gardens. What would she do without the friendship of Mr. Hodgkins? He was a patient on the first floor, but they met one day when she was in the conservatory, and he reminded Lorna of her father for some reason, but Jack always shot down that idea.
“Your father died when you were one year old, and your mother never remarried. From what Mother told me, your father was not someone you would want to remember, even if you could. He was a mean man, and mother told me she thought some of your mental problems were because of the way your father treated you,” Jack told Lorna.
No matter what Jack said about her father, Lorna liked spending time with the eighty-year-old Mr. Hodgkins. The first time they met, he told her it was his tenth year at Windsor Gardens and that his family sent him here when he became too difficult to handle at home. Lorna hadn’t seen Mr. Hodgkins for a month as he had suffered a mild stroke, and the doctor confined him to his room, and because Lorna couldn’t get around by herself, she couldn’t go to his room and visit him. If Dr. Carter could make her leg better, maybe the two friends could hang out in the conservatory again.
******
Lorna looked at her bedside clock, and it said 11:45. Jack gave her the clock, and it was the only nice thing she remembered him to do for her. He came to visit about every two weeks, but Lorna hated it as he was never pleasant, always told her how crazy she was, and to never forget her name was Lorna Simmons. Lorna couldn’t understand why Jack insisted on reminding her of her name, and she also wondered why Jack got angry when she tried to tell Dr. Carter she had a husband and son. When Jack told her he was going on vacation last week, she was glad, as Lorna didn’t care if he ever visited her again. She thought about his parting comment when he left that day.
“Just make sure you don’t do or say anything stupid while I am gone, Aunt Lorna, or I will move you to another hospital.”
What did it matter to Jack what Lorna said or didn’t say? Plus, she certainly didn’t know what Jack was concerned about, as no one believed her when she did tell them what she thought were details from her past. She sighed and wished somehow she could remember details of her former life, figure out why her husband hadn’t visited her, and why Jack insisted on lying.
The movie was longer than Lorna remembered, and she was tired and glad that Nurse Potter would be here in just a few minutes. Her leg felt worse than ever, so she was hopeful the nurse gave her some pain medication when she came to say good-night. Maybe the medicine would help her sleep tonight, as she was pretty nervous about the MRI in the morning. Lorna had never had an MRI, but other patients had, and they made it sound sort of scary. She didn’t like the idea of being confined in a small space, especially a tube where she couldn’t see her surroundings.
Lorna didn’t have to wait long for Nurse Potter, as she heard the nurse long before she arrived at her room. Mary Potter was whistling the same soothing tune she whistled every night. Lorna was always happy to listen to the song as it was a bright ending to each day. She thought perhaps she had heard the tune before but couldn’t be sure, but each time Lorna heard the song, she pictured a small heart-shaped music box.
Nurse Potter entered Lorna’s room and came over to the bed, carrying a small water bottle and what looked like Lorna’s pain medication.
“I see you stayed awake long enough to watch your movie, Lorna. Was it good?” the nurse asked as she set the items she carried on the stand next to Lorna’s bed.
Lorna was about to answer when suddenly, Nurse Potter swayed and then fell to the floor in a heap. Lorna carefully got out of bed and bent down to see what had happened. She was pretty sure the nurse was still breathing, but she didn’t understand why Mary Potter fell. Lorna pulled the cord that contacted the nurses’ station and waited. However, after fifteen minutes and no one came, she picked up the phone and called the station, but again no one answered. Where is everyone? Lorna thought. Then the scary man came into her room. She didn’t like the man, but maybe he could help Nurse Potter, but he had other plans.
“You need to get dressed, Lorna, because someone special is waiting to take you for a car ride. Would you like him to do that?” the man asked.
“Who is he, and where is he taking me?” Lorna asked in a timid voice. “I’m tired, want to go to sleep, and I don’t want to go for a ride. Can’t he wait until tomorrow? Plus, something happened to Nurse Potter, and she needs your help.”
“The man is your husband, and he can’t come tomorrow. Don’t worry about the nurse, as she’s just asleep, and I will take care of her after you leave.”
The scary man helped Lorna dress and then helped her to her wheelchair. It was then the door to her room opened, and Stanley Hobart stood there.
“What is Stanley doing here?” Lorna questioned. “You know I don’t like Stanley because he said mean things to me, so make him go away.”
“Your husband invited Stanley to go for a ride too. Stanley’s going to push your wheelchair to the car so that I can take care of Nurse Potter, but before you go, I have your pain medication for you to take.”
The man handed Lorna her pill and a glass of water. She put the tablet in her mouth and then took the glass of water given to her. The water tasted a little funny, but she drank it without complaint for fear of what would happen if she didn’t.
Stanley handed Lorna a backpack and asked, “Will you hold this for me? I can’t push the chair and hold the bag, and I must take the bag with me as it has my treasured possessions inside.”
“Remember to go the way I told you, Stanley, and don’t dawdle, or you might miss your ride. I turned off the alarm system so you can exit without anyone knowing you are leaving.”
When they exited the building by the back door, a car was waiting for them, and Stanley helped Lorna get in, then he quickly settled himself into the back seat.
Lorna took one look at the man behind the steering wheel and gasped. “You’re not my husband,” she cried to the man driving. “You are my nephew, Jack. Where are you taking me? I want to go back,” but Lorna never finished her sentence. She was suddenly so very tired and drifted off to sleep.
I hope you have enjoyed these peeks into the stories of Carron Maitland and Jake Brennan. Next week, I will begin to share the stories of two other characters I created, Sophie London and Evin Foster.
Meanwhile, “Don’t save today for tomorrow.”
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