Publication date: September 10th 2024
Genres: Adult, Cozy Mystery
Synopsis:
When 34-year-old Carley Norgren loses her high-profile job and her partner in the span of a few short months, she returns to the place that feels most like home – her childhood cabin on Pelican Lake, Minnesota. She hadn’t been back since her father’s death from a heart attack two years earlier. When a teenager is abducted, it becomes clear that her once-sleepy lake community has its share of secrets – and someone who will kill to keep them hidden.
In this almost-cozy mystery, one small community learns that the view from the dock isn’t always what it seems. This book is the first book of the North Lakes Murder Mystery Series.
Excerpt
PROLOGUE
Monday
Three men sat in a large white van parked on the road bordering Long Lake, watching three teenage girls spill out of a school bus. The light breeze off the lake and the scent of lilacs in the air were a sharp contrast to the sweat and grease inside the vehicle. The girls walked up the road, laughing and shoving each other playfully. One of the men said, pointing, “That’s her. The one on the left with long brown hair.” The other two nodded.
The orange school bus accelerated in the distance and disappeared into the bright blue sky, leaving the three girls in its wake. They lived four blocks from each other in Vergas, Minnesota. Friends since kindergarten, now they were sophomores at Frazee High School, about eight miles away. Eleanor leaned into Lindsey. “Hey. I saw Paul today.”
“So?” Lindsey asked, raising her eyebrows only slightly.
“I talked to him. Did you know he won’t be around until next fall?”
“No, why?”
“Because he lives with his dad in the Twin Cities over the summer. See, I actually talked with him. We were standing next to each other during the fire drill. I couldn’t resist—I asked him if he likes you.” She paused.
Lindsey said, “You should mind your own business.”
“Probably. But he does. I thought you’d want to know,” Eleanor said, jostling Lindsey with her shoulder.
“You two! Give it up,” Michelle laughed.
Lindsey could feel a flutter in her stomach. She’d had a crush on Paul since they first met. Eleanor knew that. Secretly, she was glad Eleanor had had the guts to ask him. He was quiet but smart. And cute. Not stuck on himself like most of the guys she knew. They were friends on socials, but that was about it. They’d only talked a couple of times. Maybe they’d go out in the fall. Homecoming. Football games. Movies. It would be fun to have a boyfriend, she thought as she kicked a stone with her toe.
As they approached Long Lake, the three friends waved goodbye. Eleanor and Michelle lived on the same block and turned left to go home, while Lindsey continued along the street bordering the lake. Tomorrow night they’d have a sleepover at Michelle’s to celebrate the end of the school year.
She walked down the empty road, her friends’ voices fading away. A large white van started up and pulled out onto the road a ways ahead of her. It looked like it was headed straight toward her. The sun shone in her eyes, and she raised her hand to block it. She moved farther onto the shoulder at the side of the road to give the van more room. Could the driver see her? She waved and shifted onto the grass on the edge of the road. The large, dented vehicle pulled up directly beside her. Two big men jumped out and grabbed her by the arms. Suddenly, her head and body were covered by something rough and scratchy. She wasn’t sure she could breathe. She frantically fought to get it off, but the strong arms that held her made that impossible. She screamed as loud as she could. Her whole body went taut as she tried to resist their grip. Clawing at the fabric, she struggled to get loose. She could feel herself being lifted up and hoisted onto the floor of the van. It was hard, metal, with a lot of ridges. Pain shot up through the arm she landed on. The van reeked of gasoline, fertilizer, and manure. Her foot kicked something, and she gagged at the smell of a strong chemical.
She gasped for air and reflexively kicked one of the men as hard as she could.
“Don’t be stupid,” the man said, gravel in his voice, “if you want to get out of this alive.”
Carley steered her red Jeep Wrangler carefully down the lake road that wound its way through fields of wheat, soybeans, and corn. Ahead of her, two vehicles kicked up a large cloud of dust from the gravel. She was relieved when both turned off—she didn’t want anything blocking her view of the lake as she came over the last rise in the road. There it was. The place she loved most in the world. She could see the blue water shimmering in the fading sunlight.
She turned on the road leading to the cabin, driving past lake homes of all shapes and sizes on one side, and woods and storage units on the other. As she approached the cabin, she could feel the muscles in her stomach tightening. It had been two years since she had been back. She had ached to return but had dreaded the emotion she knew was waiting for her there.
Carley pulled into the gravel driveway and braced herself as the car rolled to a stop. Hesitating slightly, she took in the view, then climbed out of the car. As she scanned the property, she was surprised by how little had changed. The garage, on the corner of the driveway adjacent to the road, was surrounded by red, yellow, and orange hollyhocks and a large raspberry patch with thousands of blossoms. One lone rose bush had survived the winter and had two coral buds. She noted that weeds had sprouted between the bricks in the path leading to the log cabin, and the taupe-colored paint on the cabin had peeled in spots. But the peaked roof and stone fireplace still gave the cabin a sense of grandness. Carley spotted the old wooden rocking chair—where she had spent hours reading—on the porch. Under the shade of a gigantic oak tree stood the playhouse her father had built for her when she was a child. It was just as she remembered. The familiarity of it seared her soul.
In the light of dusk, she could see Pelican Lake, calm and settled, just beyond the cottage. Tired from the three-hour drive, she stretched her legs and shook her somewhat disheveled, blonde hair in the light lake breeze as if she were casting off what was happening in her life. An unexpected ripple of exhilaration bubbled up inside her when she saw the lake. Her small, white, Westie terrier, Abigail Rose, pushed past her and ran around the yard, looking thrilled to be released from the car. Carley walked to the edge of the water and stood, hands in the back pockets of her jeans, listening to a loon warble to its mate and watching the big, red fireball sun touch the horizon, quickly disappearing below the trees that surrounded the lake. The air smelled like nowhere else—a distinct combination of fresh water, dead fish, cut grass, and wet wood. She took a deep breath. How could this place stay so much the same when the rest of her life was so chaotic? A fish jumped out of the water to snap up an insect. Of course, the calm surface of the lake was deceiving; there was a lot of chaos underwater, too.
The beach was almost deserted because it was Monday. Carley turned to Abigail, who was sniffing the grass at her feet, and said, “It’s quiet here tonight, girl. But it’ll get busier this weekend. If I lived in Fargo like everyone around here, I’d stay at the lake all summer.” She paused. “Oh, that’s right. I get to do that now,” she said, nodding her head at the irony of what she had just said. For the past twelve years—since college—she had lived in the Twin Cities. This summer was different. This summer she would live here. Now it was the only home she had.
Her mind drifted to the chaos she had left behind. It started when her company was bought out by a New York firm. They offered her a position if she would relocate. But when she declined, they had no choice but to let her go. They’d given her a six-month consulting contract to work on a new product release. Mac was the main reason she turned down the New York job. How ironic. Shortly after that, Mac ended their relationship. She’d been so absorbed with work during the buyout, she hadn’t realized how little attention she was giving him. She loved her job and counted the people she worked with as family. There were twelve-hour workdays and many going away parties as most of the people she cared about either moved to New York or were terminated. She was so involved with the drama in her coworkers’ lives that she wasn’t aware of the drama unfolding in hers.
51
By 6:00 p.m., Carley was getting hungry, and Abigail was getting restless. The dog looked up at her wide-eyed. Abigail went and stood by the door, giving out two short barks, the signal it was time for a break. Carley looked outside through the kitchen window and, seeing no activity, let her out, hoping Abigail didn’t decide to chase a squirrel today. She had promised Mark she wouldn’t leave the house.
Ten minutes later, the familiar scratch at the back door announced Abigail was ready to come back in. When Carley opened the door, filling the doorframe was James holding Abigail Rose in one arm and an automatic pistol in the other. He gave her his charming, dimpled grin and asked, “Can I come in? I’d like you to hear my side of the story.”
Without thinking, she heaved her shoulder and whole body against the door to force it shut, but he was too fast for her. Wedging his shoe between the door and the doorframe, he pushed with all his strength. She lost her balance and reeled backwards. Where had she put Mark’s gun? She frantically glanced around the room, but he said, “Please don’t try anything stupid. I’ve grown attached to this little mutt, and I know you have too. I’d hate to see anything happen to her.” Abigail looked up at him, unaware of the threat, and licked his chin.
“What do you want from me?” she asked.
“I want you. I want you to come with me. We can get away from all of this. My sources say the FBI is closing in. I can keep you safe. I know people. And I have cash stashed away. The Canadian border is three hours from here. Once we’ve crossed over, we can go anywhere, and no one will find us. Someplace remote. There are parts of Canada where no one would ever think to look for us.”
Ohmygod, Carley thought. He is crazy. He expects me to go with him. He’s going to take me where no one knows me, where no one will be looking for me, where no one can find me. She gulped hard. Where is Mark? How long until he gets here? How can I stall James?
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