《A Dangerous Woman (A Fay Cunningham Mystery-Book 1)》Chapter Twenty-Eight
Advertisement
Chapter Twenty-Eight
A few quick swipes with a soapy sponge in certain cracks and crevices, an extremely warm rinse, and Fay Cunningham's shower was finished.
I was in too big a hurry to bother styling the hair or cover facial age marks with makeup. I pulled on a comfortable old cotton nightshirt and robe and headed back down to the kitchen.
Mitch was left to entertain himself for a total of fifteen minutes. I'm not sure how entertaining those minutes were for him, but by the way the table looked, he hadn't daydreamed them away either.
"Haven't you been the busy little beaver," was my way of a compliment as I sat down at the table in front of a double-decker sandwich and steaming mug of coffee.
"You might want a think about replacin' things in the frig," Mitch suggested as he sat down in the chair across from me. "You got some really scary lookin' stuff growin' in there."
I bit into tomato, lettuce and cheese, neatly layered between four slices of whole wheat bread.
"How is it?" Mitch asked as he watched me chew, then swallow, my first big bite.
"Not bad, but it'd be a lot tastier with a few slices of bacon."
He commented by way of shaking his head in disapproval before biting into his own sandwich.
I sipped my coffee, while I waited for him to finish thoroughly chewing his food before swallowing. The wait was a strain on the nerves. I survived it though in silence. But the second he swallowed, I fired away with my question. "Are you gonna tell me or not?"
When he put his mug of coffee to his lips instead of answering me right away, I wanted to kick him one under the table. But something, or more specifically, that inner voice told me that wouldn't be a smart move.
Advertisement
"Something's turned up on this Angel Adams," he finally mentioned.
And here I was, all puffed up, expecting big news. What a let-down.
"I already know about her being Joe's daughter," I said, and picked up my sandwich to take my disappointment out on it.
"She's Joe's daughter?"
My teeth were a hair from chomping into my sandwich when his question came. The sandwich was dropped back down on paper plate.
"That's not what you were going to tell me?"
"Angel Adams isn't Angel Adams. Her legal name is Angel Traditor. Adams was her mother's maiden name."
Mitch did take another bite of his sandwich, while I kicked a few things around in my head.
"Traditor must have been the step dad's name. That has to be it. Angel doesn't like him, or the name, and decided to take her mom's maiden one. No crime in that."
Mitch chewed and swallowed this second bite a lot faster and had a response to my moment of thinking out loud.
"Don't know about a step dad, but there was a crime."
He took another bite of food, while I puffed up again with anticipation.
This time, I didn't have the patience to wait until he finished emptying his mouth.
"What crime?"
"Don't know. Happened when she was a juvenile. Records are sealed."
"But you're saying Angel committed a crime?"
"Yep. That's how I found out her name isn't Adams. Had the boys put her fingerprint through that there fancy new computer system of theirs."
"How did you get Angel's fingerprint?"
Mitch was back to sipping his coffee. There was also this sly grin lighting up his face and eyes.
"When I stopped by yesterday mornin' to break the news about Ethel to Joe, I got me a strange feelin' about the young woman who answered the door."
Advertisement
"My first impression of her wasn't a good one, either. But tonight I saw a side of her I really admired. Sounds like she had a tough childhood, Mitch."
"Yeah, and one that got her a criminal record in Portsmouth, Ohio."
"So just how did you get the fingerprint?" I asked while my mind was already trying to cough up the reason Portsmouth, Ohio sounded so familiar.
"It was quite by accident. I was pullin' my car keys out of my pocket to leave, when the little note pad I just brought dropped out. Angel picked it up for me."
"See. She can be very nice."
"Maybe. But I'd feel a lot better if I knew how she broke the law."
"Betsy."
"Betsy what?"
"She was one of the best crime reporters the paper's ever had. Last year she got married and followed her new husband to Ohio. Portsmouth, Ohio."
"I think it'd be a really good idea to give Betsy a call. But just in case this Betsy doesn't come through, the state boys might."
"If the records are sealed-"
"No, not that. They sent Ethel's clothes away to be analyzed. Angel's fingerprint is on it's way there now."
"You can't lift fingerprints from clothes, can you?"
"You'd be surprised what all this new technology is capable of doing."
"So you really think Angel might have had something to do with Ethel's murder?"
"I'm not rulin' her out."
"But why would she do it?"
"Didn't have that figured out till you said she was Joe's daughter." I'm sure Mitch saw in my expression his answer hadn't satisfied me. Or better still, had only piled on more confusion.
"She kills Ethel because she wants Joe all to herself."
Too bad Mitch hadn't witnessed the two of them together. Angel took a backseat to no one in Joe's eyes. Fay Cunningham included.
Advertisement
The Othryrian Archives
"Humanity is on the cusp of their Great Expansion. It will be the first time in history that they’ve reached beyond their own solar system in an attempt to colonize the galaxy. Or, at least, so they thought. Peeling back the veil of time, The Empire of Sol has uncovered vestiges of a secret genetic program on the far flung planet of Hod. The advent of the Empire’s ancient enemy could upset the careful balance of power throughout in the Sol System. When Hod is invaded by the Empire, Andros Aeton is pressed into their service and his people are held hostage. Unbeknownst to him, factions within the Empire vie to use him to their own ends. He must claim his heritage if he has any hope of escaping the clutches of the forces that seek to use him." This is a work in progress. Major editing will be done after the book is complete, so there will be egregious typos and parts that make no sense whatsoever. Please feel free to point any and all of these things out. Chapters WILL get edited, and that editing might break earlier chapters. I will attempt to keep readers apprised of all changes. As always, feedback is welcome and appreciated. The Scourge Wars Universe Evolve: The Scourge Wars Book 1 (published) Adapt: The Scourge Wars Book 2 (published) Resist: The Scourge Wars Book 3 (published) Path of Divinity Path of Divinity (Read on RoyalRoad) To stay up to date on all my writing, get exclusive e-books, and be eligible for Audible audiobook codes (no purchase required) please sign up for my mailing list.
8 223A Prose of Years
For decades, spiritualist Evert Kallstrom and his team have joined in humanity’s millennia-long fight against the beasts. Wielding their weapons and their ki, they fought and killed these great threats to civilization. And yet, despite their efforts, humanity was losing traction in the war. In the last fifty years alone, more cities had been overrun than in all of known history. While most thought the great beasts natural, a few knew the terrible truth. They were the product of a dark lord, who desired neither fame nor wealth nor power. Instead, his sole purpose was the genocide of humanity. While their peers dithered, a small faction of the strongest mankind had to offer—including Evert Kallstrom and his team—set out towards the Deadlands to find and confront this dark lord. After weeks of travel, twenty-one spiritualists found themselves approaching an ancient fortress wherein rested a being known only as the Eastern Guardian. All they found was death. But death has other plans for Evert. Evert bolts awake in his 16 year old body near his hometown, decades in the past. He is confused, poor and weak. But with grit, sweat, and years of experience, he won't let the future repeat itself. That level of strength won't be enough by itself (it wasn’t last time) and victory is hardly assured (he’ll need to reach farther and higher than he ever did), but Evert refuses to squander a second chance. [Other tags: First Person POV, Hard Magic, Faulty Memory] Volume 1 is complete and has been fully released. My current intention is not to write any sequel volumes. That said, I have also released appendices (SPOILERS) that cover the worldbuilding and future story-that-never-was. Comments suggesting fixes for grammar, misspellings, etc. appreciated. Note: If you came here from Candlelit Lives, these stories have nothing in common.
8 148Walker Of The Worlds
Lin Mu was a common boy living in a small town, ostracized by the townsmen because of a mistake he made during the harvest, his house seized to compensate for it. Forced to fend for himself in the outskirts, he finds a rusty ring embedded in the tree where he always used to play as a child. Witness his story as the mysterious rusty ring changes his destiny forever, opening him up to a world he would never have experienced, people he would have never met, and powers he would have never had.P.S. This book will be published till chapter 59 after which the rest will exclusively be on Webnovel.
8 421His Unknown Wife
What would you do if you were asked to pay back for all the obligation that someone has done to you.???Aren't we all are bound to pay back for all the favours we have received, in some or the other way...This is a story of Serah, who had an awesome life untill someone related to her committed a mistake and she ended paying up for that person's mistakes.A story of Michael who was heart broken when his love left him mid way and he was forced to do something terrible only for the sake of his family and society.
8 94Piece By Piece
Welcome back to Bird Island! Thanks to Red and her friends, Chuck and Bomb, life is peaceful again... almost. Now, the birds and pigs have engaged in an all-out prank war, which has no end in sight. It seems as though birds and pigs will always be enemies.But what happens when a new enemy threatens the existence of both Bird Island and Piggy Island? After everything that happened between the birds and pigs, especially Red and Leonard, could they possibly find a common ground?Sequel to Dangerous Woman, this is an AU in which Red is female.
8 138Mo'arka e karbala
BISMILLAH HIR-RAHMAN NIR-RAHIM. Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullah; Duniya me aise bahot se waqiyat aur haadse guzre hain jo insaniyat aur sharafat ke naam par badnuma daag hain. Jin ki yaad kuch waqt tak baqi rehti hai phir khatm ho jati hai.Lekin HAADSA-E-KARBALA ek aisa dard naak waqiya hai, aur is me aisi darindgi aur wehshi pan tha ke is ki yaad zamana bhi na mita saka. Balki aaj 1350 saal guzarne par bhi is ki yaad taaza hai.Is ki wajah ye hai ki Hazrat Imam Husain(r.a) ne dashte karbala me jis sabr, shuja'at aur himmat ka sabut diya hai, us ki nazir(misal) nahi milti. Aap par intehai be-rehmana aur wehshiyana zulm kiye gaye. lekin Aap ne sachai ka sath nahi chhoda, ALLAH SUB'HANAHU ko Aap ki mazlumi, be-kasi, aur be-chargi aisi pasand aai ke Aap ka zikr baaki rakha aur In sha ALLAH qayamat tak baaqi rahega.Bhook pyas ki shiddat, azizon ki maut ka sadma, aurton ki be-hurmati ka khayal ye sab baatain sabr aazma thi. Magar Aap ne har sadma har taklif ko bardasht kiya. Aap kis daur se guzar rahe honge is ka andaza lagana bhi mushkil hai. Yaqinan ye waqiya dil toh kya ruh tak ko jhinjod kar rakh dene wala hai, Lekin logon ne is ki Asliyat ko nahi samjha ya toh Husn-e-aqidat me doob kar asliyat ka inkaar karne lage. Logon ne aisi riwayatein gadhli hain jinka koi wajud hi nahi tha.Is qisse "Mo'arka-e-karbala" ko Husne aqidat se likha gaya hai, is me koi andhi taqlid ya gair taarikhi waaqiya shamil nahi hai. Balki jahan tak mumkin hosaka hai galat riwayaton ki tardid ki gai hai. Hamara maqsad logon ko sahi waqiyat se waqif karana hai. "Ma'arka-e-karbala" Author: Maulana Muhammad Sadiq Husain Sardhanvi.Aap tak pahonchane ki koshish : ف۔ش۔
8 57