Kindle Edition
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Sisters Writing Crime
Amazon.com
Category:
Mystery/Suspense
Publisher: Independent
ISBN-10: B08L1D5V84
Type: Fiction
Pages: 250
Copyright: September 30, 2020
Price: $3.99 (eBook)
Andras Aguilar is a man with a reputation and Harper King is a woman with a tragic past. Will her love be enough when a shattering truth is uncovered?
Andras Aguilar spent his whole life believing that he may have committed unspeakable acts of violence while suffering lapses in memory. But then, the beautiful Doctor Harper came to Angel Falls and started searching for answers. Will she be able to free Andras from the dark moments in his life?
Excerpt
CHAPTER 1
Harper King moved her cart down the aisle of the only grocery store in Angel Falls, unsure of what to buy for her dinner tonight. She was tired of nuking frozen meals full of salt and preservatives, but her culinary skills were sadly lacking. While other women her age had learned to cook at their mother’s knee, she’d learned about the periodic table and algebraic equations. Her husband Neil had been the cook.
Her heart twisted in pain, and she fought back the tears as she thought about him and everything she had lost in her previous life. Resigned to another meal from a box, she quickly turned the corner and plowed into a man standing by the bread display. He bent down to pick up the loaf he had dropped, and when he stood up and looked at her, for several seconds, all she could do was stare.
He was the most enthralling man she’d ever seen. His mussed, jet-black curly hair fell just below his ears, and his dark, nearly black eyes seemed to look right through her.
Although he was dressed casually in jeans and a denim shirt, the clothes somehow looked elegant on him. It was a silly thought, and she had no explanation for her reaction.
“I’m terribly sorry,” she said while trying not to sound like an idiot. “I wasn’t looking where I was going. Completely my fault.”
“No problem,” he said. His voice, a deep rumble, sent a ripple of awareness through her as he nodded and walked away.
She watched him until he was out of sight and jumped when she felt someone’s hand on her arm. She turned and saw a woman she recognized but couldn’t remember from where.
“What did he say to you?” the woman asked. “He didn’t touch you, did he, Dr. King?”
“No, I ran into him. He was polite.” She touched the collar of her blouse, a nervous gesture, and said, “Why, what’s the matter?”
“That’s Andras Aguilar. You want to stay far away from him. The face of an angel, but the soul of the devil,” she said in a hoarse whisper.
Harper thought the woman’s behavior was melodramatic and said, “He seemed perfectly normal to me.”
The woman leaned in closer, and Harper could smell cigarettes on her breath. Harper remembered having seen her at the clinic last week, but her name floated around in Harper’s subconscious mind.
“You know he murdered that woman a few years back. Oh, he managed to cover his tracks, but everybody knows it was him. Been in trouble his whole life. His poor mama. Such a wonderful lady to have such an evil son. You know—a bad seed.”
Harper had no idea what to say. The woman stepped back slightly and said, “I’m Georgia Nickels. I brought my daughter in to see you last week.”
“Certainly, I remember.” The child was a horrid five-year-old who screamed the entire time and tried to bite her. Because Harper was out to make a good impression as a newcomer to the town, she choked down the truth and told a lie, “Sweet little girl.”
Georgia stepped closer again and said, “You stay clear of him. If he comes to the clinic, best you turn him away. He had a brother who was a wonderful boy and Andras’s strongest supporter. One day they had a fight right here in front of this store, and then Rafael just up and disappeared.” Georgia crossed her arms and said, “I’ll bet he found out what Andras had done, and that got him killed.”
“Mrs. Nickels, I’m not comfortable gossiping about someone, and I would never turn him away if he needed medical attention.”
Georgia’s voice hardened. “I’m only trying to offer my advice. You’re a woman alone in town, and mark my words, he’s dangerous.”
Georgia suddenly gasped, and her face turned ashen as she stared over Harper’s shoulder. When Harper turned around, she looked into Andras Aguilar’s taunting black eyes, and she was sure he had overheard most of the conversation.
The poor man had heard all of the horrible accusations that woman had flung around. If even half of them were true, she was sure he’d be in prison, instead of buying bread at the local store.
Embarrassed for herself and for Georgia Nickels, Harper murmured another apology his way and pushed her cart in the opposite direction. She really needed to get out of this store. This time, she almost ran down a woman with a toddler.
The woman gave her a bright smile and said, “I see you ran into Mrs. Nickels. I promise not all the residents of Angel Falls are as … well … as opinionated.” She held out her hand and said, “I’m Maggie Zarek.”
“Harper King.”
“I know, I recognized you from your photo. I was on the town committee searching for a new doctor. Welcome, Doctor King.”
“Please call me Harper.” She glanced at the pretty little girl sitting in the shopping cart and said, “Well, hello, there.”
“This is Marie, my daughter. Now that we have a doctor in town again, I’ll bring her in for her well checkup. I hope you’ve settled in all right. I meant to get by the clinic to say hello, but this is a busy time of year for me, so it’s hard to get away.”
“I understand. Everyone has been very helpful.”
“Don’t listen to what Georgia said about Andras. I’m surprised to see him in town because he usually keeps to himself. He’s had a difficult life, and he’s a little different, but you don’t need to be afraid of him.”
Marie squealed, and Maggie leaned over and kissed the top of her head. “I’d better run. She’s probably getting hungry. My family has a lodge and campground a few miles outside of town. It’s called Cielo Verde, and we’re off the main road by the lake. Come by sometime if you’re not busy. I’d love the company.”
Harper forced a thank you out of her mouth as memories of another child flooded her mind while she watched Maggie and the delightful little girl move away. She left her basket in the middle of the aisle and walked quickly out of the store.
~ ~ ~
The Angel Falls Health Clinic was located on the first floor of an old log home just off the main highway through town. The position as a general practitioner in a small mountain town didn’t pay well, but it came with furnished living quarters on the second floor free of charge for the first year. Harper didn’t want or think she deserved anything else.
She took a chicken pot pie out of the freezer and prepared it for the microwave. She laughed when she realized a Marie Callender dinner was her idea of a great meal. Out of all her frozen selections, this was her favorite.
She looked around the small kitchen. It had outdated appliances, peeling wallpaper, and a white linoleum floor, which was a bitch to keep clean. A custodian swept and mopped the clinic every morning and sterilized all of its countertops and bathrooms. Upstairs, however, she was entirely on her own. Thankfully, she found that cleaning the small living space kept her physically and mentally busy on the weekends and forced her mind not to dwell on the past.
Harper poured herself a glass of white wine, grabbed her laptop, and sat at the small kitchen table. Curiosity overcame her, so she typed in Andras Aguilar + Angel Falls into the Google search bar. Several articles popped up, but they were not necessarily what she had been expecting.
One article, written several years ago, had a photo of a much younger Andras standing between two law enforcement officers. He looked frightened and lost, and nothing like the confident man she had seen today. The article stated that he had been questioned concerning the homicide of a local woman, but he was never charged with the crime.
A more recent article stated that Andras was a well-recognized, award-winning expert in breeding and training western horses. His expertise and his horses were in high demand from people all across the nation. In the photo, Andras was standing next to a golden horse. The man’s dark eyes seemed to be looking directly at Harper. Eyes that seemed to be keeping secrets. She shivered and closed the computer.
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