UNNERVING
A Novel of Suspense
by
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It took Fiona another fifteen minus to fall asleep. When she finally nodded off, she dreamed that Ralph Kendrick was chasing her through a dark, gloomy woods with a bloody rock in his hand. Her feet stumbled on heavy roots, and she pushed at branches as she tried to get away from him. When she glanced over her shoulder to see how close he was, she saw his pale blue, bulging eyes. Horns pushed out from his head, and smoke spewed out of his mouth. He raised the rock to smash her head. Suddenly, the dream ended. Her eyes flared open. She thanked God when she realized it was only a dream, and she lay still as her heart beat slowed. But wait! Something wasn’t right. Something had wakened her. Her eyes flared open, and her system buzzed onto red alert. She was lying on her back, and she strained to listen for a sound. The clock radio said one ten. The bathroom door was ajar as she had left it, and the nightlight illuminated basic shapes in the bedroom. She stayed completely still and let her eyes travel around, but saw no one standing or crouching. Yet something was different. A smell. A whiff of . . . body odor? When she saw the white curtains moving over the window at the end of her bed, her stomach clenched. That wasn’t right. Ted had closed and locked the window. And the air conditioning wasn’t on. She knew then that she wasn’t alone. Suddenly a large shape moved with a whoosh from the bottom of her bed, and a man’s hard body landed on her, crouched on his knees. His hands flexed around Fiona’s neck. She couldn’t gather the air to scream, but, lightning quick, she stiffened the pointer and middle fingers on her right hand and aimed for his left eye as hard as she could, just as she’d been taught in self defense classes. “Bitch,” the attacker yelled and pulled back on his haunches, clutching his eye. Fiona screamed for Ted as she struggled to get all the way out from under the intruder. The bedroom door flew open, and the light went on. Fiona saw Ted lunge forward and grab the intruder with both hands. He swung him off Fiona as if he was a rag doll. The intruder struggled like a mad tiger. Ted turned him and landed a powerful blow to the guy’s stomach, and another blow to the man’s face. The man crumpled to the floor.
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About the Book
“You’re telling me that Ralph Kendrick, the bogeyman of my worst nightmares has escaped from jail?” Eyes wide and unbelieving, Fiona Morgan asked the detective standing at her front door. She reached for the door frame to steady her wobbly legs. When she was ten years old, Fiona Morgan and two Girl Scout friends stumbled across Ralph Kendrick murdering a young woman at a Minneapolis park. At his trial when he was convicted of Rose Wilson’s murder, Kendrick threatened to kill all three young girls if he ever got out. Now, twenty years later, Fiona discovers that Kendrick has indeed escaped from prison, and he may have wealthy connections. She hires a bodyguard, Ted Collier, veteran police officer to protect her. Matters get worse for Fiona when she finds out that Kendrick knows that she is an identical triplet. He has told other inmates he doesn’t know which one testified. So he’ll eliminate all of them. This means five women are at risk. Two days later, Tory Girard, one of Fiona’s Girl Scout friends, is found dead in Minneapolis. Tension builds as Fiona and Ted try to stay safe and track Kendrick down before he can kill or hire someone to kill again.
About the Author
Karen J. Gallahue is a former occupational therapist who now satisfies her overactive imagination by writing stories of suspense. She lives in Naperville, Illinois,with her husband,Greg. Her previous book is Murder with a French Twist.