M.C.V. EGAN ❧Defining Ways❧

Graylin

“What’s the matter, Mrs. Singletary? Why do I have to go to the principal’s office?”

I’m walking side-by-side down the hallway with my second-period teacher. Students are huddled together staring and pointing at us like we’re zoo animals. When a teacher at Marcus Preparatory Academy escorts you to the principal’s office, it’s a big deal. Nothing like this has ever happened to me before. I’m a good student. I never get in trouble.

Mrs. Singletary won’t answer my questions or even look at me. I hope she knows she’s only making me more nervous.

“Mrs. Singletary, please tell me what’s wrong?”

“Just follow me. You’ll find out in a minute.”

I’m about to ask her another question when it hits me. Something happened to my mama!

My mama has been on and off drugs for as long as I can remember. I haven’t seen her in months and I don’t even know where she lives. No one does. I act like it doesn’t bother me, but it does. I’ve prayed to God a million times to get her off drugs. Even though my granny says God answers prayers, He hasn’t answered mine, so I stopped asking.

I jump in front of my teacher, forcing her to stop. “Was there a death in my family, Mrs. Singletary? Did something happen to my mama?”

“No, there wasn’t a death.”

She swerves around me and keeps going. I have to take giant steps to keep up with her.

Once we’re inside the main office, Mrs. Singletary points at a wooden chair outside Principal Keller’s office. “Have a seat and don’t move.”

She goes into the principal’s office and closes the door. My head begins to throb like somebody’s banging on it from the inside. I close my eyes and try to calm down. I didn’t do anything wrong. It’s probably just—Oh snap! The picture!

I slide down in the chair and pull my iPhone from my right pocket. My hands are trembling so bad I have to concentrate to keep from dropping it. I open the photos app and delete the last picture on my camera roll. If anyone saw that picture, I’d be screwed.

Loud voices seep through the closed door. I lean forward, straining to hear. It almost sounds like Mrs. Singletary and Principal Keller are arguing.

“It’s only an allegation. We don’t even know if it’s true.”

“I don’t care. We have to follow protocol.”

“Can’t you at least check his phone first?”

“I’m not putting myself in the middle of this mess. I’ve already made the call.”

The call? I can’t believe Principal Keller called my dad without even giving me a chance to defend myself. How’d she even find out about the picture?

The door swings open and I almost jump out of my skin. The principal crooks her finger at me. “Come in here, son.”

Trudging into her office, I sit down on a red cloth chair that’s way more comfortable than the hard one outside. My heart is beating so fast it feels like it might jump out of my chest.

The only time I’ve ever been in Principal Keller’s office was the day my dad enrolled me in school. Mrs. Singletary is standing in front of the principal’s desk with her arms folded. I hope she’s going to stay here with me, but a second later, she walks out and closes the door.

Principal Keller sits on the edge of her desk, looking down at me. “Graylin, do you have any inappropriate pictures on your cell phone?”

“Huh?” I try to keep a straight face. “No, ma’am.”

“It’s been brought to my attention that you have an inappropriate picture—a naked picture—of Kennedy Carlyle on your phone. Is that true?”

“No…uh…No, ma’am.” Thank God I deleted it!

“This is a very serious matter, young man. So, I need you to tell me the truth.”

“No, ma’am.” I shake my head so hard my cheeks vibrate. “I don’t have anything like that on my phone.”

“I pray to God you’re telling me the truth.”

I don’t want to ask this next question, but I have to know. “Um, so you called my dad?”

“Yes, I did. He’s on his way down here now.”

I hug myself and start rocking back and forth. Even though I deleted the picture, my dad is still going to kill me for having to leave work in the middle of the day.

“I also made another call.”

At first I’m confused. Then I realize Mrs. Keller must’ve called my granny too. At least she’ll keep my dad from going ballistic.

“So you called my granny?”

“No.” The principal’s cheeks puff up like she’s about to blow something away. “I called the police.”

About the Author

Pamela Samuels Young is an attorney and award-winning author of eight legal thrillers. Her most recent courtroom drama, Abuse of Discretion, tackles a troubling sexting case that gives readers a shocking look inside the juvenile justice system. Pamela is also the recipient of an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Fiction for her thriller Anybody’s Daughter. The former journalist received a bachelor’s degree from USC and also earned graduate degrees from Northwestern University and UC Berkeley School of Law. She is a frequent speaker on the topics of child sex trafficking, online safety, fiction writing, and pursuing your passion. To invite Pamela to a book club meeting or speaking engagement, visit her website

Date Published: 9/1/17

Publisher: ITService-Excellence.Com

An action-packed, do-gooders, interactive adventure story loaded with audio narration, cool music, video and 3D animation, pop-up widgets, maps, and review questions that allow the reader to foretell what happens next in the story.  Your children will think they’re watching an exciting play on your iPad.  If your child is into skateboards, airplanes, technology and being a good friend, then this is the iBook for them.  Uncle PoleCat goes to Hollywood is total interactive fun for the whole family.

Three young friends win a science contest and a trip to Hollywood, Ca.  Things are going great during their vacation until their dog, Freckles is dognapped by evil villains and their guardian is hospitalized.  The kids have no one to turn to and call Uncle PoleCat to get Freckles back and get them out of a terrible jam.

Uncle PoleCat, an amazing ferret with super powers and his best pal Snake travel from the magical town of Mount McHenry all the way to Hollywood.  He and Snake meet up with the kids and check in on Mr. McHenry.  After visiting McHenry, Uncle PoleCat and the kids orgnize a search for Freckles.  The clues lead to the desert hideout where freckles is being fattened up for a feast by Rudi The Rat.

Uncle PoleCat and Snake outsmart Rudi and his henchmen and win back Freckles but not before two other kids are captured by Rudi.  All ends well, as the kids are reunited with Old Man McHenry and they finish their vacation in Hollywood and Uncle PoleCat and Snake go back home to finish their vacation.

A family man, Samuel Laguna was a leader of an elite troubleshooting team that served The Best Beverages Company executives for 35 years. He was dropped into volatile situations all over the world like a power ranger to resolve cyber attacks, technology issues, and expose corporate espionage. Retired now, Sam spends his time writing fiction stories that range from corporate life and politics to children’s adventure storybooks. No matter what book Sam writes, you can count on his storytelling to provide life-lessons and make you laugh out loud.

Meet David Wagers, a cool, collected and incredibly handsome Private Investigator in the New York City area.  David is hired to investigate the unsolved murder case of Courtney Tabbin, a popular, young woman with a promising future.  Along the way, David encounters some interesting and suspicious characters and a complex office drama.  Was Courtney’s murder just a random act of violence, or something more personal?

While digging deeper for answers, David also manages to juggle an understaffed office and even forms an alluring, new friendship with Victoria under the unlikeliest of circumstances.  With impeccable skills of observation, deduction and razor-sharp instincts, David moves steadily towards solving the case but not without a few twists and turns, and managing to turn a few heads along the way.

Work & Wagers (David Wagers Case #1), a cozy murder mystery, is the first book in the new and exciting David Wagers detective series.

David could already hear the phone ringing as he unlocked his office door.  “I guess I really need to get someone in here,” he acknowledged to himself, knowing that he should have hired an assistant a good month ago.  Business was beginning to pick up and no longer consisted of just background checks and unfaithful spouses.

His office suite was in a mid-rise building and consisted of two rooms; a small waiting room and his even smaller private office.  It really wasn’t a bad trade off considering he had a view – or a snippet of a view – of the New York City skyline.

Sitting at his desk, David snapped his laptop into its docking station and turned it on.  He would need to weed through his voicemail messages but that would have to wait for the time being.

One call that he had received the evening before was from Walter Huffs, a respected local attorney. Walter’s niece had been murdered and the crime remained unsolved.  Concerned for his sister’s mental health and not wanting the case to go cold, Walter had hired him to investigate further.   It was a case that David really wanted to handle, for a number of reasons.

“Courtney Tabbin,” he typed into the search engine on his sluggish computer.    Page after page of search results came up.   David began to comb through each and every one of them.

He remembered the incident very well.  No more than a year ago, Courtney Tabbin’s body had been found in a secluded wooded area in Northern New Jersey, savagely beaten and left in a nearby stream.  There had been no sign of sexual assault.  Stolen items including a necklace and a wallet containing cash suggested a robbery, but the nature of the wounds suggested something more.

“I will have to speak to your sister, Joanne, about your niece,” David had said to Walter at the time, “and in doing so she will have to relive the crime and the loss of her daughter all over again.  Will she be up for it?”

“Yes,” Walter had replied.  “I discussed this with my sister before contacting you.  It will be hard for her but not as hard as not having closure.”

According to past news articles, the night that Courtney disappeared she was supposed to meet with some co-workers for dinner.  At first, when it appeared that Courtney was running late, a couple of the girls had tried to reach her on her cell phone.  When she completely failed to show up, one of her co-workers had called Courtney’s house and had spoken to her mother.  Her car had eventually been discovered on a desolate road, not far from where her remains had been found.

David’s concentration was broken into to when the phone rang.  “David Wagers,” he quickly answered.

“Hi, David, did you get any of my messages?”  It was Penny Irvines, a spousal surveillance client.  Penny was in her mid-forties and well preserved, but was not the teeny bopper that she thought herself to be.

“Hello, Penny.  Yes, I did,” David replied.  Penny had left a message yesterday evening. “I just got into the office a few minutes ago.”

“Did you find anything out last night?” she asked sweetly.  He could almost hear her batting her eyelashes.

“No,” David admitted.  “I didn’t.  It seems as if Troy was just working late.”

“Ohhh, how could that be?!” Penny exclaimed.  “Are you sure about that?’

“There hasn’t been any evidence of infidelity so far,” he stated.

“You know he still has that business meeting outside of the office at the end of the week,” Penny continued.

“Yes, I’m prepared for his meeting on Friday,” David answered.

“David, dear, I didn’t mean to suggest that you weren’t prepared,” Penny said innocently.   “It’s just so hard for me to be home alone all the time when I know he’s out gallivanting.”

“We’ll see what his meeting on Friday turns up.  I’ll give you a call at the end of the week,” David said, eager to get her off the phone.

“Thank you, David,” Penny purred.  “I’ll be waiting.”

David was getting the distinct impression that Penny just wanted an excuse to get out of her marriage, but he didn’t want to jump to any conclusions.

Picking up the phone, he dialed in his voicemail passcode.  Now was as good a time as any to go through the rest of his calls.

***

After picking up records on the Tabbin case graciously supplied by Detective Woods at the local police department, David was on his way to meet with Joanne Tabbin.

Joanne resided in a prestigious area in Northern New Jersey with her husband, a senior accountant and owner of his own CPA firm.  Courtney had been their only child, which had made their loss that much harder to bear.

Arriving right on time, David pulled into the driveway of the attached, oversized two-car garage, as Joanne had advised.  As he made his way up the front walk, the sun shined down brightly in the quiet, serene neighborhood, attempting to conceal the anguish that he could feel lingering underneath.

David rang the bell and waited for just a couple of minutes, hearing soft footsteps on the other side of the door.

Joanne answered the door looking haggard.  In her early fifties she appeared older, with her salt and pepper hair and deep, dark circles beneath her eyes.  She quickly extended her hand.

“So nice to meet you, Mr. Wagers,” she said, her gaze meeting his with unexpected determination.  “Please, come in.”

“Nice to meet you, too, Mrs. Tabbin,” David responded.  “Your home is lovely.”  The center hall colonial opened to a two story entry foyer which delivered a dramatic first impression.

“Thank you so much,” Joanne said.  “Come, make yourself comfortable.”  She led David to a formal living room where he took a seat on a small sofa.  A framed picture of Courtney, a pretty brunette, sat on a nearby end table.

“Would you like anything?” she asked.

“No, thank you,” David said.

Joanne sat down in an armchair across from him.  “So, where do we begin?”

“Well,” David said, taking a pad and pen from out of his briefcase, “We could start with that night.”

“Yes, a night I will never forget,” she stated.

Joanne then proceeded to rehash the events of that fateful evening.  How Courtney had come home right after work and changed to go out to dinner for a girls’ night out with her co-workers.  They were set to meet at the restaurant at seven thirty that evening, and Courtney had left at approximately five forty-five.

“Why did she leave so early?” David asked as he jotted down notes.

“She was probably taking into consideration the rush hour traffic,” Joanne speculated.  “I know she was planning to stop for gas and the bank before it closed.”

“Could she have been planning to meet up with someone else before going to dinner?” David questioned.

“Courtney never mentioned that, but I supposed it’s not out of the question,” Joanne said.

“What about boyfriends?  Was she seeing anyone at the time?” he continued.

“She did have one boyfriend but he was away in Connecticut for his last year of college,” Joanne answered.

“I’m sure you’ve been asked all of this before, but I need to ask again,” David commented.

“I understand that,” she nodded.

David hesitated for a moment.  “Did Courtney have any enemies that you know of, any jealousies or dramas occurring in her life at that time?”

“Not that I know of,” Joanne stated.  “Courtney was a popular girl and always had a lot of friends.  She was beautiful and outgoing so, yes, there were some jealousies from time to time but nothing drastic.”

“I understand that Courtney was working at a major corporation in the area,” David said, “What was her role in the company?”

“Courtney was working for Well Metro, a health insurance company,” Joanne said, “She worked as a paralegal in their legal department.  She was considering going further and becoming an attorney.”

“How long was she working at Well Metro?” David asked.

“She had just started.  Maybe six months,” she recalled.

Tapping the pad with his pen, David asked, “Was Courtney having any problems at work?”

“No, not at all,” Joanne answered.  “She loved the work she was doing.  Her co-workers seemed like a nice group of girls.  They were very concerned for her the night she went missing.  I actually still talk to one of the girls.  She’s very upset about Courtney’s murder and has been very supportive.”

“Could I have her name?” David asked.

“Pam Jobley,” she said.  “She’s a very nice girl.  In fact, I know she’s looking to move and I was actually considering offering her our lower level suite.  It’s been so quiet in the house since Courtney has been gone.  Pam is very cooperative and I’m sure she would answer any questions you might have about Courtney should you want to speak with her.”

“Maybe I will,” David said, looking up from his notes.

***

After speaking with Joanne for a little while longer, David left with a list of names of friends, classmates and co-workers of Courtney’s.  Although none of the information he obtained was anything new from what was already on record, he was hoping that a different approach would bring forward different results.

It was obvious that Joanne leaned toward the idea that the murder was the result of a robbery gone wrong, some random person that, hopefully, someone would remember seeing Courtney cross paths with that night.  David wasn’t so sure, however, and planned to leave no stone unturned. 

Sherrie Sushko is the author of three books, Remain, Lost Love, and Work & Wagers. When not writing or reading, Sherrie enjoys spending time outdoors with her dog. Sherrie currently resides in the United States.