Tales of Suspense and Mystery

Title Page

Tales of Suspense

And Mystery

Donald H Sullivan

Copyright Page

Copyright 2011 Donald H Sullivan

ISBN:  978-1-257-99032-0

All the stories herein are works of fiction.  Any resemblance of the characters in the stories to real people, living or dead, is strictly coincidental

Introduction

You will find a mixed bag of stories here, but they all have a common thread:  The element of suspense.  Here is a  brief rundown of the stories.

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Raw Deal.  April Baxter becomes pregnant during an affair with a fellow employee, who is married.  He ends the affair and demands that she get an abortion.  She refuses, and he plots to murder her.  He tricks her into meeting him at an old deserted mill.  She believes that he wants to renew their affair.

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Engine Trouble.  After an argument with her husband, Kitty Delaney leaves him.  While on the way to her mother's house, she develops engine trouble on the interstate.  While seeking help, she encounters an escaped serial killer.

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A multi-millionaire playboy who loves practical jokes, cooks up an extravagant practical joke on his rich friends.  But it backfires on him.

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The Doll Makers.  A fantasy, but with a strong element of suspense.  A couple on a camping trip in an isolated part of a forest, encounters a group of evil elves.

The Blizzard.  Identical twins are stranded in a snow storm.  They seek shelter, and find a beautiful girl at home alone.  She allows them to stay in a heated out building, her dad's hobby shop.  But Jesse, who has a way with women, sneaks into the house and manages to sleep with the girl.  Not wanting to jeopardize his relationship with his fiancée,  he poses as his more reserved brother.  This spells trouble for both twins.

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Intruder.  Her husband is on a business trip,  and Karen Parker is at home alone.  An intruder breaks in.  She devises a plan to make the intruder think she has a dog.  Even she is shocked at what happens next.

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The Diamond Ring.  A wealthy woman loses her expensive diamond ring while looking at trees on Big Bill's Christmas tree lot.  She offers a huge reward to  whoever finds the ring.  Big Bill, a shady character, devises a plan to give a much smaller reward to the finder, and collect the large reward for himself.

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The Weed.  This one is scifi  with an element of suspense.  Hank Murphy spots a strange weed in his backyard garden.  He decides to leave it there to see what happens.  What does happen is a nightmare.

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Secrets of a Psycho  A serial Killer thinks he is doing his victims a favor.  He also thinks he can communicate with their spirits.

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No Place to Hide.  Mary Spencer, recent divorcee, is on vacation on a small island off the coast of Florida.  While in the dining room of the only hotel on the island, she overhears two men plotting a murder.  She is shocked to learn that she is the intended victim.

Raw Deal

April Baxter could think of no easier way to commit suicide. An overdose of sleeping pills and she would just drift off to sleep and never wake up.  No discomfort.  No pain.  No more worries about the mess she had made of her life in the short year since graduating from high school.

She could take her time; there was no hurry.  Her father, an army master sergeant, had a month remaining on an unaccompanied overseas tour.  Her mother was visiting Aunt Gale in Florida and would be gone for the next two days.

On her way home from work, April had stopped at the drug store and bought the sleeping pills.  After writing a  note, she would be ready.  She found a legal pad, sat down at the kitchen table, and began writing.

Mom and Dad,

When you read this, I’ll be gone.  I want you both to

know that I love you with all my heart.  But I have

lied and brought shame to you.  I broke my promise.

I’m pregnant.  It was Benny Lorenzo,  assistant

manager at The Red Bee.  He said he was divorcing

his wife, but he has ignored me since learning I’m

pregnant.

April stopped writing.  Her eyes stung and tears were rolling down her cheeks.  No--she could not do it.  And deep inside, she knew from the beginning that she could not do it.  What had she been thinking?

Sometimes life hands you a raw deal, her father once told her.  But play the cards you’re dealt as best you can.  She’d seldom gone wrong following that advice.

She made up her mind; she would tell her parents.  They would be upset at first, she knew, but she also knew  that they would forgive her and love her as always.  And she knew that they would love the baby.

She would put off telling them, though, until her father returned from overseas--early next month.  Her pregnancy wouldn’t be obvious for a while yet.

She threw the sleeping pills in the waste basket, tore the note to shreds, and flushed the pieces down the commode.

~ ~ * ~ ~

The Red Bee Supermarket was busy, and April was working the express checkout.  She was overdue for her break and hoping for relief when she glanced up to see Benny coming her way.  She was surprised when he stopped at her aisle to relieve her.  They made the transfer, and as she turned to go, he slipped a note into her hand.  She pocketed the note, feeling that every eye in the store had witnessed the act.

It was a warm spring day, so she made her way to the outside break area.  She got a Diet Pepsi from the machine, and as she seated herself at the table, she saw Billy Jay Martin leaving the store.

Hi, April, I’m going to Wendy’s for burgers and stuff.  Want anything?

Not this time, Billy Jay.  Thanks anyway.

He grinned.  Still on a diet?  Hey, you’re looking pretty trim to me.

She returned his smile and watched as he left in his old but newly painted  blue Dodge pickup.  She pulled the note from her pocket.  It was brief.

April, tomorrow at two O’clock, Turner’s Mill.

After a week of avoiding her, Benny was asking her to meet him.  Maybe his conscience was starting to work on him.  But why Turner’s Mill?  Their first meeting had been at the old abandoned mill, but they’d long since changed to Riley’s Motel in Pineville.

Did he choose the old mill for sentimental reasons?  If so, it was a bad choice; she hated the place.  It was rundown and overgrown with vines.  She thought about refusing to meet him--it would serve him right.  But since he