Which one is real, Maddy? Did you not wonder why only a tiny newspaper in Cambridge would publish a sensational story involving insider trading, especially if the accused was a wealthy, brilliant MIT student? Would a story so big remain undiscovered? Silly girl! Did you really think Adam would allow you to just happen upon the biggest secret of his life? Put those fine investigative skills back to work. Trouble is brewing. Helena knows something. I suspect Adam does too. And your dear lover’s future may depend on you uncovering the real truth. There’s just one catch: don’t tell Adam anything. Not just yet. Come visit me at Willow Point—I’ll give you the next piece of the puzzle. Tick tock, the clock is ticking. Hurry, Madeleine.
See you soon!
—Ami
I stared at the note for ages, the crackling fire filling the silence. Was this some kind of a sick joke? After all, Ami was messed up. But, in my heart, I knew it wasn’t.
One of these articles was genuine, and the other was obviously a fake. But if the SEC article was the fake one, meaning Adam had never been under scrutiny, then why had he hid that version in his files in the locked desk drawer? Had he, as Ami seemed to elucidate,
allowed
me to find it? I’d suspected as much at first, but then I concluded the unlocked drawer was Adam’s way of letting me uncover what Chelsea had held over his head. Had this not been it? Had he never even been under investigation? Perhaps he had just lucked out in the trade that netted him millions. It would explain why I’d never come across any mention of an SEC investigation. And Ami’s words rung true. How could a story so big remain hidden?
But how in the hell did Ami Dubois-Hensley know about all of this? Had she somehow been in on the ruse? Had the article been a decoy? Something to throw me off from discovering the
real
secret Adam held? And did this real secret have something to do with Ami? What did she mean by “trouble is brewing”? And how in the hell did Helena play into all of this? The meaningful glances Adam and Helena had thrown each other’s way that day she came over were now looking suspicious.
And if the SEC stuff was all just a smoke screen—one Ami had obviously been in on from the way things were looking—then Adam had never actually told me what Chelsea had been blackmailing him with. And if he’d cooked this up as a diversion, then whatever it was, it had to be something far worse. And that chilled me to the bone. So, yeah, I certainly would be putting my investigative skills back to work. And soon.
In fact one of the first things on my agenda was going to be a visit to my one-time best friend and, more recently, the person who’d attempted to kill me. That was bad. But what was worse was that now I’d have to go to the creepiest place in all of Maine—Willow Point.
Look for another Harbour Falls Mystery—Willow Point—in 2013.
It’s been a crazy, fun ride getting Harbour Falls ready for publication. Writing the story was only half the battle, one I couldn’t have done without the support of family and friends. And lots of Red Bull. Seriously though, I can never thank my parents enough for their encouragement and belief in me. A special acknowledgement goes out to Soul, Biel, Stephie, Lusi, Rosa, Michelle, and so many others for all the encouragement for me to keep writing, especially early on. And a huge shout-out goes to Laura for too many things to list.
Thank you to my Create Space team, especially my editor, Barbara. And a special thanks to Damon at Awesome Book Covers for putting together an amazing cover design. Also over at Awesome Book Layouts, thank you to Benjamin for some very awesome print and e-book layouts, and for being patient with my endless emails and questions.
Finally, to Tom, I couldn’t have done it without you. You got me through the rough patches and are always a sounding board for ideas. I appreciate that more than you’ll ever know. And here we go again…
About the Author
S.R. Grey is the author of Harbour Falls, first in the Harbour Falls Mystery trilogy. She resides in western Pennsylvania. Grey has both a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Robert Morris College, as well as an MBA from Duquesne University. And though she enjoys working in sales and consulting, her true passion lies in writing. Other interests include reading, traveling, running, and cheering for her hometown sports teams.
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