Moon Underfoot
| Moon Underfoot | |
| Jake Crosby [2] | |
| Cole, Bobby | |
| AmazonEncore (2013) | |
| Tags: | USA |
Eighteen months ago, stockbroker Jake Crosby and his daughter Katy
narrowly survived a living nightmare at a remote Alabama hunting camp.
To save Katy, Jake killed two men—men who were friends and business
associates of notorious outlaw and drug-runner Ethan “Moon Pie” Daniels.
That night, Moon Pie made a blood promise of revenge. And in Moon Pie’s
dark world of violence, such promises are always kept.
Jake
Crosby doesn’t regret what he did that night; he knows it was kill or be
killed. But he can’t shake the feeling that the horror isn’t over, that
Katy and his wife, Morgan, aren’t yet safe—and that retribution is
coming. All he knows for sure is that he will do anything—everything—to
protect his family. That’s a vow the dangerous Moon Pie will put to the
ultimate test on a cold, moonless night deep in the heart of a river
swamp.
The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.
Text copyright © 2012 William Robert Cole, Jr.
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.
Scripture quotations are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.
Published by Thomas & Mercer
P.O. Box 400818
Las Vegas, NV 89140
ISBN-13: 9781612187211
ISBN-10: 1612187218
This book is dedicated to the fine folks of West Point, Mississippi.
I’m humbled by their enthusiastic support.
He lifted me out of the slimy pit,
out of the mud and mire;
He set my feet on a rock
and gave me a firm place to stand.
—Psalm 40:2
A
S DARKNESS ENVELOPED
the newly constructed two-story house, the sliver of moon added to the gloom that was a chilly autumn Mississippi evening. Scout was stretched out on the kitchen floor, sound asleep, with her favorite chew toy nearby.
Morgan Crosby had just finished cleaning the kitchen and strongly suspected she had math homework in her immediate future. A quick glance at the wall clock revealed that she was missing
Dancing with the Stars
, but she didn’t really care. She was happy. Typically Jake would have had a fire burning in the den by now, but he was at a business dinner and wouldn’t be home for at least another hour or so. It was blues night at Anthony’s Market, and Jake’s bosses loved to schedule business meetings around great food and the Delta’s music that flowed there on most nights.
Morgan was thrilled with Jake’s renewed interest in his career, but she still didn’t like being home without him. Her therapist had promised the anxiety would slowly dissipate. She just needed time. It had been almost two years, and Morgan was doing much better. The recent move to a gated neighborhood had helped tremendously. She finally felt safe. Her face glowed as she placed a hand on her stomach and thought about the surprise she had for Jake tonight. He had no idea she had been to the doctor.
Katy suddenly came crashing down the stairs with her books in hand, ready to conquer her fifth-grade math assignment.
“I’m ready, Mom!” she exclaimed, as if Morgan should drop everything and come running.
“Okay, let me wash up,” Morgan replied. “Go ahead and get started.”
“Yes ma’am. We started fractions today, and they seem easy,” Katy said with confidence.
Morgan dried her hands as she watched Katy enthusiastically dive into her homework. “Just let me know if you need some help.”
From across the kitchen, Morgan could hear the friction of Katy’s pencil against the paper. Morgan smiled, sat down at the table, and began flipping through the latest issue of
Garden & Gun
. She enjoyed the garden portion. Jake loved the guns.
When Morgan was halfway through the magazine, their normally silent cat grunted a meow, indicating he wanted to go outside. Morgan glanced up from a recipe. As she had done hundreds of times, she walked to the back door and with one hand flipped on the outside light switch. With the other, she unlocked the door and slightly opened it.
The black-and-white cat squeezed through the crack. When the tip of his tail cleared the door, Morgan slowly looked up to see the silhouette of a man less than fifteen yards away, the glow of his cigarette slightly illuminating his sinister face. He looked her dead in the eye before grinning and then stepping backward and disappearing into the darkness of the woods.
Morgan screamed, slammed the door, and quickly locked the dead bolt. Still screaming, she pushed the panic button on the house’s alarm, unleashing an immediate high-pitched shrill from the speakers, which were located in the attic. Katy was wild-eyed as she watched her mother race from the touch pad to the cordless telephone and begin dialing.
With remarkable clarity, Morgan Crosby explained to the 911 operator that a prowler was outside of her house and that
she needed immediate help. As she ran to the kitchen window in search of the stranger, she quickly verified her name and address. The operator dispatched the police and stayed on the line to comfort Morgan, who was now shaking uncontrollably.
“The West Point police will be there in three minutes, Mrs. Crosby,” the young emergency operator said reassuringly.
“I don’t know what he was doing! He was just staring, staring in the windows…at me!”
“Can you describe him?” the operator asked calmly and then alertly mouthed to another operator to also inform the sheriff’s office.
“I don’t know! He was standing in the shadows,” Morgan said, shaking her head and realizing there was something faintly familiar about the man’s profile. “I need to call my husband!”
“You mean he’s not home?” the surprised operator asked.
“No! No, he’s not. It’s just me and my daughter.”
This increased the intensity of the situation. The operator snapped her fingers at a coworker and then mouthed, “She’s alone!”
“Listen, ma’am, don’t hang up, okay? I need you to stay on the line until the officers get there. Do you have a cell phone handy?”