The Jumper

By Brian H Groover

An old man dies in a public and very strange suicide–or was it murder? Jeff Cramer must figure out which, fast. Nothing about this case appears normal and it could get very dangerous, very quickly.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Brian H Groover
• Release date: Feb 18, 2015
• ISBN: 9781310606403

Book preview

The Jumper

Brian H Groover

Table of Contents

Prologue

1 Carol

2 The Jumper

3 John Doe

4 Alicia

5 Vanished

6 Rachel

7 Big Mistake

8 Life and Death

9 Rachel’s Story

10 Stranger in a Strange Land

11 I’ve Never Been Able to Find It

12 Voice from the Grave

13 The Next Jumper

Afterword

Acknowledgments

About the Author

Also by Brian H Groover

The Jumper, by Brian H Groover

Published by Taproot, Frederick, Maryland, U.S.A., via Smashwords

Copyright 2015 by Brian H. Groover. All rights reserved.

The cover design is copyright 2014 by Julie Chapman. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. For additional permissions contact the author at [e-mail]

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favorite ebook retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

Smashwords ISBN: 9781310606403

First Epub Edition: February, 2015

This book is available online in paper or ebook formats for all readers.

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3

for Julie Chapman,

who designed an amazing cover

for a noob

and got a story rolling

and

for Gavin Wilson,

who featured the story

on Wattpad.com

and got it noticed

Prologue

Jumper! a man yelled. A woman screamed, and a crowd began to gather. In less than a minute, a hundred or more were pointing, shouting, and watching from the street below.

Eight floors above them, a man stood on a ledge in front of a window, looking down. His snowy hair blew about in the cool Pacific air.

Those on the far side of the street could see that the window behind him was partly open. The glass in the lower half was visible, but not the top.

The crowd gasped as a pair of arms reached through the open upper half of the window. They pulled the man back against the sash, and held him there. Don’t let him go! shouted a man in the crowd.

The man on the ledge did not seem to be struggling, and the crowd held its breath. He stood that way for a minute or so, held back by a pair of arms around his shoulders. A few on the edge of the crowd could see a face to go with the arms, next to the head of the old man. In a moment, the man would be pulled back inside, and the little drama would be over. Some of the tension in the crowd began to ease, and a few began to look around, thinking about getting home to dinner.

The still life on the eighth floor ended as quickly as it began. The second face vanished back into the window, and the arms and hands followed. The old man appeared to stand still for several seconds, then slowly leaned forward and pitched off the ledge.

He dropped him, said the man who had shouted earlier, just before a second person screamed. The man tumbled silently to the street below, as the crowd watched in fascinated horror. Several more people screamed when he hit the sidewalk, but the man himself did not scream as he fell, nor did he flail his arms.

1 Carol

Just let me get my wrap, and I’ll be ready. Carol beamed at him.

Jeff Cramer could not help her with her shawl; he was busy trying to work his jacket over the cast. After a week, it was really only a problem taking showers and when the San Francisco temperature changes made it itch. Three more weeks before he could take it off.

Carol pouted at seeing his holster under the jacket, but she didn’t say anything. She knew he had to wear it. They had hashed that out too many times for it to be an issue now.

As Jeff looked at his girlfriend, his heart began to thump. She