Good Grief!

By Julie Ahlstrom

A Grief Counselor fights to help a little girl suffering from shock after witnessing a terrible murder. Her life is in danger, and together with the help from detectives, Kelly Anderson races against time to solve the case that involves murder, kidnapping, and international diamond smuggling.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: May 7, 2014
• ISBN: 9781483528021

Book preview

2014

GOOD GRIEF

Prologue

The Donkey Piñata with its curly paper and bright colors was so heavy with sweet treats that Marcus could barely carry it to the front yard. Angelita picked out the sweets herself and couldn't make up her mind which ones were best so they just bought them all. Now Marcus was deciding how he was going to hang it on the big tree in the front of their family home. It was a beautiful, warm day and Marcus thought it would be the perfect day for Angelita's 8th birthday party.

The front of the big, sprawling, Spanish style home was covered with balloon bouquets and crepe paper and the smell of frangipani was strong in the air. There was a large table filled with brightly colored plates and covered trays of chicken enchiladas and sweet empanadas, all Angelitas' favorites. Small mementos for the guests were on a round table in the center of the yard with brightly wrapped gifts for the birthday girl.

Eleven year old Marcus was excited for the party because he had made a very special gift for his little sister in his shop class at school and could hardly wait to give it to her. It had been hard to keep it a secret from her and now it was in his pocket so she couldn't find it until the party.

Hanging the piñata was hard and Marcus had pulled a chair over to the tree and was standing on it to secure the piñata to the tree. It was still too heavy for him so he called Angelita to help him.

Wow, he thought. This thing is sooo heavy! Angelita! he shouted, Come and help!

POP! POP! The sound came from nowhere! In slow motion, the piñata fell to the ground, spilling the sweets all over. Marcus heard the 'POP' but felt only the sting. He couldn't seem to help it as the chair moved out from under him and his body fell slowly to the ground. He vaguely heard Angelita screaming as she ran down the side of the house. He felt himself go limp as he looked down and saw the blood from the wound in his stomach cover the candy and then he felt nothing at all.

Angelita started screaming when she saw him fall. She kept screaming when her Mami came running from the house and her Papi came running from the garage. She screamed until the doctor came with the shot that made her sleepy, and when she awoke, she was still screaming, but no sound came out.

Angelita had not spoken a word since her 8th birthday, three days ago.

Chapter 1

Whoosh! The elevator inside the Tanner Building swept Kelly to the 11th floor in just seconds, leaving her still completely breathless. The elevator itself was totally silent as it powered its way to the top of the building where the offices for Human Services and the Victim Advocate Programs for the city of Carver were housed.

Kelly was still reeling from the incident at the bus stop and was trying to compose herself before she stepped out onto the gleaming Italian tile floor. The Tanner Building was on the historic records and was undergoing extensive renovations and Kelly was glad they had started at the top and worked down. One could see where the old door casings had been replaced with beautiful crown moldings and old paint and wall paper had been changed to organic wall coverings with beautiful earth tones. All of this was accentuated with burnished copper accents that glowed in the early morning light.

Kelly was so glad they had preserved the exterior and most of the interior in its original design. The integrity of the building remained in tact that way. She loved coming to work every day. It seemed so restful inside this building while a chaotic world carried on outside. Unfortunately, part of the chaos actually followed her into the building where she was a grief counselor for the Domestic Violence and Abuse Programs for the City of Carver.

Brushing back the golden cascade of hair that fell almost to her waist, she adjusted her skirt and jacket and entered the office. Even without the hair, which her mother had always told her was her crowning glory, she was a beautiful woman. Standing 5'11" in her stocking feet, she towered over the other women in the office. Her friend Nicky always said they could be twins if only Kelly had her extra 20 pounds and she had Kelly's extra 6 inches.

Today Nicky stood by the water cooler and stared as Kelly marched toward her office with a look that said, Don't even go there, which is exactly where Nicky went.

What in the world happened to you? she asked.

Trying to pretend she was fine, Kelly put her purse in the drawer and sat behind her desk. Nothing, I'm fine! she said.

Oh really said Nicky. Then why does your hair look like you just stuck your finger in a light socket, and that grimace on your face makes you look like you just had a colonoscopy that didn't go well?

I don't know what you mean, and don't you have something to do? asked Kelly irritably.

Well, I am the office manager and I AM doing something! I'm sticking to this chair until I get the details, okay? said Nicky.

Nicky, short for Nicole Fellini, was of Italian descent with a Latin temperament. Her dark eyes and hair were natural, but not the bright red and yellow swatches that she had woven through the curls. Nicky was her own fashion guru and sometimes came to work in such outrageous clothing and hairstyles that even her good friend, Kelly wondered if she was mentally all there.

Oh my gosh! exclaimed Kelly. Doesn't anyone have a life? she said. My hair got caught in the bus doors and my heel got caught in a sidewalk vent and ruined my shoes. I nearly landed in a heap in the middle of rush hour traffic! Thank heavens the bus driver saw that my hair was caught and didn't drive off, or I would be as bald as a bowling ball! Oh, look at my leg," she wailed. The leg had scratches and blood running down the back of it.

I was saved by a couple of hefty street utility workers, and the people watching actually cheered! I have never felt so mortified in my whole life! She used a Kleenex to wipe off the blood and Nicky got some first aid supplies to disinfect it.

I'm thinking that not only am I taller on one side than on the other, I also just ruined my favorite pair of heels. So, there you go! Kelly flopped back into her swivel chair and rested her head on the back.

Nicky sat in the chair across from the desk hanging on her every word. She shook her head and said, What is it with you? No wonder everyone avoids going to lunch with you. Yesterday you came in with the hem of your skirt dangling like a hula hoop around your ankles.

Oh come on, said Kelly. You can't blame me for that! If the delivery guy had kept his eyes on his cart, it wouldn't have run away from him and I wouldn't have tried to stop it before it crashed into the flower stall outside.

Nicky laughed and said, Well, if you didn't look like you do, no one would want to keep their eyes on you. Can I help you with your hair before your 2:00 P.M. appointment gets here? With that hairdo, Mr. Johnson will forget what he came for.

Is it really that bad? asked Kelly. She hurried into the restroom that was part of her office space and gasped when she looked in the mirror. It looks like someone tried to tie my hair into big knots. What a mess!

She grabbed a brush and brought her hair into a tidy little bundle and then used a rubber band to hold it into place. I really need to cut some of this length off, she thought as she hurried back into her office. I don't need another bus door incident.

Before Nicky could make another smart comment about Kelly's appearance, Nora, Kelly's secretary, stuck her head into the office to say that Mr. Johnson was waiting.

Send him right in, said Kelly.

Martin Johnson was the chairman of the Lakeland Nursing Home and Assisted Living Centers in the Southwest Region of the state. Lakeland had four nursing homes and three assisted living centers all housing a population of nine hundred and twenty five senior citizens. Johnson himself was a short, jovial looking man with a small fringe of white hair around his head that made him look like Santa Claus. He reminded Kelly of her grandfather on her father's side, the Grandpa that everyone loved the best. Today, he did not look jovial at all.

As a Grief Counselor, Kelly had worked with the Lakeland Group on a number of occasions when they had someone pass away. She and Mr. Johnson were well-acquainted. As a professional, Kelly was much better equipped to handle a family and all of the details when there was a death at one of the centers. She had held workshops, used role playing, and individual counseling sessions at all of the Centers at one time or another and was clearly qualified to help now. There were so many decisions to be made immediately and oftentimes the families were just not ready to do that. Kelly helped each family cope in a way that was good for the family and everyone loved her.

However, today Martin Johnson was not a happy man. There had been three deaths in less than a week at the Lakeland Center in Orange Grove and two others in the Lakeland Center in Carver City. All of the deaths were due to pneumonia which is a common ailment in seniors and the largest cause of death amongst them. As Kelly settled back into her seat, Mr. Johnson started expressing his concerns.

It really isn't the deaths themselves that are my major concern. All of the people were well into their seventies or eighties and death is not unexpected at that age. Our problem is the effect so many deaths at one time are having on the other seniors. Many of our older residents are counting down their last days and you remember Effie White? She hasn't stopped singing 'Amazing Grace' as if she were going to be next. Three days, and I can't imagine why she still has a voice!

That sounds exactly like something Effie would do, said Kelly with a smile. I remember that she has no family of her own still living and yet every time one of the residents dies, you'd think they were brother and sister, or at least, the very best of friends.

Well, said Mr. Johnson, I'd like to think that we provide a sense of community and family in our residents and that they and their families feel a sense of security living here at the Centers. However, this has started a feeling of doom and gloom that hangs over us like a shroud and I am afraid that if we don't get a handle on it right away, we may see even more deaths. We have a number of residents that are coping with different ailments, like diabetes or heart problems. Their mental health is important to their treatment. We don't want anyone giving up.

So what are you thinking? asked Kelly. Is there something I can do to help?

I was rather hoping that I could get you to talk to them in that way you have that makes them all want to hug you, said Martin, and then as if he realized what he had said, he turned as red as a beet.

Kelly laughed when she saw his face. Well, in the face of death, I think a hug from someone who cares about you is as good as it gets. I'll see what I can do. In the meantime, can you email me some information about the ones who have died and their families? Maybe I can see if there is anyone with a specific problem that we may have to deal with.

Kelly stood to shake hands with Mr. Johnson, and it wasn't until he had left that she realized she had been standing sideways. She had taken off the damaged stiletto and at 5'11" she still had a good 5 inches on poor Martin.

The rest of the afternoon went by quickly as she caught up on her paperwork and tried to make a dent in the forms that had to be sent to the state or federal government agency that funded most of the cases Kelly worked on. In college she had been working towards a degree in political science and criminology, but something happened in her freshman year that changed the course of her life.

After finals and their first year of college was behind them, she and three of her roommates went to Cabo for a long weekend. One evening, she and Andrea had gone for a long walk on the beach, leaving their other two friends back in the rooms. A short time later, three men broke into the condo. They took the roommates completely by surprise. Before they could even call out, they were assaulted and badly beaten. When one of the girls tried to get out the door, she was hit over the head with a bar stool and left unconscious in the bathroom doorway. The men stole $7 in change that was on the dresser and three credit cards from their wallets.

When Andrea and Kelly returned from their beach walk, the hotel was in chaos. There were police, ambulances, and two fire trucks at the front entrance to the building. They were not allowed to go past the yellow taped off area until the police found out who they were.

When the door to the elevators came open, two gurneys were guided into the foyer of the Hotel and when the police found out that Kelly and Andrea had been roommates of the girls, the questions began. One of the officers spoke very good English and he asked if they could identify the bodies. Both Kelly and Andrea were too badly shocked to say anything and an ambitious young officer got overzealous and whipped back the sheet that was covering the face of their friend Shelby. Kelly froze as she stared at the now lifeless young woman that had been her friend for so many years. Her face was swollen and one eye completely shut and bruised. Her clothing had been ripped to shreds and there were huge scratches down her arms and legs. The back of her head had bled profusely from a wound that had been caused by the barstool. Kelly felt an arm go around her back as another officer guided her to a chair.

It took several minutes before Kelly could get her head together and focus on the awful wailing that Andrea was doing. The sound was almost supernatural in a combination of shock, fear and helplessness that was the same sound Kelly would make if any sound had come out. None did.

Andrea was standing over the body of her best friend. The girl she had grown up with, who her brother had loved for two of his high school years, who she had shared all of her personal joys and sorrows with. This best friend was now lying dead on this sterile gurney being wheeled out of the hotel. How could it have happened so quickly? They hadn't been gone that long, had they?

Lorna had been beaten so badly that her face was practically unrecognizable and her gorgeous body that she had been tanning all week was covered in blood. By the early morning hours, Kelly and Andrea were under the care of a kindly Mexican doctor, who sedated them and then sat by closely watching them while their families sped to Cabo on the fastest flights they could find.

By the time the business affairs, funerals and police interviews were completed, neither one of them felt they could go back to the life they had planned. Andrea’s life was in the toilet two years later. She left school, drank too much and took too many pills to try and forget the worst night of her life. She was unsuccessful and after too many drinks one warm, summer evening, she drowned in the pool at the home of a guy she barely knew. Andrea's family was never able to come to terms with her death. Her parents almost came to blows over it and ended up divorcing. Kelly couldn't believe what happened to Andrea's family. She had always been close to them and when Andrea died they all became strangers.

Andrea's brother Brian, who was 2 years older than Kelly, moved to Denver where he wanted to spend the rest of his life on a ski slope. Life's too short Kel, Brian had said. I'm not spending my days waiting for Dr. Death to knock on my door.

When she was finally able to go back to school, Kelly changed her major. She decided she wanted to build relationships and help people get through the pain that accompanies tragedy. She became a grief counselor. She had studied both Behavioral and Intellectual Sciences and worked with people that had those specific challenges. She had done her student teaching at the Carver Valley Mental Health Department and was a Certified Counselor and a Licensed Social Worker. After she had earned a Two Years Masters Degree, she had gotten an opportunity to work in the Victim Advocate Program in Carver City. She worked with anyone who had suffered a severe trauma of any kind.

Most of her work was through the police department. They sent her cases of abuse, neglect, accident victims, pretty much anyone that had been traumatized in one way or another. During her internship in the Carver City Hospital, she had seen first hand the tragic circumstances that happen to a family when someone dies. It might be from a car accident, a suicide, abuse or just old age, but the whole family is affected and the whole family reacts in completely different ways. She had been asked to work with the families to help them overcome their difficulties and she had really felt useful.

She was good at what she did and many of the agencies specifically asked for her help in difficult situations. Kelly thought it odd that such a tragic experience could have propelled her into a career she loved.

Every once in a while she would do something comic that would have made Andrea howl with laughter and her heart would ache for the friend she missed so much. How Andrea would have loved the hair, bus, stiletto move today!

Three seconds later, a knock on the door brought Kelly back into the real world. What are you doing tonight? asked Nicky. Do you want to go see a movie? Joe and I are going to the IMAX to see sharks eat people. It's in 3-D and it could be fun!

Gee, I hate missing something as good as that will obviously be, but, no thanks, Kelly said with a smile as she gathered her papers. I didn't realize it was so late and I still have to run these papers past the precinct. Once that is finished, I'm going home and curling up with a great book.

What's the name of this great book? demanded Nicky. Maybe it's something I would like to read?

I don't know yet, but I'm sure it will be great, said Kelly. Anything would be better than seeing sharks eat people! And with a wave of the hand, she was out the door.

After handing Nora the papers she had been working on, Kelly stepped into the elevator and was whisked away. Looking after her, Nicky shook her frizzy locks and returned to her desk. She had never been able to love reading the way Kelly had and couldn't imagine why her friend was so attached to something as mundane as books when there were so many other fabulous things to do. Her mind had obviously been on guys and hair when she was in school, both of which she got fabulous grades in. Oh well, she's the one missing out, thought Nikki, as she stifled a yawn. It was going to be a long night.

As Kelly rode the elevator down to street level, she was multi-tasking her brain to add the Senior Centers problem, mentally nudging it in behind the upcoming interviews she had with the Gomez family at the police station. Separating the cases according to priority was how Kelly managed to control all of the work she was able to do. Right now her priority was the Gomez family.

Marcus Gomez, the 11 year old son of Osvaldo & Maria Gomez, had been shot dead in front of the family home 3 days ago. He was hanging a piñata in the tree in the front of the house for his sister's birthday party. One shot from a Glock 17 pistol left him face down on the piñata with blood soaked candy scattered under the tree. Eight-year-old Angelita was coming down the side of the house when the shooting happened. She started screaming and did not stop until the doctor had given her a sedative. Evidently she had been so traumatized that she had not spoken a word since her birthday and the police wanted Kelly's help in trying to get through to her. There was just a chance that she had seen something that might help in their investigation and they wanted Kelly to visit her and see if she could pull her out of it.

When Kelly reached the street level, she decided it would be much safer if she took a cab to the station and save herself the embarrassment of having the whole police station see her get her hair caught in the bus doors again or see her land in a heap in front of the building. What was the matter with people? Why was someone else's misfortune so funny?

Now, if it had been Nicky, that would have been funny! she mused. Still smiling at the thought, she waved down a cab.

Chapter 2

I don't get it, said Tom Logan. When you eat, breathe and sleep on the job, where does he get the stamina or the time to look like that? I never looked that good, even when I was 17." With a start, he realized that 17 was about twelve years and 500 pizzas ago that made Tom glare at the incredible body draped across the desk at the front of the office. Michael Torres was a man that liked to work out and made the other cops in the room feel like slackers.

Eddie Harris, partner to 'pizza butt' said, "Wouldn't be so bad if he was some psycho or work-out nut, but unfortunately he's just one of the good guys. Take this report over to him. It's his turn to go over the Gomez case