Vanished: The Mary Jane Mysteries

By Ruby Binns-Cagney

"I decided to use the name Ellen Green. It is not the name I was born with, but it will hide who I really am ... and what I have done."

Ellen had a plan. Roberto was on board with it. They wanted to be together, no matter what her father felt about her involvement with Roberto. Ellen loved him; with his sexy tanned skin, dark eyes and stunning physique.

When he told Ellen, he would die rather than be without her, Roberto wanted to be truthful. Ellen and Roberto again their romance, and had put her plan into action.

But it is in the midst of competing loyalties - Roberto's PR firm and Ellen's boss Myers Pilkington PR firm, Ellen's secret can her sizzling romance for good brakes.

When Ellen's friend Phillipa Dunstable is reported missing, Ellen goes to the police.

If the investigation leads them to a conspiracy, Ellen and Roberto's newly reignited flame could be permanently extinguished.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Books on Demand
• Release date: Oct 4, 2016
• ISBN: 9783741281204

Ruby Binns-Cagney

Keep in touch - sign up for new releases and save on publication day: http://books2read.com/author/ruby-binns-cagney/subscribe/1/41373/ Ruby Binns-Cagney is a successful independently published Author who writes women's fiction (chick-lit) and American-based crime thrillers. Ruby's 'Detective Macaulay' crime series has a following on Twitter https://www.twitter.com/detmacaulay (@DetMacaulay) Facebook - AuthorRubyBinnsCagney Ruby empowers others to become self-published Authors, and her Team also mentor new Authors. Add her to your Google+ Circles; https://plus.google.com/+RubyBinnsCagney/posts

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Table Of Contents

Vanished - The Mary Jane Mysteries

CHAPTER 1

CHAPTER 2

CHAPTER 3

CHAPTER 4

CHAPTER 5

CHAPTER 6

CHAPTER 7

CHAPTER 8

CHAPTER 9

CHAPTER 10

CHAPTER 11

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

BONUS FEATURES

Copyright

Vanished - The Mary Jane Mysteries

Copyright © 2015 Ruby Binns Cagney, BinnsCagneyPublishing Co

Copyright © 2015 Cover Image BinnsCagneyDesign Co

All rights reserved. The reproduction, transmission or utilization of this work By Any Means is prohibited without written permission.

This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters and incidents are Either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to locales or to actual persons living or dead, is purely coincidental.

CHAPTER 1

Myers Pilkington and Croft’s Manhattan Park Avenue office. The Public Relations Department was eerily silent for a Monday afternoon.

When you finish with the Peterson account you should head home, Phillipa Kent said. Ellen Green checked her watch. It was after six p.m. but she was still sorting through the Peterson account’s case files. A cursory glance around the room found several empty desks, their lamps switched off, once humming computers now idle. It was time Ellen went home.

I’m right behind you. Have a good night, Ellen said, but instead grabbed a cup of coffee on her way to the restroom to splash cold water onto her face. She figured another half hour on the presentation and she’d be done, and on her way to the subway station.

The Peterson Pharmaceuticals presentation was set for nine the following morning. Ellen knew that she wouldn’t be able to get to the office before eight at the earliest if she left the final touches until then. It would best serve her needs to get it done before she went home, so she set her cup down. She started moving the presentation slides around on the screen, and changed the settings a couple of times. Behind her, the floor polisher buzzed while its Operative hummed along to music on his iPod. Ellen liked the physical security of having the Operative working in the office while she finished off her final slide. Anything was better than being completely alone in the office after nightfall.

An hour later, Ellen had finished her work. She pulled on her coat while the computer closed down its applications, then she locked her desk drawer. She moved towards the exit and looked back at the Operative who had worked steadily towards the rear of the office. Ellen waited a full minute before he raised his head to look at her. Their eyes met briefly in acknowledgement. A smile. A wave of her hand. He moved to wave back at her, and then resumed his work.

Ellen walked at a fast clip to reach the elevator. Her back to the office doors, she searched the panel above the elevator to gauge how long it would take to reach her. Her mouth was dry, and she was aware of her teeth now dug into the sides of her tongue; grasping for any moisture there.

The elevator arrived noisily and the doors squealed open. She waited a moment to let any passengers exit, but it was empty. She stepped inside as her anxiety level increased, and her teeth clamped tighter along the sides of her tongue, nervously.

Her eyes were fixed on the panel beside the doors, watching the floor numbers descend until the audible announcement came. Ground floor. She was in the front lobby now, gliding along quickly, not daring to peer behind her. while she walked through the circular door and landed on the street outside.

On the Avenue, the blaring of a car’s horn startled her, making her hand fly up to her chest, protectively. A glance left then right, and she set off towards the Subway station.

The coolness of the night air whipped around her legs. A quick look to her left, then to her right. She took long strides towards the subway station hurriedly; her purse held tightly across her body, and her other hand down deep inside it, holding on to her loaded revolver.

The tightly packed Subway car was barely breathable. The comfort of warm bodies around her didn’t compensate for the level of fear she felt; trapped in the confined space for just sixteen minutes, before emerging at street level, and scurrying towards her apartment building.

The key was in the lock the first time she allowed herself to exhale slowly to the count of ten, her shoulders down, her body beginning to relax; her tension dissipated.

Ellen was home.

The Peterson Pharmaceuticals presentation was a hit. Ellen felt pleased with her efforts, and Phillipa rewarded her with lunch as a treat. While Phillipa used the restroom, Ellen gathered her papers and slipped them into the wire basket to the left of her computer monitor. As Ellen looked at the trinkets arranged on her desk she noticed some of the items had been moved slightly off center, and shuffled them back into place. People pawing her things repulsed her. She shrugged off the thought.

Phillipa emerged from the restroom and Ellen glanced at her desk one last time then joined her friend for a fast lunch at the deli counter a couple of blocks away.

It’s a little cold otherwise we could have sat in the park and had this, Phillipa said, her cheese quesadilla spilling its innards onto the waxed plate between them. Ellen sipped cola through a straw and then wiped her mouth quickly.

It’s just good to get out of the office, Ellen said. Phillipa swished her blonde hair away from her face and leant closer.

Right? Doesn’t it feel like we’re always at work? What I wouldn’t give for a nine to five job. Ellen liked her job. Phillipa was her Manager, and they had become good friends in the six months that they had been working together.

Do you think Burton will let me stay on after the project is finished? Ellen said, her plate cleared and her drink half finished.

If the great work you did on the Peterson account is any measure of your talents I can only recommend Burton keep you on. If there’s an opening at entry level before your contract is up of course I’ll tell you. Ellen felt a little easier about asking to stay on. Phillipa was pleased with her work, and would relay the news to Burton that she was interested in staying on at the end of her internship.

There were only six intern positions at Myers Pilkington and Croft’s Public Relations, and Ellen had to be sure to nail down a permanent spot if she was going to be able to afford to live in New York permanently. It was her get out of jail free card, because she knew the consequences if she got caught. Boston and its recent events were never far from the corners of her mind.

While she hated the Subway ride to work from Queens, working in Manhattan was her lifelong dream. Now she just had to secure