Episode Two - "Ghosts of the Past"

By Shannon Muir

The second installment of the Myanna Moore web serial compilation finds Myanna headed back to the old estate where the grandfather of the woman who raised her committed terrible and twisted acts, as the origin of the young woman who becomes THE WILLOWBROOK SAGA's premier private investigator continues to unfold. While going to piece together the mystery of her own past, she finds someone else with her own interesting tale. The backing story to this collection is SEEDS OF TRUTH, a prequel novella set-up for the life of Firinne "Truth" Knox, the woman who raised Myanna and would ultimately take her on an adventure that changed her adult life forever.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Shannon Muir
• Release date: Nov 14, 2016
• ISBN: 9781370920280

Shannon Muir

SHANNON MUIR's short stories include suspense and mystery elements such as those found in her first full-length story from Pro Se Press, CHARLES BOECKMAN PRESENTS DOC AND SALLY IN "THE DEATH OF BUDDY TURNER". Additionally, she's written short stories for Pro Se Press such as “Tragic Like a Torch Song” in THE DAME DID IT from Pro Se Press, "Pretty as a Picture" in the anthology NEWSHOUNDS, “Tropical Terror” in CRIME DOWN ISLAND and “Hidden History” in EXPLORER PULP. She’s also written the Single Shot New Pulp tale “Ghost of the Airwaves,” a short story offered in electronic format only from Pro Se Press.From her personal self-published projects, her best known titles in this area include the rural crime series THE WILLOWBROOK SAGA.In other genres, Shannon's published short stories include “Meeting the Monster” in the Emby Press anthology SUPERHERO MONSTER HUNTER: THE GOOD FIGHT and "Cover Story" in ARIA KALSAN: MYSTERIES OF THE FUTURE.Shannon holds a BA in Radio-TV and English from Eastern Washington University in Cheney, Washington, which she considers to be her hometown. She also holds an MA in Communications from California State University, Fullerton, along with additional education in screenwriting, project management, library technician studies, and most recently a certificate earned with distinction in General Business with Emphasis in Marketing from UCLA Extension. Currently, she is working on a Masters of Library and Information Science at San Jose State University.She is married to FLYING GLORY AND THE HOUNDS OF GLORY collaborator and fellow author Kevin Paul Shaw Broden. They live in California in the United States.She is a member of Sisters in Crime (national, Guppies, and Los Angeles, where she also served on the Los Angeles board for a two terms beginning in 2018), as well as the Toastmasters4Writers Chapter of Toastmasters International (where she serves as chapter Secretary), Women in Animation, and a Professional member of ASIFA-Hollywood.

Book preview

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COPYRIGHT

A MYANNA MOORE: HAUNTED BY THE TRUTH Serial

EPISODE TWO – GHOSTS OF THE PAST

A THE PULP AND MYSTERY SHELF Web Serial Compilation

By Shannon Muir

Smashwords Edition

Copyright 2016 Shannon Muir.

First Smashwords publication November 2016.

Includes previously released SEEDS OF TRUTH Copyright 2014 Shannon Muir.

This ebook is for your personal enjoyment only. It may not be given away or resold to others. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please purchase your own copy from Smashwords or vendor partners. If you want to share this work with others, please purchase a copy for each person. Thank you for respecting the hard work of artists and creators.

All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

COPYRIGHT

TABLE OF CONTENTS

MYANNA MOORE EPISODE TWO - AUTHOR’S NOTE

MYANNA MOORE EPISODE TWO – CHAPTER ONE

MYANNA MOORE EPISODE TWO – CHAPTER TWO

MYANNA MOORE EPISODE TWO – CHAPTER THREE

MYANNA MOORE EPISODE TWO – CHAPTER FOUR

MYANNA MOORE EPISODE TWO – CHAPTER FIVE

MYANNA MOORE EPISODE TWO – CHAPTER SIX

MYANNA MOORE EPISODE TWO – CHAPTER SEVEN

MYANNA MOORE EPISODE TWO – CHAPTER EIGHT

SEEDS OF TRUTH – PROLOGUE

SEEDS OF TRUTH – CHAPTER ONE

SEEDS OF TRUTH – CHAPTER TWO

SEEDS OF TRUTH – CHAPTER THREE

SEEDS OF TRUTH – CHAPTER FOUR

SEEDS OF TRUTH – CHAPTER FIVE

SEEDS OF TRUTH – CHAPTER SIX

SEEDS OF TRUTH – CHAPTER SEVEN

SEEDS OF TRUTH – CHAPTER EIGHT

SEEDS OF TRUTH – CHAPTER NINE

SEEDS OF TRUTH – CHAPTER TEN

SEEDS OF TRUTH – CHAPTER ELEVEN

SEEDS OF TRUTH – CHAPTER TWELVE

SEEDS OF TRUTH – CHAPTER THIRTEEN

SEEDS OF TRUTH – EPILOGUE

ALSO BY SHANNON MUIR – MYANNA MOORE: HAUNTED BY THE TRUTH EPISODE ONE

ALSO BY SHANNON MUIR – THE WILLOWBROOK SAGA: THROUGH THE GENERATIONS

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

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MYANNA MOORE EPISODE TWO - AUTHOR’S NOTE

Welcome back to the second web serial compilation of MYANNA MOORE: HAUNTED BY THE TRUTH. Now Myanna, having learned that her past wasn’t all she believed it to be, began on a search to find out who she really is. Her trail brings her to a mansion where the grandfather of the woman who raised her built his empire. This web serial was done in eight parts over Halloween week, 2016.

Starting with this installment, the backing stories of the collections will be new releases of the stories that inspired Myanna’s creation She originally appeared as a supporting character in a series featuring the woman who raised her, Firinne Truth Solis Knox. Midway through, I realized Myanna was the character that I really wanted to write about. Book Three and Four of that series never saw the day in that format, but they will be released here as that detailed backstory is crucial to Myanna’s character.

The backing material of the book is SEEDS OF TRUTH, originally released in August 2014 as a prequel to the main storyline about Truth. I am not sure what happened to the file, but I went to put the manuscript into this compilation, I found several problems with it including repeating scenes and scenes out of order. No longer sure of the version that was released (as it has no longer been made available for some time while I worked on developing Myanna), I’ve not hesitated to heavily copy-edit SEEDS OF TRUTH to remove these issues. My apologies if anyone received a corrupt copy in the past. I feel the work I did, making the final product better resemble something I feel fits in the larger Myanna universe.

I hope you enjoy the story as Myanna’s world continues to unfold.

Shannon Muir

Glendale, California

November 2016

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MYANNA MOORE EPISODE TWO - CHAPTER ONE

Myanna didn't know where to go. Everyone she saw as her family support crumbled about her. She didn't even think she knew who she was anymore. She'd originally become a private investigator to empower her to connect the missing links and get to fully know where she'd come from, and thought she'd finally achieved that and could settle down into a normal life with her best friend, Davis.

He'd died, but not before falling for another woman who she'd later married to help protect his unborn child, only to find out Ryhann did it all as part of a trap to get to her. Finally, after getting Ryhann to break down and admit the truth, Myanna what she thought was a safe new start to her life and started again in search of the pieces she needed to feel complete.

To do that, she knew it meant traveling back to the small town where the woman who raised her, Firinne Knox, had been born and grew up alongside Myanna Watson, her actual birth mother.

Myanna arrived early in the morning to make the most of the day to investigate. She pulled her car into a drugstore in the middle of town and went in to ask the sales people some questions while also restocking some travel supplies.

I was wondering if you could tell me how to find where that girl lived who was in the news some time back, Myanna asked very vaguely. She didn't want to be too specific, lest it draw too much attention to herself. She decided the best way to investigate would be to play the dumb tourist.

You want to know where to find the old Muriel Knox house? the man ringing up her purchases laughed. It's not too hard to find, especially this time of year. After all the publicity, someone snatched the old place up and turned it into a haunt and scare attraction. Brings in great income to the town; honestly, we'd probably all be dead without it. Sure was a relief to the people she'd rented from all those years, since no one wanted to live there after they found out Muriel Knox had been there. Better to make all the money from curious visitors.

And why would that be?

The man slammed his palm down on to the counter, laughing even harder.

You come looking for the Muriel Knox house, but don't know why? Best joke I've heard in some time, young lady. You mean to tell me you don't know about all the hocus pocus and heebie jeebies that went down there? That Muriel was into palm readings, potions, and dark magics. Most of us just thought it was harmless, but after all the news about her poor daughter hit the news years later, everyone realized how sick and ugly it all was.

Do you think people feel guilty that they did nothing to stop it? Myanna asked.

The man stopped laughing.

Yeah, probably. We saw it all unfold right in front of us, and did nothing. Watched her daughter have those children and just thought she had a misguided mother, not realizing some deluded master plan lay behind it all.

Then his voice grew quieter.

We could have saved her, you know, he admitted. But we got a few laughs at one lady's expense. It wasn't her fault she wasn't right in the head. Maybe that mother of hers caused some kind of brain damage.

What do you mean? Myanna asked. Having grown up with Firinne, she knew the truth of what happened, but right now she really wanted to know what other people thought.

Her memory. She could only seem to remember the past, though she had some basic survival skills. Not so good for the short-term memory thing. Sometimes, though, it seemed like she could read people like a book and see their pasts as well. I think that made folks downright uncomfortable. Maybe that's why none of us helped her. We felt threatened.

But it wasn't her fault, Myanna pointed out, in defense of Firinne, but gently. She might not be related to Firinne by blood, but the woman raised her and she would do anything to defend the woman who truly had been a mother to her.

You're right about that, nothing that happened to the poor girl was her fault. We all nicknamed her Truth because we couldn't pronounce that crazy name of hers, and turned her away because she could see the truth within us. It wasn't her we feared, but we feared the truths revealed about ourselves.

Then the man thought of something.

"You know, if you're looking