Mystery Surrounding the Clearing of a River

By Arlen Toruno

Things are not always what they seem, and sometimes people are not as loyal and sincere as they pretend to be. Sometimes we all have to go by our instinct and trust our judgement in order to find out the truth.

Valery Mcpherson was a very happy and caring woman. She always tried to get along with everyone, and she always tried to help others in need. Nobody knew what really happened to her. Her death really was a mystery. It was hard to imagine anyone taking her life away or even her committing suicide. Could it have been an accidental death?

As the story unfolds, the truth about what really happened to her will be revealed. In a small town where everyone knows you and your life story, it shouldn’t be too hard to figure out the mystery surrounding her premature death.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Sep 19, 2018
• ISBN: 9781984545862

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Copyright © 2018 by Arlen Toruno.

ISBN:                Softcover                978-1-9845-4577-0

                          eBook                     978-1-9845-4586-2

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Rev. date: 08/07/2018

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CONTENTS

Introduction

Chapter 1   One Week before the Tragedy

Chapter 2   The Past Usually Comes Back

Chapter 3   A Tragedy That Changed Some Lives

Chapter 4   So Many Loose Ends

Chapter 5   A New Shed of Light

Chapter 6   Uncertainty and Distrust

Chapter 7   Confessions

Chapter 8   And Life Goes On

INTRODUCTION

In her childhood, Valery had no one in the world. Both her parents abandoned her when she was seven years old. She had to learn to take care of herself at that early age, with no one in the world to give her a helping hand. In her recent years, she seemed very happy with her partner, Victor. He was always there for her. For Victor, losing Valery the way he did was too much to handle.

The tragedy occurred on Valery’s thirty-fourth birthday. A day that should have been a great day for her and the people around her turned out to be one of the most devastating and horrifying days.

In a mysterious death like hers, everyone is a suspect, at least until a motive is proven.

CHAPTER 1

One Week before the Tragedy

Victor Valencia and Valery’s sixth-month dating anniversary was coming up. They felt as if they had been together for years. They were living a unique and passionate love story, those kinds that you don’t see nowadays. Everything seemed to be going just great. They were planning to celebrate their anniversary on the same day of Valery’s thirty-fourth birthday and to get married in the fall.

Valery had no family; Victor was the only person she had in the world. Her parents deserted her when she was seven years old. Her maternal grandparents passed away when she was very young, and her paternal family never accepted her or her mother. She got along very nicely with Victor’s family; she felt that she finally had a family with them.

Besides Victor and his family, Valery had a good friend in Philip Davis. She had known him for five years. Philip declared his love toward her, but she never saw him as a future partner. He understood and accepted that fact. Ever since then, they’d been great friends.

Ximena Valencia, Victor’s sister, was preparing a party for Valery’s birthday. She was very happy to see her brother with such a valuable woman. She felt jealous of Valery at one point, when she knew that Philip was in love with her. But she was a very mature and down-to-earth woman. That’s why she got over that and accepted the fact that Philip didn’t love her back. She never held any grudges against Valery.

Valery and Victor had left town for a couple of days. They wanted a private celebration, just the two of them. Victor took his woman to a nice deserted forest. They wanted to camp and be in touch with nature.

The scenery was just beautiful. They couldn’t be happier while being surrounded by nature, watching a beautiful sunset. Victor thought