Mystery at Loretto

By Gary T Brideau

In Loretto, Tennessee, women are being found beaten to death and buried in a shallow grave in the woods. The news media keeps reporting that there is a Bigfoot on the rampage slaughtering people and everyone should stay inside at night to prevent from being killed.

Sally Pennington is disturbed from the comfort of her living room when she hears a howl and a woman scream one night. Goes to investigate and find clues that contradicts all the news reports. She calls her friends and the Mysteries 3 Investigation Team is called into action to solve the mystery at Loretto. But they are baffled when they find clues that contradict each other concerning the murders.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Oct 13, 2021
• ISBN: 9781664194656

Gary T Brideau

I was born in a small house in Brooklyn, Nova Scotia, Canada in 1947 and moved to Bridgeport, Connecticut as a small boy. I met Lauren, the love of my life in1985 and were married years later and moved to Bristol, Connecticut. One night, I had a vivid dream that caught my attention, that spurred me to write it down, and sent it to my sister T. Jene Brideau, for an interpretation who also is a writer. She wrote and told me that the story was good. I took her encouragement and my imagination went to work. That’s when I discovered my God-given talent to write great space adventures stories. From then on, I have written over fifty stories of which only seven of them have been published with great reviews.

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Copyright © 2021 by Gary T Brideau.

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: 10/13/2021

Xlibris

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Contents

Storyline

Chapter 1 A howl in the night

Chapter 2 A whole lot of Bigfoot

Chapter 3 Pasty stands up to Victor

Chapter 4 Undercover

Chapter 5 Wilhelmina comes clean

Chapter 6 Survived

Chapter 7 More questioning

Chapter 8 Mosey meets Mr. Wentworth

Chapter 9 A trip to the zoo

Chapter 10 Mama Patty

Chapter 11 Time to Snuggle

Chapter 12 The Almendinger Theory

Chapter 13 Patty gets the Royal treatment

Chapter 14 The parting of the ways

Chapter 15 The truth is known

Chapter 16 Engagement

Chapter 17 Victor’s home

Epilogue

The tale of a bear

And the Lord Spoke...

Chloe’s Surprise Adventure

Sharon Flowers: queen of the stage, is a tall well-dressed woman with short, brown hair in her 30s goes by the name of Trudy and wears a black wig and makeup as a disguise to keep away the autograph hounds. Has a lot of important connections that is critical to the investigations.

Patty Flowers: a tall willowy woman with black rimmed glasses and straight black hair down to her shoulders, sister to Trudy who calls her Pansy and is the secretary to the Mysteries 3 Investigation Team.

Debbie Auguste: a pudgy woman with curly reddish-brown hair in her mid-twenty and carries a backpack full of equipment. She collects the clues from the different scenes then tries to piece things together.

Sally Pennington: a medium height woman, in her late twenties with long light brown hair and loves a good cup of coffee does a lot of footwork for the team.

Donald Dorman: A single man in his late 50s clad in a white T-shirt and torn jeans Lived on Horseshoe circle.

Mr. Isidor Wentworth: a pudgy man in his late fifties with snow-white hair clad in a three-piece suit, owns a publishing company.

Detective Frances Xavier Livingston: in his forties, with short brown hair, clad in black pants and a white shirt is in a wheelchair.

Wilhelmina Myers: A tall thin woman with straight black hair down to her shoulders clad in a deep blue halter top and shorts and is a singer

Victor M Woodstone: Is 6 feet tall with short deep brown hair neatly combed. His clothes are always pressed and clean. Victor has more money than he knows what to do with but lives just above poverty. Victor is a tyrant when it comes to women. When he met Patty, she was terrified to say no to him. But somehow, she always managed to escape his demands.

Mosey Fukumoto: a five-foot-five oriental woman, carries a knife and has a black belt, in martial arts. and is a close friends with The Mysteries 3 Team Mosey lives in a Condo In Arizona.

Duncan Morgan: a tall man with broad shoulders, neatly combed black hair, clad in a dark blue business suit. Owned Duncan Investigations in Arizona

Storyline

In Loreto, Tennessee, women are being found beaten to death and buried in a shallow grave in the woods. The news media keeps reporting that there is a Bigfoot on the rampage slaughtering people and everyone should stay inside at night to prevent from being killed.

Sally Pennington is disturbed from the comfort of her living room when she hears a howl and a woman scream one night. Goes to investigate and find clues that contradicts all the news reports. She calls her friends and the Mysteries 3 Investigation Team is called into action to solve the mystery at Loretto. But they are baffled when they find clues that contradict each other concerning the murders.

Chapter 1

A HOWL IN THE NIGHT

Sally Pennington, a medium height woman in her late twenties, with long light brown hair, fixed herself a cup of coffee in her red mug. Put on her thin maroon PJ’s and relaxed in her beige Lazy Boy recliner in her modern living room. She took a swallow up her coffee, ready to finish reading her book, The Wickenburg Mystery, she then heard a mournful howl that sent a chill up her spine. Sally grabbed her 9 mm pistol, which she had tucked in the magazine rack on the right side of her recliner. Raced out the back door thinking that some poor animal was suffering.

Outside, Sally carefully searched her backyard and didn’t find anything. Then a woman’s scream filled the night air, which caused her to race to the front yard, hoping to catch the assailant, but all was quiet. Sally muttered, "This is what I get for moving to Loretto, Tennessee.

A man in his late 50s clad in a white T-shirt and torn jeans walked up to Sally, and said, You heard it too.

I think somebody is watching a late-night horror flick and must’ve had their TV up too loud and let the neighborhood know.

The man studied Sally’s attire, smiled, and said, I’m Donald Dorman, you just moved in last week, didn’t you.

Yes, I moved here for some peace and quiet. Oh, I am Detective Sally Pennington, and no I am not interested in meeting you for a cup of coffee at any time.

But I didn’t ask you.

By that gleam in your eye and the smile on your face tells me that you were about to. You worked for the state of Tennessee, play pool every evening with your friends, you like fishing, hunting, and you have a cabin in the Smoky Mountains, where you take your lady friends for a weekend and now you are the CEO of a tool corporation. Like I said, I’m a Detective, and clean up that X-rated mind of yours.

I’m not the one standing in my front yard in a pair of silk PJ’s, besides what do you expect from a guy when you’re dressed like that?

Sally thought for a moment then questioned, Why are there scratches on the left side of your face? I know you didn’t do it shaving because it’s 10:30 at night. Let’s see, a woman screamed as if she is being attacked, you show up with scratches on your face.

Sally leveled her pistol at Daniel and said, You are under arrest.

A Police car stopped in front of Sally’s home 23 minutes later. An officer stepped out of the patrol car, approached Sally, and questioned, What’s the problem Detective?

I’m not sure, I heard an unearthly howl, a woman screamed, then this guy shows up with scratches on his face. If I, were you, I’d put him in your cruiser then search the Neighborhood for a possible victim.

The officer turned to Daniel and said, Mr. Dorman, Sir. Are you all, right?

Yeah sure, thank you for asking, I saw this woman running around in the front yard in her PJ’s, and was about to ask if she was all right when she pulled a gun on me.

Do you have an explanation for your actions, Detective Pennington?

I was ready to curl up with a good book and a cup of coffee when I heard something that sounded like an animal in distress. I rushed outside and heard a woman scream, then Mr. Dorman shows up with scratches on his face. I think he did something to a woman and is trying to hide it. Proof: the scratches on his face, tells me that the woman scratched him while he was assaulting her.

Dorman stated, I was on my back deck cleaning my gas grill, when my spatula fell into the bushes. As I reached down to retrieve it, I scratched the side of my face. Now, this Dingbat of a Detective is trying to accuse me of murder.

Mr. Dorman, do you want to press charges? question the officer.

No, because she made an honest mistake, but I think she should wear something more, then those flimsy PJ’s when she is outside. Hearing a mournful Howell and a woman screaming is a poor excuse for being indecent.

A fuming mad Sally questioned, You mean to tell me that you are denying the fact that you heard that woman being murdered?

Daniel stated firmly, I already said that I am not going to press charges lady. So, my advice to you is, go back in your house and sleep it off before you wind up in jail.

Sally stated through clenched teeth, I do not imbibe. Never did, never will. But I want to ask you this one question. As the CEO of a tool corporation, you can afford a multimillion-dollar mansion. Why are you living in this type of neighborhood? Are you hiding from someone? Whatever it is I will find out and expose you as a cheat in a fraud. One more thing, If you say anything derogatory about me, I will sue you for slander. Oh, Penny says hi.

Mr. Dorman stared at Sally then quietly walked back to his house.

Sally asked the officer, Think for a moment. It’s dark, and Donald’s house is two doors down on the left. How was he able to see me standing in my front yard, let alone know that I was in my Pj’s?

That’s a good question Detective but watch your back around him.

Sally put on her dark blue slack suit, a bright yellow blouse, strapped on the shoulder holster with her gun, and rushed out the door with her flashlight to search Horseshoe Circle for anything that would give her an idea as to why the woman screamed.

Several hours later and exhausted sally, paused at the corner of Casper Street and Horseshoe Circle to think where the killer could’ve hidden the woman’s body. She sneezed, and her spotlight illuminated a small piece of a light blue rubber glove with a spot of blood on it. Carefully picked it up with tweezers, put it in a plastic tube then made her way back home at, 166 Horseshoe Circle.

After placing the evidence in a small refrigerator in her renovated attic. Sally called her friend on the western side of Tennessee.

A woman on the other end of the phone growled, Sally, do you know what time it is?

Sharon Flowers, how have you been? I haven’t heard from you in a long time.

I go by the name of Trudy, remember? Plus, you interrupted my beauty sleep.

Girl, it’s going to take more than sleep to improve your looks.

You didn’t call me at this hour of the morning just to chitchat, what’s up?

Get here as fast as you can because we have a Mystery to solve.

After 2 minutes of silence, Trudy stated, I hate you, but I’ll hop the next flight out.

Better yet, I’ll have a police helicopter pick you up. Oh, don’t forget to tell Debbie, because we’re going to need her computer expertise to solve this case.

Before you drag my tired body halfway across the state of Tennessee, what makes you think we have a mystery, to solve?

I heard some type of creature howl than a woman screamed. I searched the neighborhood and found a piece of rubber glove with what looks like human blood on it.

You heard someone scream, so you automatically think somebody was murdered.

I don’t think, I know.

You are so right Sally, you don’t think, but I’ll be there. Just don’t expect me to be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed when I get there.

Wow, when did you grow a tail? quipped sally.

Remind me to laugh sometime; see you later.

At 6:33 AM, a blue and white police helicopter landed in front of Sally’s house. Trudy, a tall woman dressed in jeans and a light gray blouse, with short brown hair, in her 30s crawled out of the helicopter and threw her luggage at Sally then moaned, At least you can do is carry my luggage in the house.

Debbie, a pudgy woman with curly reddish-brown hair in her mid-20s, jumped out of the helicopter with her green backpack full of equipment. She took hold of her black suitcase and walked into the house.

A short time later, Donald banged on Sally’s front door. She opened it with a smile and said, Mr. Dorman, are you lost again? She poked her head out the front door, pointed to the right, and said, If you go down the street two doors, you’ll find your house. But if you want, I can walk you there." Sally then giggled.

Donald growled, Don’t get smart with me woman. What is the big idea of waking everybody up this hour of the morning by having a helicopter land in the middle of the street?

I could have had it land in your front yard.

Watch your mouth lady, or you will wind up in more trouble than you can think of.

Are you threatening an officer of the law? Because if you are, I have a pair of bracelets that I can put on you right now.

Mr. Dorman spun around on his heels and stormed off.

As soon as Sally closed the door, Trudy gave her a hug saying, God, I’ve missed you what have you been up to since the Black Pond Mystery?

Let’s start this investigation off with prayer then I’ll fill you in on what’s been happening.

After prayer, Debbie asked Sally standing by the kitchen counter, Where can I set up my equipment?

The door just to the left of the bathroom leads to a furnished attic.

Debbie lugged her equipment up a circular metal staircase then paused and scanned the air-conditioned, pine-paneled attic with memorabilia from the cases they solved. She set her equipment upon the Oak desk, then sat in the comfortable swivel chair and drifted off to sleep.

She then was suddenly wakened by a woman scream and fell out of the chair onto the floor.

Upon hearing a loud thump, Sally and Trudy rushed upstairs