Flowers For Megan

By Gloria Marlow

Twelve years ago, Megan Hardy came home from school to find most of her family brutally murdered. Now she is leading a peaceful and contented life helping others cope with grief. Until she begins having nightmares that bring her closer and closer to seeing the face of a killer...

 

Twelve years ago, Will Kincaid was Megan's closest friend. Unable to deal with his and Megan's shared agony after her family's murders, he left town intending never to return. Now he has no choice but to go back and face the terrible memories, and the girl he left behind...

 

Will's arrival in town stirs forgotten emotions, long dormant memories, and awakens the evil that stalked them that summer day twelve years before. Suddenly, people Megan cares about are turning up murdered, and with each victim, the killer sends her a message. 

 

In her mind, the pieces are falling into place. She knows she recognized the face inside the killer's mask, but will her fractured memory piece itself together before it's too late? As the killer closes in, Megan and Will must face the fact that the love they once had for each other still simmers between them—before Megan becomes the final victim.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Salt Run Publishing LLC
• Release date: Sep 15, 2022
• ISBN: 9781623900328

Gloria Marlow

Gloria Marlow writes gripping romantic suspense with characters who breathe themselves to life through sparkling dialogue so clear you hear her characters chatting in your head. As an author who sandwiches writing between eight bill-paying hours a day, the crowd of humans directly related to her, and adequately acceptable homemaking, she creates engrossing stories with twists that bend your mind, characters who slap you silly when you’re not looking, and endings so satisfying enough to make you order in a cheesecake and a good bottle of Florida wine, and read the book again. A born-and-bred Florida girl, Gloria will tell you that part of her heart shrivels when she gets too far from saltwater. She grew up among commercial fishermen (And women!) and her father continues the fishing business started generations ago by his own family. Her husband is part of the family business too, and shrimps with her father. She reminisces: "When it was still legal, my husband used to take me out gill net fishing. I loved that! It was the coolest thing ever to put the net out and then feel the fish in it when you were pulling it up." Her Northeast Florida home seasons her novels with delicious Sunshine State food, beautiful settings, and captivating history from Amelia Island to St Augustine Beach. She loves long weekends, whopping & chaotic family celebrations, and planning her future llama ranch with her pack of grandchildren.

Book preview

Prologue

August, 2002

The dog days of summer had settled over the countryside like a heavy wool­en blanket. Movement and sound were rare this time of year, the animals that inhabited the forest around the houses finding cooler endeavors. No squirrels scampered playfully around the trees; no birds sang.

The humans were much the same. They hid in their houses with the air conditioners humming against the sweltering heat of late August. The air was too heavy and too hot to worry with the grass that needed mowing or the last of the summer harvest that hung from the plants in their gardens.

The teenagers of Billings, Florida found respite from the heat at the lake five miles from town. Some lazed around on blankets spread beneath the shade of the huge oak trees dotting the bank. Others dove into the clear, cool water and washed away the sweat and grime of summer.

Their days were bittersweet now as they faced the end of their last carefree summer. They had graduated this past June, and they knew that soon they would have to take their places in the world.

Most of them, like Jenny Tucker and Les Charles, would stay here in town, getting jobs and settling down. Will Kincaid and a few others would live in town while they went to college in Gainesville an hour away. Megan Hardy was the only one of them who would be leaving town. It was a sudden deci­sion; none of them had known it until last week. Now, they were just trying to make the best of it and had vowed to send her away with memories of the best summer they’d ever had.

As the afternoon began to wane, the crowd of teenagers around the lake packed up their belongings and headed to their vehicles. Music blared from the car stereos and the shrieks of laughter and teasing filled the clearing. They piled into the cars and headed to their various destinations, those without cars hitching rides with those who were privileged enough to be driving.

No one, neither the people who escaped from the heat inside their homes, nor the teenagers who made their exodus from the lake heard the cries of the woman. None of them heard as she begged for her life or the lives of her children. None of them heard her screams as they echoed around the countryside.

They only heard the silence that followed.

Chapter One

Slow down, Meg, Will Kincaid drawled. How can you move so fast in this heat?

You are such a wimp, his best friend teased as she spun around to face him.

If it wasn’t so danged hot, I’d show you how wrong you are about that. He ran his eyes suggestively from her face to her feet, lingering for a moment on the bikini top still visible through the damp white t-shirt she’d put on before leaving the lake.

He should probably be offended by her guffaw of laughter, but he just smiled as she turned around and started walking again.

He watched her hips sway and wondered what she would say if he told her how much he’d like to make good on his playful threat. She would probably smack the hell out of him if she had any idea how often she figured into his fantasies. Since he had been the one to teach her how to land a good right hook, he was pretty sure he didn’t want to be on the receiving end of one.

Lately, he hated the fact that they had been brought up so closely. Maybe he could have overcome the fact that they had grown up as each other’s nearest neighbor. He was sure somewhere in time, there had been playmates that had grown up and fallen in love. However, the rest of their story was so bizarre that sometimes he wondered if both their families were insane.

He had been born exactly three hours before Megan, and living in a small town with an equally small hospital, their mothers ended up sharing a room after delivery. There, they had turned a passing acquaintance into a deep and long lasting friendship. Megan’s mother already had one daughter and had hoped for a son while his own mother had known he would be her only child. They had agreed right then and there to share their children.

He and Megan had shared birthday par­ties, toys, vacations and holidays. They had been inseparable and had been affection­ately called the twins by their families and friends for the next eleven years.

When Megan’s parents were killed in a car accident several years ago, she and her sister, Tessa, had moved to South Florida to live with an aunt.

He hadn’t seen Megan again until they were fifteen. Tessa was married by then, and she and her husband, Jake, had decided Billings was a good place to raise the child they were expecting. They had brought Megan with them and settled back into the house she and Tessa had inherited from their parents.

Will grinned as he remembered the first day of school that year. He had been sitting in Ms. Malden’s tenth grade English class when the most beautiful girl he had ever seen had come through the door. She had long, chestnut curls and beautiful brown eyes, and her peach-colored t-shirt clung to the most awesome set of knockers he’d ever seen in his life. When Ms. Malden introduced her to the class, he had been so awed by her cleavage it took him a minute to register who she was.

Man, is that your twin? Les Charles had whispered from his desk behind Will. He, Will and Megan had gone to elementary school together, and next to Megan, Les had been Will’s closest friend.

Couldn’t be, man. Will shook his head. Megan had sent his mom one of her school pictures a couple of years ago. She had been kind of fat with braces and pimples. There was no way this girl was Megan Hardy.

Well, whoever she is, I think I’m in love.

Let her get settled before you scare her away with that mug of yours, Will teased.

Ha, ha, Kincaid.

Gentlemen! Ms. Malden’s high-pitched voice warned. Do you have something to say to welcome Miss Hardy to our class? Mr. Kincaid? Mr. Charles?

Will had shaken his head and murmured an apology.

Les, tall and gangly with dirty blond hair that always looked like it needed a trim, walked right up to the front of the class, got down on one knee, and asked Megan to marry him.

Will remembered how pink her cheeks had turned as the entire class erupted into laughter.

Maybe after class, she had said quietly before hurrying to the empty desk in front of Will’s.

Hi, Will, she had mouthed as she took her seat. He had been inordinately pleased she recognized him, and he offered a quick apology for his friend.

You have to excuse Les. He’s forever embarrassing someone.

I remember him. He cut off one of my pigtails in kindergarten. She had grinned at him, and he wondered now if that was the moment his feelings for her began to change.

For the rest of the school year, Will stared at the back of her head, breathing in the clean, feminine fragrance of her hair each time she moved.  

When she began to sit with him at his table in lunch and study hall, he quickly accepted her friendship. Soon, they were as close as they had been as children. After school, they studied together. On weekends, they went out with friends or by themselves. Everyone had considered them a couple for years. Everyone except him and Megan, he amended to himself with a wry grin.

Although neither of them said anything about their feelings for each other changing, he thought they both knew their rela­tionship was moving in a new direction. Lately, when their eyes met, it was all he could do to pull his gaze away from hers. He couldn’t help but notice the blush that stole over her cheeks at those moments any more than he could help noticing his body’s instant response to it. Megan had a habit of gently running her tongue across her lips when she was nervous, and lately, every time he got close to her, he would notice the quick unconscious gesture. How could something he’d seen her do so many times before suddenly have become so sexy?  He had been thinking lately that it was about time one of them finally made a move. Since he knew Megan simply wasn’t the type to chase a guy down and throw herself at him, even if she was sure he wanted to be caught, he knew it was all up to him.

Do you want to come in and get a drink? Megan asked now as she pushed open the gate to her front yard.

Nah, I better not. My clothes are still damp, and Tessa will kill me if I get her sofa wet. I’d better get home and change. At her nod, he turned to go, but spun around before taking a step. Megan.

Hmm? She turned toward him.

He took the few steps to close the distance between them. She bent her head back and looked up at him quizzically. Before he lost his nerve, he lowered his mouth to hers.

As he backed away from her, she stood still as a statue, brown eyes wide with sur­prise.

I’ll be back, he said with a grin.

Grabbing a handful of wild turkey grapes from the vine that grew over the fence, he started down the footpath that led to his own yard. He couldn’t stop grinning as he popped the tart grapes into his mouth. He could hardly wait to come back and see what happened.

Chapter Two

Tessa, I’m home! Megan yelled. And you’ll never guess what just happened. Will kissed me!

She didn’t wait for her sister’s response as she went straight through the living room to the kitchen, where she headed for the canned drinks and leftover fried chicken she knew were in the fridge. Tessa had been telling her for weeks that Will had started seeing her as a girl, not just his twin, but she had been afraid to believe it. She’d known the day she walked into Ms. Malden’s English class that she wanted him to be more than her best friend, but she valued his friendship too much to sacrifice it for something that might never happen.  She felt nearly giddy with excitement as she pressed the ice cold drink can against lips still warm from his. Would he kiss her again tonight?

Taking a bite out of a drumstick, she walked to the kitchen table where a weath­ered blue vase held a bouquet of wild flow­ers she’d found on the porch this morning. She picked up the tiny note card that had come with them and turned it over to read the single word that was there. Soon. She set the card down as she bent to breathe in the scent of the three pink roses that now graced the center of the colorful array of blooms.  Tessa must have added them to the bouquet when she put them in the vase.

Did you talk to Jake? She called to her sister. Is he the one who left the flowers?

For the first time, the utter silence of the house registered in her mind and she called out again.

Tessa?

Megan scolded herself for the finger of apprehension that slithered up her spine. She’d known better than to let Jenny, Les, and Will talk her into going to see a horror movie last Friday. Every time she watched one, she was a jumpy, nervous wreck for days, swearing she’d never go to another. Of course, she never listened to herself. That’s why she’d spent the last week looking over her shoulder and checking the closet for monsters every night.

The logical explanation for the continued silence was that Tessa had put the kids down for a late nap while she got ready for her anniversary dinner with Jake. She was probably in the bathtub, letting the water run continuously while Jake wasn’t here to scold her for the waste.

The scent of Tessa’s jasmine bubble bath greeted Megan’s nose as she rounded the corner of the hallway and she breathed a sigh of relief. Obviously, she was right and Tessa was taking advantage of the quiet moments alone in the bath. She heard the soft creak of the floorboards in the room as she placed her hand on the door. 

Tessa? She said quietly, pushing the door open.  

Her fingers went limp and the drink can fell from her hands, hitting the ground with a thud, bouncing across the floor and spraying soda along the hall as it moved. Fighting to stay upright, Megan clutched the door frame as her mind reeled at the horror that filled her senses.

Blood spattered the walls and pooled on the floor next to the bed where Tessa lay on blood-stained sheets.

Her gaze flew to a shadow of movement in the corner. A man stood hunched over the crib.

Jake? she cried, pushing herself away from the door and into the room to run to him.  Had he come home early? Who else would be here, in his and Tessa’s room? Who else - 

The figure turned, a rubber mask covering all but his eyes. Eyes she recognized in an instant. Through the haze of shock and confusion that engulfed her, she shook her head in denial. It couldn’t be him.  

No! she screeched as he started toward her. No!

She tried to run, but he leapt at her, knocking her to the ground. His weight pinned her there as she bucked against him. She had to help Tessa and the babies. His clothes and hands were drenched in blood, and everywhere their bodies met she could feel it soaking through the thin white cotton of her shirt.

Why? she screamed. Why? Why? Why?

Stop it! His blood-soaked hand slammed over her mouth. The sight, smell and taste of blood—her sister’s blood—filled her senses and she felt a vital part of herself splinter away, closing her mind to the reality of the man whose eyes stared into hers and the horror he had created.

She was barely aware of the sound of an approaching motor breaking the silence.

I had to do it, Meg, he said as he lifted his arm and brought his fist crashing against her temple.

*****

Will was off the four-wheeler and walking through the back gate when he saw Allie’s little dog. Bono lay under the azalea bushes that grew along the fence, a gaping wound in his neck and a dark puddle of blood congeal­ing around his body. The road between his and Megan’s houses had become a favorite spot for people to dump unwanted pets. Most of them didn’t cause a lot of trouble, just tore open the garbage looking for food and things like that. But once in a while someone would throw one out that was vicious. He looked around for another dog, but he didn’t see anything. He would have to tell his mom it was time to call animal control again.  

He would bury the little dog, but first he’d let Megan know he was here. He’d let her know what had happened, too, but he wouldn’t let her see it. She couldn’t stand the sight of blood. It was a good thing she’d gone through the front gate earlier. When Evan Clark nicked his finger with a scalpel in biology class, she had almost passed out. This would do her in for sure.

As he leaped onto the porch, he noticed that Tessa’s car