Silent Shadows

By Brenda G. Bradley

A sinister mystery looms over the horizon in the quiet town of Graysville, where secrets are rare and neighbors are like family. However, nobody sheds a tear when the notorious sourpuss, Mr. Gaskins, meets a gruesome end. But the winds of change blow unexpectedly when Lisa, a woman who detested Mr. Gaskins but believed in justice, is thrust into a whirlwind of events.

Drawn into a web of family secrets and small-town whispers, Lisa finds herself on an unexpected mission. Her sister, Barbara, has gone missing, and the prime suspect is none other than her enigmatic husband, Lucas Smalls, a convicted killer with a clouded past. As they embark on a perilous journey from the safety of their Baltimore lives to the eerie landscapes of Graysville, Lisa  her impulsive sister, Tia, and younger sister, Robin, must confront the darkness that shadows their family.

Armed with determination and the bond of sisterhood, they venture into a town with haunting memories and unresolved grudges. From the lush peach orchards to the tightly-knit community, they navigate treacherous terrain, seeking answers and fearing the worst. The stakes are high, and the danger is real, but Lisa and Tia are no ordinary women.

Owners of a limousine service and a bodyguard agency, these sisters are more than capable of handling trouble. With Tia's recruiting prowess and Lisa's sharp mind for business, they dive headfirst into the heart of the mystery. But as they dig deeper, they uncover more than they bargained for, revealing hidden truths that could shatter their family forever.

In a town where flowers bloom but secrets fester, Lisa and Tia must tread carefully. Can they unravel the enigma surrounding Mr. Gaskins' murder and Barbara's disappearance before the shadows of Graysville consume them? 'Silent Shadows' is a thrilling tale of family, loyalty, and the courage to face the darkness that lurks within the most unexpected places.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Brenda G. Bradley
• Release date: Jun 26, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223862987

Book preview

Silent Shadows

Brenda G. Bradley

Published by Brenda G. Bradley, 2023.

Also by Brenda G. Bradley

A Carter Sister Mystery

The Last Kiss

Dirty Thoughts

Standalone

The Silver and Gold Deception- A Carter Sister Mystery

The Burning Heart

Love, Crime, And Passion

Running To Love

Divorcée Detective

Silent Shadows

Silent Shadows

This book is a work of fiction. The characters, names, and incidents are a product

of the author's imagination and any resemblance to actual persons living or deceased

is coincidental.

This book may not be reprinted without permission.

DEDICATION

This book is dedicated to my husband, my two sons, their wives, and my grandchild.

It is also dedicated to my sisters, who are my beta readers, and all of the people who read my books.

Chapter One

Silent Shadows

I wasn't surprised when I learned someone had murdered Mr. Gaskins. He was the meanest and orneriest man in Graysville, North Carolina. Most people in town wouldn't even look his way to speak to him because he wouldn't bother to return their greetings. When his severed head was discovered alongside his mutilated body, I wondered who he had finally pissed off to do something so drastic.

I detested him, but I didn't feel anyone had the right to kill him. He had these luscious fruit trees and beautiful flowers growing everywhere on his property, just begging to be plucked. No one was allowed on his property. If he caught you trespassing, he would call the sheriff.

One summer, when my sisters and I were younger, our parents sent us to Graysville, North Carolina, forty minutes away from the big city of Charlotte, to visit our uncle and aunt for two weeks.

Graysville wasn't a big city at all. It only had about five hundred residents. Graysville was mostly known for its peaches and the lovely peonies that grew everywhere on Mr. Gaskins' property.

At twelve, I was the eldest girl in the family and usually had to watch my two younger sisters. My Aunt Nita and Uncle Joe had two strict rules. The first was to stay out of trouble, and the second was that we were never to step on Mr. Leroy Gaskins' property. His property was totally off-limits.

My eight-year-old sister, Tia was enthralled with the beautiful flowers and ripe, plump, juicy fruits hanging from his trees. Every time we got near the property, I had to hold her hand to keep her from opening Mr. Gaskins' gate and helping herself to a handful of his flowers and one of the juicy-looking peaches growing on the peach tree in his front yard.

The day before we were supposed to return to Baltimore, Tia decided that while no one would be watching her, she would visit Mr. Gaskins' property. She slipped away from us around lunchtime when we were all watching television. My aunt was the first to notice her missing; she sent me out to search for her. I eventually found her on Mr. Gaskins' property.

I saw an older, gray-haired, thick, round, balding man holding her up by the neck of her dress, fisted in his grip. He was yelling obscenities at her for being on his property. He started shaking her back and forth. Down on the ground were a half-eaten peach and a bunch of flowers scattered by her feet.

When I saw them, I screamed at him, Let her go.

Surprised, he released her. Tia rushed out of the gate to hide behind me. While holding her in my arms, I called him every foul name I could think of. He picked up the half-eaten peach from the ground and threw it at us. It hit me in the face, but it didn't hurt much because I was too angry to feel anything except rage. He laughed gleefully at us as we ran away as fast as our legs would carry us. We never told my aunt and uncle that Tia had been on Mr. Gaskins' property because she begged me not to. She was afraid she'd get into more trouble.

I was sitting on my new comfortable leather sofa, relaxing with a glass of white wine and reading the latest best-selling mystery novel, when I was interrupted by a sudden, frantic knock on my apartment door. My younger sister, Tia, rushed in as soon as I opened the door. Breathlessly, she plopped down on my sofa and exclaimed, Lisa, pack a bag. We have to leave for North Carolina as quickly as possible.

Usually, I take everything in stride, but the bottom of my stomach dropped this time. I asked, What happened?

"Mom was the one that found Mr. Gaskins' bloody body. The sight must have scared her to death because she thinks she fainted, fell, and hit her head when she saw the gruesome sight. She can't remember anything that happened right before she woke up and found Mr. Gaskins' head lying beside her.

Nobody in the family has heard from her since then. Grandma suspects Mom may have been murdered by the same person who killed Mr. Gaskins or, on the other hand, by that lying, no-good convict of a husband she married last year.

Tia paused and added, Those are Grandma's words to describe our new stepfather, not mine.

What does she want us to do?

She wants us to get to Graysville as fast as possible.

Were we supposed just to drop everything? Tia and I owned a limousine service. Before starting the company, I had been a teacher. After a student attacked me when I tried to break up a fight, I was through. I left the school system. Now I am half-owner of our limousine service. For an extra fee, we also provide bodyguards for the people who request them when they use our service. Tia recruited people to act as drivers and bodyguards, and I did all the paperwork for the business and tried to build up our clientele.

When Hollywood entertainers visited our town, we arranged for our staff to chauffeur them. We also arranged for security and limousine services to get famous people with addiction problems to rehab with as little notoriety as possible. Furthermore, we provided bodyguards and limousines for the high-roller gamblers who sometimes brought large amounts of cash to Baltimore's casinos.

Tia and I were two petite women who weighed no more than one hundred twenty-five pounds each. We would get out of menacing people's way if they even looked at us. So why would my grandmother think we were the best ones to find my mother? I had no idea.

I asked Tia, Shouldn't we just call and ask the police department in North Carolina to perform a wellness check on Mom?

Tia exclaimed, Lisa, don't you watch real-life crime shows on television? Lucas can tell the police she is away visiting somebody, and the next thing you know, they'll find her body buried under their basement floor.

She was right. If Mom had left her home without informing anyone, she would have either returned to our grandmother's house or gone to stay with one of her best friends. But that didn't seem likely.

Tia insisted, Grandma wants us to go to Mom's house to check on her. She wants us to look Lucas in the eyes and demand that he tell us why no one has heard from our mother, and if he won't tell us, Grandma wants us to call the authorities and report Mom as a missing person.

She added, Grandma suspects Mom may have been murdered by the person who killed Mr. Gaskins or by that lying, no-good convict of a husband she married last year. Tia paused and added, Those are Grandma's words to describe our new stepfather, not mine.

What does she want us to do?

She wants us to go to Graysville as fast as possible.

I couldn't fault my grandmother for wanting us to go check on our mother. She constantly worried about her. Our mother, Bernice, had fallen in love a year and a half ago with a convicted felon named Lucas Smalls and married him. The entire family was shocked and speechless when we learned about the marriage. When my poor grandmother learned that her widowed daughter had fallen in love with a man behind bars for murdering his first wife, she thought her daughter had lost her freaking mind.

But my mother was a kind, decent person who believed there was good in everyone and that anyone could change. However, when she threw caution to the wind and married Lucas while he was still behind bars, we all wanted to have her committed to check her sanity.

My dad had died several years before from a heart attack. Mom was looking for a friend and felt sorry for Lucas. Soon, she started corresponding with him. My law-abiding, religious mother believed Lucas when he explained to her why he couldn't have murdered his first wife.

Did any convict admit to wrongdoing after they were behind bars? I had my doubts.

Before we knew it, he had served his time and convinced our mother, who had distant relatives still living in Graysville, to pack up her things and quietly move with him to Graysville, North Carolina, to have a new beginning.

I asked Tia incredulously, Grandma wants us to go to Graysville to threaten a man who is a convicted killer to find out why our mother is missing?

Yup. She said she'd go herself, but she is still in bed recuperating from her back surgery.

Does Grandma really suspect that Lucas may have done something to our mother?

Grandma said a leopard can't change his spots. You know, she never trusted Lucas. She never believed his story about the murder of his first wife. For all we know, he might have killed Mr. Gaskins also.

Tia, we can't go charging down to Graysville.

Tia put her arm around me and gave me an encouraging squeeze. Yes, we can. This is our mother. We'll figure things out on our way down there, and when we get there, we can get some answers out of Lucas Smalls.

In my mind, I thought that this was all too much for me and my sister, Tia. I continued to try to reason with her. The town held no pleasant memories for me. My aunt and uncle, who once lived there, were now deceased, and it was where my old nemesis, Priscilla Campbell, still lived.

I remember meeting Priscilla as a child. She was a pretty, light-brown-skinned girl who was the daughter of the town's only dentist. She lived in a lovely house, wore cute clothes, and had the best toys I had ever seen. While visiting my aunt and uncle one summer, my aunt sent us to play with Priscilla. Her mother told my aunt Nita that Priscilla needed some friends to play with near her own age.

We decided to go play with Priscilla the very next day. We saw her on a swing set in her front yard, just going back and forth on the swing. I called to her, Hello, your mother invited us over to play with you. My sisters and I came over to introduce ourselves. I'm Lisa, and these are my sisters, Tia and Robin. What's your name?"

She refused to acknowledge our presence. I called out to her several times. She turned up her nose and ignored us completely. We had been looking forward to getting to know her and playing with her. After being shunned, we pretended not to care that the snotty girl had ignored us. I took my sisters by their hands and went to get ice cream.

I told my aunt that Priscilla had snubbed us when I tried to talk to her. My aunt just pursed her lips and frowned. She said, I thought she'd like to finally have some friends. My aunt told us to forget about making friends with Priscilla. That suited me just fine.

I had never forgotten Priscilla or Mr. Gaskins, and now it looked like they would return to my life. I told Tia, Okay, we can leave tomorrow. We can put someone in charge of the office to cover for us. But we're leaving Graysville as soon as we find Mom.

Chapter Two

At 11:00 a.m. the following day, I arrived at Tia's neat, well-maintained brick house on Central Avenue in Baltimore City. To my surprise, my youngest sister, Robin, was with her. Robin was taller than us by a few inches. She wore her hair in braids and was dressed in her usual style- a flowing caftan and sandals. There were about ten gold bangles on each wrist and five gold necklaces around her neck. Robin dressed this way because she saw herself as a psychic and believed a psychic should dress that way. She had believed she had a special power ever since she fell out of a tree at ten and ended up with a concussion.

She said that she had to accompany us because she could sense significant danger where we were headed. Of course, we didn't believe her. None of her predictions had ever been right, but nothing we said could convince her that she didn't possess psychic abilities.

I had chosen to wear black cargo pants, a tight-fitting black silk pullover, and black sneakers. When I stepped out of the car, Tia exclaimed, Dang girl, all you need is a badge and a shoulder holster.

I have a bulletproof vest in the trunk.

She laughed, then looked closer at me. "Hey, why did you just have your hair braided