Mercy
Jan
Doffey
ISBN: 9781622663347
Book Description:
Julia Klein’s life has begun to
unravel—her daughter Amy has been suspended from school, Julia is about to lose
her job, and her boyfriend Garrett is being transferred thousands of miles
away.
Overwhelmed, she and Amy leave
for a weekend at a rambling old colonial inn. Julia never suspects that
Garrett, desperate to find a way to keep Julia in his life, has decided to
surprise her by joining them. Nor does she expect her daughter to befriend a mischievous
ghost...or that she herself would be possessed by the malevolent spirit of a
long-dead mother.
As a dark secret emerges, Julia,
Amy, and Garrett find themselves pitted in a fight for survival against a
savage presence that intends to resurrect/repeat/relive a horrible crime
committed two centuries ago. And this
time, Amy and Julia will be the victims.
Excerpt:
Starting up the
stairs, Garrett tried to bury the image of a teary Julia when she’d closed the
door on him yesterday after he’d arrived at her house. She’d been too upset to
talk.
He shivered as a
gust of cold air rushed down the stairwell, slapping him in the face. Garrett
hesitated, startled by the sharpness of it. At the top of the steps, a shadow
moved, catching his eye. But when he reached the second floor landing, he was
surprised to see no one there and no open window.
Doors were
visible on both sides of the well-lit hallway. A light flickered behind him.
Then, halfway down, a bulb buzzed, blazed intensely, and burned out. He stopped
dead. A tall woman in a long, gray dress was standing beneath the darkened
light, glaring at him.
Something in her
face kept him from looking away. Her eyes burned with emotion. Bitterness.
Anger. Hatred.
The hairs on his
neck rose when she started in his direction. She moved toward him, filling the
narrow hallway.
Garrett turned
to make room for her, shuffling his overnight bag from one shoulder to the other,
but as he did, his room key dropped to the floor.
When he bent
down to retrieve it, chilled air, oppressive and gray, hit him like a wave.
He froze. He’d
felt this sensation once before, diving with a film crew at the raising of a
sunken slave ship. It was in the ship’s cargo hold. It was a feeling so icy, so
overwhelming, that it went straight through him, infusing his bones, numbing
him. With it came a sudden memory of some forgotten nightmare—a barren winter
field, the gaping black hole of a bottomless grave. He could almost taste the
dank odor of death.
Cold panic
washed through him. She was on him, all around him. He could feel the woman’s
fury. Snatching the key, he straightened up.
She was gone.
Garrett looked
up and down the hallway. He was alone. No door had opened or closed. The woman
had disappeared.
He was in a
colonial inn in Newport, he thought. Of course it could be haunted. He ran a
hand over his face. Key in hand, he continued down the hall. By the burned-out
light, he saw a set of stairs going up to the third floor. Peering up, he saw
the chain across the steps with a sign. ‘Private Residence’. It was dark
beyond.
Julia had no
idea that he was coming. He'd been on the phone with her this afternoon, and
they'd even sent texts back and forth a couple of times tonight. He had given
her no inkling that he was already on his way to Newport. Yesterday, he’d been
shut out. By showing up here today, he wanted to show Julia that the promotion
and the move didn’t change the way he felt. He wanted to be part of their life.
His room was
just beyond Julia’s. With one last look down the hall, he turned the key in his
door and entered the dark room. A gust of autumn wind blew in from an open
window, rattling a picture frame on the wall and causing the gauze curtains to
stand straight out like ghostly wings against the ceiling.
Standing inside
the door, Garrett sensed that he was not alone in the room. He could feel the
eyes of someone watching him. Hating him.
He switched on a
lamp by the door. Yellow light bathed the room, throwing deep shadows into dark
corners.
The door slammed
and Garrett jumped, his eyes sweeping the room. The wind eased, and the sheers
fell calmly against the sills. No one else was there.
"Halloween,
a wicked draft, and exhaustion," he muttered. “Get a grip.”
The temperature
had dropped considerably since he left Boston this afternoon. He closed the
window and glanced around at the furnishings. Four-poster bed. The usual
dressers and tables. Two reading chairs by the window. Exposed ceiling rafters
of rough-hewn timber completed the colonial feel of the room. At one end, the
bathroom. At the other end, a door that he knew must lead into Julia and Amy's
room.
He checked his
phone. The last text from Julia had come a few minutes after seven. They were
walking into the theater to see a movie. Almost two hours ago.
His eye was
drawn to Julia's door. He walked over and unbolted the latch, but it was locked
from the other side.
He stopped,
hearing faint voices. Snatches of conversation.
Go…chair…
I want to stay…
Telling you…Go.
A woman and a
child's voice. But the woman didn’t sound like Julia. And it couldn’t have been
Amy. For a second, he wondered if the receptionist downstairs had put him in
the wrong room.
"Julia?"
he called, pressing his palm flat against the door. The wood felt like ice.
The voices
stopped.
“Julia?”
The knob turned
from the other side, but it didn't open. Suddenly, a heavy bang rattled the
door.
Shocked, he
jumped back. Over and over, the doorframe shook.
"Unlock it,
Julia," he called.
As suddenly as
it started, it stopped, and the sound of scratching began. Someone was sitting
on the floor on the other side, clawing at the door. Then, as he stared, long
lines of claw marks started to show through the paint. Garrett took another
step back.
“This isn’t
happening,” he said, feeling the hackles rise on his neck.
Just as the
words left his mouth, the scratching stopped. Even as he stared, the claw marks
disappeared.
The sound of
moaning came through the door. A woman crying.
Help me.
Julia.
About
the Author:
Jan Doffey aka Nikoo and Jim
McGoldrick are storytellers, teachers, and partners in the truest sense.
Nikoo was born in Tehran, Iran,
and moved to United States on the eve of Iranian revolution. After receiving a
degree in Mechanical engineering, for fifteen years she worked in shipbuilding
and robotics, holding manufacturing and higher level management positions.
Always a writer and teacher at heart, she gave up her engineering career to
pursue writing full time over a decade ago. These days, she also conducts
frequent workshops on writing and publishing and serves as a visiting author at
middle and high schools.
When their first son was born,
Jim gave up a successful career in shipbuilding to pursue a PhD in Medieval and
Renaissance literature. After being awarded tenure at a university in
Pennsylvania, he found that the opportunity to write novels full-time could not
be ignored. Since then, he and Nikoo have written well over two dozen works of
fiction and nonfiction. Along with his writing, he currently teaches English
and Creative Writing in northwestern Connecticut.
Together, Nikoo and Jim write
historical fiction as May McGoldrick and contemporary suspense thrillers as Jan
Coffey.
These prolific and popular authors
have been the recipients of numerous awards for their work. They now reside in
Litchfield County, Connecticut.
Website: http://jancoffey.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JanCoffey
2 comments:
Awesome giveaway. Love this blog.
Awesome Giveaway!!!
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