DNA STALKER

by Diane Rapp

  She stood and stepped closer to his chair. “I should kill you and run away.”

  “I’ve been running for nearly forty years. That’s no kind of life for you and Joseph. Turn yourselves over and cooperate with authorities,” Drew begged. “I’ll bet you can strike a deal. I’d be willing to testify on your behalf.”

  “I’d take that deal, Jaimie,” Jason said. “We’ve already got Joseph and that bag full of money and jewels. There’s nowhere else you can go.”

  Jaimie dashed behind Drew and held the knife to his throat. “I’ll kill him if you come closer!” she shouted.

  Natalia stepped into the dressing room through the back door. “That’s not what I see in your future, Jaimie. You know I see visions and the spirits speak to me. Your father and mother don’t want you to throw away your life. Put the knife down.”

  Jaimie’s eyes widened. “You can talk to Mama? She always wanted to kill Drew.”

  “She knows the truth now. Drew didn’t kill Jones, and she knows she was wrong. Listen to me, Jaimie, they both want you to live a long and happy life. Drew will help with your legal fees. Marry Joseph and open a small restaurant on a beach.”

  “Really? That can happen for us? I could offer to tell the Feds where the Red Brigade hid plates to print counterfeit currency, if that would help.” The knife in Jaimie’s hand shook. “Where’s Joe?”

  Jason waved and Joseph stepped forward with his wrists in handcuffs. “Listen to them, sweetheart. You’ve had such a hard life and now we can both be happy together. Please come to me.”

  Tossing the knife onto the floor, Jaimie rushed to hug Joseph. Esteban and Amanda gently placed her in handcuffs and led the couple outside.

  Natalia used the knife to cut through the tape on Drew’s wrists and ankles.

  “You’ve compromised evidence, Tally. You do realize that we won’t find prints on that knife after you manhandled it?” Jason huffed.

  “It doesn’t matter,” Drew said. “I won’t let them press charges against my sister and her fiancé. We just had a family misunderstanding, and I voluntarily came to this dressing room with her.”

  He grinned and asked, “How does that sound? I’ll contact my attorney right away and get his team working on the case. Jaimie deserves an inheritance.”

  Drew shook hands with Natalia and Jason. “As for the credit card payments on those engagement rings, consider those charge slips voided. The rings are my gift to both of you for saving my life several times over.”

  Jason wrapped Natalia in his arms. “Emily needs to give us a vacation after this trip. How about a week in that charming bed and breakfast on Galveston?”

  “Can we see all the sights we missed before we left? I’d like to see the Johnson Space Center, visit Moody Gardens, and go for a ride on a roller-coaster.” Natalia nearly skipped down the corridor as they headed back to their room to pack.

  “Can my cousin and his wife join us?” Jason asked. “They know all the best places to eat.”

  “Of course, darling. I have loads of questions to ask Ben about your past, and I get along with Carolyn. She must have confirmed she’s pregnant by now.”

  “Pregnant? You never told me,” Jason grumbled.

  She giggled. “I’m happy to spend time with Ben and Carolyn, since I must know everything about you before we schedule a wedding.”

  Jason hit his forehead with his palm. “I’m going to regret introducing you to Benjamin. He’s such a gossip!”

  Natalia kissed him soundly. “Don’t worry, darling. After we’re married I’ll be sworn to secrecy as your wife.”

  “That’s encouraging. We really must schedule those nuptials soon. I wouldn’t want you spreading nefarious tales about my past around the ship.”

  “I’ll tell you a few of my secrets to balance things out. Have I ever told you how Grandma Natasha saved me from a ghost when I was a teenager? That spurred my fear of ghosts, you know.”

  “I’d love to hear the whole story. One day I might meet this ghostly grandmother of yours, and I want to thank her for saving my future wife.”

  “That’s a deal. I can arrange a séance, and I’m sure she’d be willing to attend if I ask nicely.” Natalia’s eyes sparkled, but her enigmatic smile gave Jason a moment of concern. He cast a sideways glance at her, and his lips curled into a sexy grin.

  The grin that always made her heart melt.

  Fact or Fiction?

  Thank you for choosing to read this novel. If you enjoyed the novel, please leave a review. As a bonus, anyone who posts a review will get a free short story about teenager, Natalia, and a ghost. Just send me the link to your review at my e-mail address: diane.quicksilvernovels@gmail.com.

  Authors work alone, sometimes for months on end, to flesh out an idea but the book always starts somewhere. Last Christmas I received a DNA test kit and promptly spit into the vial to get started. While I was waiting for the results, I wondered if a stalker might be able to find a victim using this process. I needed an event that started the stalker’s search and thought of the Jonestown Massacre. It fit the time period where my story began. I also took a cruise and conducted “research” into the places my imaginary ship would dock. Cruises are fun, but they are also wonderful places to build a story.

  Authors “bend the truth” to fit a particular narrative in a novel. Since my stalkers’ vendetta was spurred by a real event, I decided it would be prudent to divulge to readers which parts in the novel were based on fact or were just fiction.

  FACT—JONESTOWN MASSACRE:

  James Warren (Jim) Jones was a very real charismatic person. He founded the Peoples Temple in Indiana, but moved the “church” to San Francisco in the 1960s. His philosophies were socialist but the church structure was Christian. In San Francisco he became a renowned cult leader, praised by state and national politicians as well as famous leftists.

  Jones actually believed his own theology. He was quoted as saying, “If you see me as your God, I will be your God.” Unfortunately the Reverend’s unbridled sex drive, narcissism, and quest for fame led him down a dark path that ended in murder and suicide.

  In the summer of 1977, Jones and several hundred Temple members abruptly moved to their compound in Guyana after an informer told Jones that a scathing article would be printed by New West magazine in the coming weeks. In the article former members of the Peoples Temple leveled charges of physical, emotional and sexual abuse against the Reverend.

  The move out of U.S. legal jurisdiction temporarily protected Jones from prosecution, however, a “Concerned Relatives” group traveled to Washington, D.C. to gain support from the State Department and Congress. In April 1978 the group returned with a number of signed affidavits entitled "Accusation of Human Rights Violations by Rev. James Warren Jones".

  California Congressman Leo Ryan supported the group’s effort and established a fact-finding delegation that traveled to Guyana in November 1978. The delegation fled the compound after a deranged Temple member attacked Ryan with a knife. As Ryan’s delegation boarded a plane at the airport, the “Red Brigade” (real goons) attacked and killed Leo Ryan and four others. This was the tipping point for Jim Jones.

  Jones and his Red Brigade practiced committing mass suicide. Jones claimed he and his followers would experience “Translation”—they would die as a group and move to another planet to live blissfully together.

  Later that same day the mass murder/suicide (from cyanide poison in Flavor Aid drink) of 909 people, including 304 children, was discovered in the Jonestown compound. Jones was found dead from a gunshot to the head, possibly from suicide. No one could be sure if Jones shot himself. At the end of a suicide tape that Jones recorded, he claimed, “We didn't commit suicide; we committed an act of revolutionary suicide protesting the conditions of an inhumane world.”

  FICTION—Characters in the novel:

  All characters in this book are fictitious. I took great pains to make sure none of the names of characters in my novel were those of a
ctual people who survived Jonestown. Although Jim Jones had legitimate children who survived the massacre, Drew Kingston was not one of his progeny. This is a fictional account derived from widely published facts.

  FACT—Places in the book:

  Tourists have the opportunity to visit a several different Dolphin Encounters in Cozumel, where people can interact (for a price) with the highly intelligent mammals. My husband and I enjoyed our own visit and would do it again ANYTIME!

  Sting Ray City is a well-known tourist attraction in Grand Cayman that my husband and I visited on a recent cruise. After we touched stingrays swimming along a sandy bottom, we snorkeled. The shallow reef is an easy place to snorkel and see colorful fish, but there was a scary drop-off that we were warned to avoid.

  There are many real private islands in the Bahamas that various cruise ships use for a day-stop, but I was not describing a specific island in this book.

  The Southernmost Point monument in Key West is the spot where crowds of people gather to watch for the “green flash” when the sun disappears below the horizon. Most cruise ships leave before this event, so we didn’t get a chance to see the flash ourselves. We did visit Mel Fisher’s Museum, and the Butterfly Gift Shop. Fort Zachary Taylor Park is also real, including a man-made quay nearby, but we only saw them on the map.

  Galveston is a wonderful island. While I was completing this book, we Texans experienced a monumental hurricane. I’ll never think of a giant white rabbit when I hear the name Harvey again! Luckily we live about an hour northeast of Houston, so we avoided the major floods. Still, we were on pins and needles wondering where that slow storm might go next. Galveston survived several devastating hurricanes that are described in the novel. We believe the town will bounce back again. I did not include a hurricane in this novel because the story takes place in April. Hurricane season is later in the summer, so good weather was called for in this novel.

  The tall ship Elissa is real and was open for tourists when we visited. We hope she survived Hurricane Harvey!

  FICTION—Business Names

  Genetics Ultra is not a real company. Although DNA testing companies are sprouting up like flowers in a field of weeds, this company only exists in my imagination. I have no idea if anyone is currently trying to find twins-separated-at-birth, but it sounded like a great idea for a novel.

  Constellation Cruise Lines is also fictional. I used the company name, and various names of cruise ships belonging to CCL, in my “High Seas Mystery” series so I continue to use the fictional name. I wish I could actually take a cruise on one of the ships I’ve imagined. I’d love to see a Starlight Theater. Murder would not be allowed on any ship I actually sail on.

  While on a research cruise for Murder for Glacier Blue, I told fellow passengers that I planned to write a novel based on an Alaskan cruise. You’d be surprised how many people volunteered to become models for the villain or the victim in my story. It was a bit creepy!

  About the Author:

  Diane Rapp became an entrepreneur when she started a dog grooming salon in Santa Barbara, California. She spent the next thirty years as a small business owner; she sold real estate, owned an office supply/copy center, and performed free-lance advertising design. During those hectic years Diane wrote stories as a cure for insomnia. After onsite research and writing a Caribbean tour guide together, Diane’s daughter gave her the idea of writing a mystery set on cruise ships. Although part of a series, each book is a stand-alone novel.

  "Murder Caribbean-Style" is the first book in the High Seas Mystery series. Readers meet the main characters and learn about life aboard a ship while solving the murder of Kayla’s ex-lover, Patrick.

  In the second novel in the series, "Murder on a Ghost Ship", Kayla and psychic Natalia are summoned back to work by cruise line Chairman, Emily Schultz. Emily bought a new ship for the cruise line but learns there is a ghost aboard, a very unhappy phantom. Emily is desperate to uncover the identity of the “Lady” and why she’s stuck aboard before the bad investment sinks her career. Jason Briggs joins the team when smugglers threaten Steven.

  The third book in the series, "Murder for Glacier Blue" takes readers on a cruise to Alaska. Kayla, Steven, Natalia, and Jason gather together on a “working” vacation to Alaska while preparing for Kayla’s wedding on Glacier Bay. The team must guard six valuable paintings displayed next to authorized copies that will be auctioned for charity, six chances for thieves to score. The perfect wedding hits a snag when Steven’s ex-wife arrives on the arm of a childhood friend, and she’s intent on creating trouble. Enjoy photos of actual Alaskan attractions mixed into the narrative as you take a virtual cruise and solve an art heist and murder.

  Other books published by Diane:

  "The Alphas" is the prequel about the dogs and wolves that eventually inhabit the planet Drako. The story combines a mystery with science/fantasy and is set in modern-day on Earth.

  "Howl of the Wolf", book 1 of the Heirs to the Throne Trilogy, introduces the planet Drako, telepathic wolves, and the crew of a space ship that takes sanctuary on a planet that banned technology. Captain Donovan communicates with the wolves who help them survive on the backward planet. He must become king to insure the survival of his crew.

  In "The Havenshire Resistance", book 2 of the series, Queen Krystal's teenage daughters learn to use their special inherited powers. Krystal and her daughters lead an army of Samurai women, telepathic wolves, and commoners to save the kingdom from an evil usurper in a dramatic battle to rescue Donovan.

  In the third book of the trilogy, "Dragon Defense", the planet is threatened by an Institute battleship and an old enemy. Donovan must train teenagers to operate forbidden defense technology while his daughters make friends with a flock of wild dragons. How can his crazy defense tactics save the planet from destruction by superior technology?

  Just for fun, you might enjoy reading Diane’s fractured fairy tale, "Dragon Knight: and the Heart's Blood Curse". It is a designed for adults and kids alike. When a witch turns a magnificent dragon into a puny human knight, he must complete a quest to defeat a demon before he can regain his powerful dragon form. Wizards in the mundane world use smart phones as wands to protect Jimmy Buffett from capture by the demon’s henchmen, while dragon and a young sorceress fight the demon in the magical realm.

  Visit www.quicksilvernovels.com to learn more about all of Diane's books. Connect with Diane https://www.facebook.com/quicksilvernovels and on Twitter at https://twitter.com/DianeRapp