Killer Reads: A Collection of the Best in Inspirational Suspense

by Luana Ehrlich

  She didn’t buy his lack of knowledge. How much input Roger had in the decision to move her out, she didn’t know. However, she felt certain he hadn’t gone to bat for her. Whatever happened when the new firm took over, she couldn’t expect any support from Roger.

  No point in pursuing it now. Difficult as it was, she had to keep it together. Stay professional.

  Roger asked, “Do you understand what I need from you?”

  Of course, she understood. “The part about cleaning out my office came through crystal clear.”

  He leaned back and crossed his legs. “Take the rest of the day off, if you like.”

  She shook her head. “I’d rather pack after the warehouse staff leaves at noon. I’ve scheduled two weeks of vacation to start Monday.”

  Roger nodded. “That’s probably best. The time off will do you good. I’m confident you’ll be offered another position, either here or in one of their other divisions.”

  He stood and walked her to the door. “You will, of course, need to be here for the meeting Monday after your vacation. You should get answers to any concerns you have then.”

  She released the breath she’d been holding and lifted her chin. Roger wouldn’t get the satisfaction of seeing her angst. She felt his gaze linger until she disappeared around the corner.

  ****

  The rest of the morning passed in a blur. Warehouse personnel left at noon on Friday, so she had the place to herself. She sorted through the desk drawers, packed the files in cartons, and labeled them.

  Jane would be curious when she saw the boxes. If she asked, Sara would have to tell her the truth.

  Leaning back in her chair, Sara stretched tense muscles in her neck and shoulders. She’d packed, everything except a picture of Josh she’d kept in the desk drawer after his death. Misty eyed, she lifted the silver-framed photograph and ran a finger over the glass, smoothing back the lock of hair that always fell across her husband’s brow. A motion performed so many times in private before the relationship took a left turn.

  The marriage had been anything but ideal, but she missed his dry sense of humor and his gentleness. She hadn’t had a chance to say goodbye, to say she was sorry she’d failed him—to say she loved him. He’d left for work that morning and never returned. She blinked back the moisture that stung her eyelids, and slipped the picture into her handbag.

  Financially, she would be okay if she lost her job. At least for a while. She still had most of Josh’s insurance money. Aunt Maddie also insisted on contributing to the household expenses. But in a job market flooded with laid-off executives, finding another position that paid as well as Global could take a long time.

  From the doorway, her gaze roamed over the office that had been hers for five years. Her chest tightened and she inhaled a deep breath. This might be her last walkthrough inspection.

  ****

  Security guard Don Tompkins, glanced at the monitor as Sara Bradford left her office. His gaze shifted to the next screen as the warehouse camera clicked on, activated by motion sensors. Cameras followed her progress. With shoulder-length dark hair and olive complexion, she stood out in a crowd. In a quiet way. Large hazel eyes and a generous mouth took her looks to the next level, from just pretty to beautiful.

  She stopped before a bank of high-rise forklifts plugged into battery chargers. A lone machine sat apart, unconnected.

  Unusual.

  Don leaned in for a closer look.

  Warehouse supervisors routinely connected the machines before leaving at the end of a shift. Dead batteries meant lost productivity the next day.

  Sara stopped and glanced around, then dropped her handbag on the lift platform.

  A bright flash filled the monitor. The floor quaked, and a loud boom sounded from the distribution center.

  The video screen went dark. Emergency lights immediately snapped on, casting an eerie glow over the scene.

  Don dashed towards the skywalk and shouted at the young guard behind the counter. “Call 911. There’s been an explosion in the warehouse. Sound the fire alarm and evacuate this building. Now!”

  A rush of adrenaline made the blood pound in his ears as he broke into a full run. In the dim lighting, the camera showed the forklift, mangled and enveloped in flames.

  CHAPTER 5

  Global Optics

  A deafening thunderclap blasted in Sara’s ears. The air around her burst, and heat pushed against her skin. Shockwaves hurled her through space like a rag doll thrown by a petulant child. She landed on flat cardboard boxes, and skidded across the dock into rolls of shrink-wrap, where she lay gasping for air. Fireworks exploded before her eyes as she sucked oxygen back into her lungs. After a shake of her head, the pinwheels dissolved.

  The silence made her pulse race.

  Through a haze of smoke, flames consumed the forklift. Why didn’t the rain put out the fire? She blinked to clear the fog and realized the shower came from overhead sprinklers that had snapped on when heat from the explosion reached the sensors.

  Great gushes of oily water spewed, coming in waves with each rotation of the sprinkler heads, soaking her clothes and pasting wet strings of hair to her face.

  A form appeared in the dim lighting and moved towards her.

  The security guard, Don Tompkins.

  She pushed against the wet boxes and struggled to a sitting position.

  Don knelt beside her, his face white and strained in the faint glow. He’d spoken but she couldn’t comprehend his words. Some of her hearing returned but not all. “Sorry...my ears.”

  He nodded he understood and slowly mouthed, “Are you all right?”

  That time she understood him. “I’m not sure...still taking inventory, but nothing seems to be broken.”

  “What in thunder happened?”

  She shook her head and leaned against the slick, wet plastic. “I don’t know, but if I lie here much longer, I may be the first person ever to drown in a warehouse.”

  “I’ll see if I can shut off the sprinklers. They did their job—the fire’s out.”

  Don disappeared for a few minutes, and the water trickled to a stop. Moments later, he returned to her side.

  She raised a hand and wiped her face. “Why is the water oily?”

  “They coat the inside of the pipes to keep them from rusting. It flushes out when the lines are flooded.” He squatted beside her. “Sara, I need to get you out of here before the emergency response folks arrive. The firefighters won’t let anyone inside until they make sure there are no more bombs. You’d have to stay here until they clear the building. The fire department will have to get a bomb squad from Dallas or Fort Hood. That could take hours. Do you think you can walk?”

  She tried to process what he had said. “It was a bomb?”

  He nodded. “Only two options. A bomb or battery explosion. I’ve seen both. I’d be surprised if it turns out to be the battery.”

  Don rose to his feet and put his hands on his hips. “I’ll carry you out, and we can load you right into an ambulance. Do you think you’re up for that?”

  Sara wiggled her toes and nodded. “Y-Yes, I don’t want to stay here for hours while they search for more bombs or whatever. Let me lean on you, and I think I can walk.”

  His brow wrinkled. “Moving you goes against everything I’ve been taught. Your injuries could be more serious than you realize, and movement could make them worse. If Human Resources terminates me for this, you’ll have to find me a job.”

  She squeezed his arm. “I’ll do better than that. I’ll see you don’t get fired.”

  They had just reached the exit when police, fire trucks, and an ambulance converged on the parking lot. Firefighters swarmed from the truck, grabbing hoses and equipment.

  A police officer reached them first. “Anyone else inside?”

  “Not in the warehouse, and we’ve evacuated the home office building.” Don pointed to the fire truck. “They won’t need the water hoses. The sprinklers doused the fire.”
/>   “What happened?” the officer asked.

  “Looked like a bomb to me.” Don turned to Sara and patted her arm. “I’ll need to answer some questions for these guys. The EMTs will take over from here.”

  A paramedic appeared and handed Don a blanket to wrap around his wet shoulders. Another EMT secured Sara to a backboard, positioned a brace on her neck, strapped her on the gurney, and covered her in blankets.

  Sara closed her eyes and gave in to the warmth. Gurney wheels bumped over the rough parking lot, and EMTs lifted her into the ambulance.

  Before the doors closed, a face came into focus among those in the crowd. A face that awakened old wounds—Police Chief, Matthew Foley.

  ****

  Matt stood on the curb as the ambulance pulled away, and scanned the crowd for the fire marshal’s thin frame. He found Blake Dennis, in a corner of the parking lot, with two firemen and a police officer. Blake glanced up and waved Matt over.

  The sharp stench of smoke still hung in the air, and the dank smell of wet cardboard grew stronger as he neared the warehouse dock.

  “Anything of interest so far?” Matt asked.

  “Explosions are always interesting.” Blake rocked back on his heels and readjusted his cap. “We’ll know more when the bomb squad arrives. They’re on their way from Fort Hood, ETA twenty minutes.”

  Blake removed his sunglasses and placed them over the brim of his cap. “From what the security guard told us, there was a blast in the distribution center. The experts will want to run tests for explosive residue. Pretty straightforward stuff. According to the guard’s description, it appears someone planted a bomb in the product mover.”

  “Want to make an early prediction?”

  “You know me better than that.” Blake scratched the stubble on his chin. “But my guess would have to lean towards the battery. Not many people planting bombs in warehouses these days just to blow up a high-rise forklift.”

  Matt jerked his head towards the receiving bay, where the ambulance had just pulled away. “Who was injured?”

  Blake flipped the notepad in his hand. “Sara Bradford. She was in the warehouse when the blast occurred.”

  “Serious?”

  The fire marshal shrugged. “A doctor I’m not. You’ll need to check that out at the hospital.”

  “How come you’re always so helpful?” Why could he never get a straight answer from the man?

  Blake grinned. “It’s part of our indoctrination.”

  Focusing on the details that mattered, Matt asked, “Your folks collected the warehouse security tapes?”

  An edge entered Blake’s voice. “We tried. One of my men went to the guard station. Seems the tapes are gone.”

  Matt fell silent for a moment, realizing the implications. The explosion wasn’t an accident. “Did the guard know when the security tapes were removed? Or why?”

  “Nope. Too busy evacuating the building. He thought we took’em.”

  Blake could be obtuse. Tunnel vision made him miss the whole picture. The fire marshal was dead wrong on this one. If the battery exploded, there would be no reason for someone to take the security discs.

  Twin Falls Memorial Hospital

  Sara was cognizant, except for the swarm of bees that buzzed in her ears. She closed her eyes, shutting out the piercing rays of light as the paramedics lifted her onto the concrete dock.

  Emergency room doors hissed open, and the overhead florescent lights blurred into one as she moved quickly along the corridor. Green curtains rolled back and the gurney stopped. A nurse followed the two paramedics into the cubicle. “She’s the only victim, right?”

  A heavyset medic flipped the chart open and nodded. “Yep, just one.” He handed the nurse a copy of their report, and they left.

  ER personnel rushed into the small space. The nurse glanced down with friendly, blue eyes. “My name is Gaye. I’ll be taking care of you.” She fastened a bar-coded band on Sara’s left wrist and a yellow “Fall Risk” band next to it. ”Don’t let the tag scare you. We put one on everyone from eight to eighty.”

  Gaye nodded her head towards a Hispanic woman, standing just inside the cubicle with a clipboard. “Feel like answering a few questions for the admittance office?”

  Sara nodded. “I don’t have my insurance card with me, though.”

  Gaye stepped aside as the admittance clerk moved to Sara’s bedside. “No problem. We’ll get it later.”

  While the clerk took down the personal information, Gaye strapped a blood-pressure cuff to Sara’s arm and stuck a thermometer in her ear. The nurse punched information into a handheld computer. “I’ll bring you a gown and some blankets, then we’ll get some x-rays.”

  The change into dry clothes and warm covers stopped Sara’s chills. Soon after, the technician came and she rolled her down to the x-ray department.

  Later, back in the cubicle, Sara had almost fallen asleep when the ER doctor entered and pulled a stool beside the bed. He patted her hand. “You’re a very lucky young lady. The x-rays are clean, no major complications from the accident. There will be some soreness and a few aches, but otherwise, you should be fine. You can go home, but take it easy for a while. I’ll give you a prescription for pain.”

  The doctor left, and Sara shifted to a comfortable position on the narrow bed and wondered how she would get home.

  While she waited to be released, her thoughts drifted back to Matt Foley. She’d only seen him from a distance at church after Mary’s death. Even though she and Mary had been best friends, Sara never got to know Matt. His cold indifference the evening Josh died felt like a betrayal when she most needed a friend.

  He’d been all cop that night.

  The nurse interrupted her musings when she entered with the prescription and another hospital gown. “Put this one on backwards, it will prevent a draft and keep from exposing your backside to the world. I’m not supposed to let patients leave with our fashionable garments, but I’m not sending you home in wet clothes. You could catch pneumonia. Bring them back next time you come this way.”

  She helped Sara into the gown, then handed her the prescription and paperwork. “You have friends waiting to see you.”

  From behind the curtain, Don Tompkins called, “Knock. Knock.”

  Sara straightened the blankets and smoothed a hand over her damp hair. Oh well, nothing she could do about her bedraggled appearance now. Besides, he’d already seen her at her worst. “Come on in. I’m decent. Almost, anyway.”

  Don pushed aside the drapes and stepped in, concern in his brown eyes. Charles Edwards followed.

  Don’s gaze searched her face. “How’re you doing, kid?”

  She lifted both thumbs.

  Charles walked over to her bedside and reached into his coat pocket. “I found your car keys in the warehouse, and followed Don in your car. There wasn’t much left of your handbag. Didn’t see your cell phone. I thought I could drive you home, if they released you. Don will tag along and take me back to Global.”

  “My cell was in my pocket and somehow survived the water and the blast.” The mention of home brought Maddie to mind. “You didn’t call my house, did you?”

  The two men exchanged glances. Charles said, “I didn’t.”

  Don shook his head.

  Sara touched Don’s hand. “I really appreciate you guys bringing my car. That was so thoughtful, but I can drive myself. I’m fine.”

  Charles hesitated. “Are you sure? It’s really no bother. We’d be glad to take you, and it might not be a good idea for you to get behind the wheel right now.”

  Gaye chimed in. “I’m sorry, Mrs. Bradford. We can’t allow you to drive home. What you do when you turn the corner is out of my control, but our policy doesn’t permit trauma patients to drive themselves from the hospital.” She grinned. “Call us control freaks, if you like, we’ll only take that as a compliment.”

  Sara held up both hands. “Okay, I know when I’ve lost a battle.” She smiled at the two men. “I’
d love to have you escort me home.”

  Charles reached and took back her keys. “Good girl. Your car’s parked at the emergency entrance. I’ll drive around front and pick you up. I insist you take my coat. You can return it later.”

  Emotions welled inside her and the lump in her throat felt like a boulder. She swallowed hard. His kindness brought tears to her eyes, and she turned her head away.

  Gaye settled Sara into a wheelchair and turned her over to an attendant who pushed the chair out to the curb. Charles helped her into the passenger side and closed the door.

  On the way home, Sara punched in her home number. “I was detained at work for a while. I’m on my way home.” Stretching the truth a bit, but she didn’t want Maddie to worry.

  A sigh of relief filled the phone line. “I’m glad you called. I tried to reach you earlier, but the calls went to voice mail. I have some unsettling news. Lily Pryor called. The police found Penny’s body yesterday.”

  CHAPTER 6

  Sara Bradford’s Home

  Charles parked Sara’s car under the portico, and Don pulled in behind them. He got out and opened the car door for her.

  Muscles knotted when she stepped from the vehicle. In many ways, she was thankful for the bruises. They reminded her how blessed she’d been.

  Charles joined them and passed her the car keys. She removed the cashmere coat he’d loaned her and handed it to him. She grinned. “You should both be happy now.” The words caught in her throat. “I…thanks guys. Your kindness is appreciated more than I can tell you.”

  Don patted her shoulder. “Glad to do it, kid. Do you need help getting inside?”

  She shook her head. “I’ve got it.”

  “Nice pad. Looks like the governor’s mansion.” Don grinned and gave her a slight wave.

  The two men got into Don’s car and drove away.