My dad had led me to believe that my grandparents hadn’t cared about me. I’d since come to learn that Yvette had tried sending cards and letters, and that Corbin had tried to care for me in the only way he knew—with money. And still my father’s stubborn streak had stopped him from telling me.
“We hired a firm to give us an update on you and your dad,” Dwayne said, interrupting my thoughts. “Jimmy was having a hard time finding a job in Marketville, thanks to Corbin putting the word out that he was unreliable. I moved back to Toronto and started working for Southern Ontario Construction Company. I made sure that they hired your father, and I was able to keep tabs on you at the same time. Not that your dad ever invited me to your house. It was if he wanted to separate the past from the present. I respected that.”
“What about you, Mother? Did you stay in Vancouver?”
“No. I changed my name to Alison Lake. I moved around. A lot. Calgary. Winnipeg. Montreal. Halifax. Anywhere but Marketville or Toronto. I took odd jobs to make ends meet. Mostly I just drifted, although I stayed in touch with Dwayne.” She gave a sad smile. “I always knew how you were doing. Then one day Dwayne called to tell me that Jimmy had died. I might have stayed away, but you started looking into the past. It was only a matter of time until you figured it all out. I needed you to hear the true story from me.”
I leaned back in my chair. It was quite the story. It would take some time to process everything I’d learned. To decide whether I had it in me to forgive my mother. I hoped so, but I couldn’t be sure.
There were still two unanswered questions.
“Do you think my father’s death was an accident?”
“There is no reason to think otherwise,” Dwayne said.
I wasn’t about to tell them about my dad’s letter. Besides, whatever I found out would only be conjecture on my part. It wouldn’t bring him back.
I turned to face my mother. “Can I ask you one more question?”
Her face brightened. “Of course. Anything.”
“I know that the Calamity Jane movie poster is a recent reproduction. What I don’t know is how you managed to get it into the attic without anyone seeing you.”
My mother stared at me, her face a complete blank. “I don’t know anything about a movie poster.”
I thought about the signature, a backhand slant, sure, but a little bit spidery, just like my father’s handwriting. I looked up towards the ceiling and smiled. It seemed the skeleton in the attic wasn’t the only thing my father had left for me.
~ * ~
If you enjoyed this book, please consider writing a short review and posting it on your favorite review site. Reviews are very helpful to other readers and are greatly appreciated by authors, especially me. When you post a review, drop me an email and let me know and I may feature part of it on my blog/site. Thank you.
Judy
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Message from the Author
Dear Reader,
I started writing Skeletons in the Attic while trying to find a publisher for my debut mystery novel, The Hanged Man’s Noose, the first book in the Glass Dolphin Mystery series. I didn’t want to stop writing, but I couldn’t bring myself to write the sequel to a novel that hadn’t yet found “a home.”
Just as the setting of Lount’s Landing is loosely based on my former community of Holland Landing, Ontario, Canada, so too is Marketville loosely based on the town of Newmarket, which is situated just south of Holland Landing. Of course, I have taken many liberties with both locations, as well as the surrounding area, and the characters are entirely fictitious, but therein lies the inspiration.
The idea for Skeletons in the Attic came to me while I waited with my husband, Mike, in our lawyer’s office. We were there to update our wills, and his goldendoodle kept us company while our lawyer was detained at court. The opening scenes of this book are culled directly from that experience. (Let that be your takeaway from this: everything that happens in a writer’s life may end up in one of their stories.)
Publication for the second book in the Marketville Mystery Series is tentatively scheduled for 2017 (of course, I do have to write it first). Stay tuned for updates, which will be posted on my website, www.judypenzsheluk.com. I welcome new followers to my blog, as well as my newsletter.
Finally, thank you for taking the time to read my story.
Judy Penz Sheluk
About the Author
Judy Penz Sheluk’s debut mystery novel, The Hanged Man’s Noose, was published in July 2015. Skeletons in the Attic, the first book in her Marketville Mystery Series, is her first title with Imajin Books.
Judy’s short crime fiction appears in World Enough and Crime, The Whole She-Bang 2, Flash and Bang and Live Free or Tri.
In her less mysterious pursuits, Judy works as a freelance writer, specializing in art, antiques and the residential housing industry. Her articles have appeared regularly in dozens of U.S. and Canadian consumer and trade publications.
Past editorial responsibilities have included the roles of Senior Editor, Northeast Art & Antiques, and Editor, Antiques and Collectibles Showcase. She is currently the Editor of Home BUILDER Magazine, and the Senior Editor for New England Antiques Journal.
Judy is also a member of Sisters in Crime International, Sisters in Crime - Guppies, Sisters in Crime - Toronto, Crime Writers of Canada, International Thriller Writers, Inc. and the Short Mystery Fiction Society. She lives in a small town northwest of Toronto, Ontario.
Find Judy on her website/blog at http://www.judypenzsheluk.com/, where she interviews other authors and blogs about the writing life.
She can also be found at:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JudyPenzSheluk
Facebook: https://business.facebook.com/JudyPenzSheluk/
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Skeletons in the Attic (A Marketville Mystery Book 1) Page 26