The Mau Chronicles : Murder in Manhatten

About the Book

When morning came, Sandy was awakened by the phone ringing. Both Kodie and Miracle bounced up out of bed and ran before Sandy to the phone stand. It was David. He said, “Sandy, would you be able to meet me at Hall’s Auto Repair this morning? The mechanic found something interesting about the car relating to the accident and he wants to talk to us both.” Sandy told him, “Sounds good. Let me get a shower and get dressed. Is 11:00 this morning a good time to be there?” David replied, “Yes, that would be great. I am very curious about what the mechanic has to show us and I will meet you there.” As Sandy was taking her shower, she was having all kinds of thoughts about what the mechanic had found wrong with the car that may have been a contributor to the car accident, why Kim acted the way she did at the hospital with the avoidance of answering the questions Sandy and David were asking her, who the young, tall, dark and handsome “cousin” named Richard Sharp actually was and why he was hanging around Kim so much, flirting with her and making her laugh. Sandy remembered Kim getting all upset and flustered during the questioning process, though, begging off to be allowed to rest because she was too “tired” to continue. Yet, from Sandy’s acute observations upon her and David first arriving there, Kim wasn’t tired at all when Richard was there, which made Sandy think to herself, “Hmmmmm, how weird is that?” Then, there was Brett, the small son Kim gave Stephen, and Stephen himself in ICU on life support, whom she seemed to pay little mind to. Sandy found this very odd about the behavior Kim was currently displaying, as well, since most mothers and wives would be very worried about their children and husbands, wondering how they are doing, asking about them at every chance they could, etc. This made Sandy wonder to herself if Kim had even bothered to step out of her hospital room at all, away from Richard, long enough to check on her husband and son in their own hospital rooms. All of these flashback thoughts about the hospital interrogation made Sandy’s strong intuition tell her that something wasn’t co-sure at all, about anything regarding this case. She now understood why the sheriff’s department called her and wanted her and David to do a more thorough investigation, because they also knew that something wasn’t quite matching up with the statements they have gotten from Kim, who was the only one awake, lucid and could give a testimony. With this last thought in mind, Sandy got dressed and stepped out the door to meet David at the garage where the car was. In the meantime, she was praying while driving, “Lord, I hope I’m wrong and that this isn’t what I’m suspecting, that there is wrong with Stephen’s car that may have been done purposely. Even though things didn’t end well with us in our divorce, I do not wish any ill on him and hope he will be ok soon, if for nothing else, but his son’s sake.” David waited at Hall’s on Sandy to arrive, and met the mechanic, named Jake Foreman, who also waited on Sandy to get there. Jake had been speaking to David, and told him, “You both are going to be very interested in what I found and I hope it will help your case.” David replied, “We want a full report about what you have found after you tell us.” Jake said, “Yessir! No problem at all. Anything I can do to help you to solve the case, I am very happy to do.” David immediately liked Jake. Jake seemed to be a hard-working, honest man who was more than willing to help and David was glad of that, because that is what would be needed to get the case resolved. When Sandy arrived, both of them went inside the garage with Jake, who had the car up in the air on the rack. Jake said, “The car is totaled, as you may have noticed, and cannot be repaired. But, the most interesting thing I have found is underneath here.” Jake pointed to a certain place under the bashed-in front of the car and said, “Take a very close

About the Author

Beth Planten is 46 years old and works at Capital Area Humane Society in Lansing, MI. She lives in Charlotte, MI with her husband, Ron Planten, and has been happily married to him for over six years. They both own two Egyptian Mau cats, Kodie and Isis. Beth’s passion to write fiction mystery novels involving the main characters, David and Sandra, their Egyptian Mau cats, Kodie and Miracle, and their Maine Coon cat, Mufassa, are inspired by her great love of cats and their mysterious ways.