Moon Underfoot Read online

  The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

  Text copyright © 2012 William Robert Cole, Jr.

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.

  Scripture quotations are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.

  Published by Thomas & Mercer

  P.O. Box 400818

  Las Vegas, NV 89140

  ISBN-13: 9781612187211

  ISBN-10: 1612187218

  This book is dedicated to the fine folks of West Point, Mississippi.

  I’m humbled by their enthusiastic support.

  CONTENTS

  Start Reading

  CHAPTER 1

  CHAPTER 2

  CHAPTER 3

  CHAPTER 4

  CHAPTER 5

  CHAPTER 6

  CHAPTER 7

  CHAPTER 8

  CHAPTER 9

  CHAPTER 10

  CHAPTER 11

  CHAPTER 12

  CHAPTER 13

  CHAPTER 14

  CHAPTER 15

  CHAPTER 16

  CHAPTER 17

  CHAPTER 18

  CHAPTER 19

  CHAPTER 20

  CHAPTER 21

  CHAPTER 22

  CHAPTER 23

  CHAPTER 24

  CHAPTER 25

  CHAPTER 26

  CHAPTER 27

  CHAPTER 28

  CHAPTER 29

  CHAPTER 30

  CHAPTER 31

  CHAPTER 32

  CHAPTER 33

  CHAPTER 34

  CHAPTER 35

  CHAPTER 36

  CHAPTER 37

  CHAPTER 38

  CHAPTER 39

  CHAPTER 40

  CHAPTER 41

  CHAPTER 42

  CHAPTER 43

  CHAPTER 44

  CHAPTER 45

  CHAPTER 46

  CHAPTER 47

  CHAPTER 48

  CHAPTER 49

  CHAPTER 50

  CHAPTER 51

  CHAPTER 52

  CHAPTER 53

  CHAPTER 54

  CHAPTER 55

  CHAPTER 56

  CHAPTER 57

  CHAPTER 58

  CHAPTER 59

  CHAPTER 60

  CHAPTER 61

  CHAPTER 62

  CHAPTER 63

  CHAPTER 64

  CHAPTER 65

  CHAPTER 66

  CHAPTER 67

  CHAPTER 68

  CHAPTER 69

  CHAPTER 70

  CHAPTER 71

  CHAPTER 72

  CHAPTER 73

  CHAPTER 74

  CHAPTER 75

  CHAPTER 76

  CHAPTER 77

  CHAPTER 78

  CHAPTER 79

  CHAPTER 80

  CHAPTER 81

  CHAPTER 82

  CHAPTER 83

  CHAPTER 84

  CHAPTER 85

  CHAPTER 86

  CHAPTER 87

  CHAPTER 88

  CHAPTER 89

  CHAPTER 90

  CHAPTER 91

  CHAPTER 92

  CHAPTER 93

  CHAPTER 94

  CHAPTER 95

  CHAPTER 96

  CHAPTER 97

  CHAPTER 98

  CHAPTER 99

  CHAPTER 100

  CHAPTER 101

  CHAPTER 102

  CHAPTER 103

  CHAPTER 104

  CHAPTER 105

  CHAPTER 106

  CHAPTER 107

  CHAPTER 108

  CHAPTER 109

  CHAPTER 110

  CHAPTER 111

  CHAPTER 112

  CHAPTER 113

  CHAPTER 114

  CHAPTER 115

  CHAPTER 116

  CHAPTER 117

  CHAPTER 118

  CHAPTER 119

  CHAPTER 120

  CHAPTER 121

  CHAPTER 122

  CHAPTER 123

  CHAPTER 124

  CHAPTER 125

  CHAPTER 126

  ONE YEAR LATER

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  He lifted me out of the slimy pit,

  out of the mud and mire;

  He set my feet on a rock

  and gave me a firm place to stand.

  —Psalm 40:2

  CHAPTER 1

  AS DARKNESS ENVELOPED the newly constructed two-story house, the sliver of moon added to the gloom that was a chilly autumn Mississippi evening. Scout was stretched out on the kitchen floor, sound asleep, with her favorite chew toy nearby.

  Morgan Crosby had just finished cleaning the kitchen and strongly suspected she had math homework in her immediate future. A quick glance at the wall clock revealed that she was missing Dancing with the Stars, but she didn’t really care. She was happy. Typically Jake would have had a fire burning in the den by now, but he was at a business dinner and wouldn’t be home for at least another hour or so. It was blues night at Anthony’s Market, and Jake’s bosses loved to schedule business meetings around great food and the Delta’s music that flowed there on most nights.

  Morgan was thrilled with Jake’s renewed interest in his career, but she still didn’t like being home without him. Her therapist had promised the anxiety would slowly dissipate. She just needed time. It had been almost two years, and Morgan was doing much better. The recent move to a gated neighborhood had helped tremendously. She finally felt safe. Her face glowed as she placed a hand on her stomach and thought about the surprise she had for Jake tonight. He had no idea she had been to the doctor.

  Katy suddenly came crashing down the stairs with her books in hand, ready to conquer her fifth-grade math assignment.

  “I’m ready, Mom!” she exclaimed, as if Morgan should drop everything and come running.

  “Okay, let me wash up,” Morgan replied. “Go ahead and get started.”

  “Yes ma’am. We started fractions today, and they seem easy,” Katy said with confidence.

  Morgan dried her hands as she watched Katy enthusiastically dive into her homework. “Just let me know if you need some help.”

  From across the kitchen, Morgan could hear the friction of Katy’s pencil against the paper. Morgan smiled, sat down at the table, and began flipping through the latest issue of Garden & Gun. She enjoyed the garden portion. Jake loved the guns.

  When Morgan was halfway through the magazine, their normally silent cat grunted a meow, indicating he wanted to go outside. Morgan glanced up from a recipe. As she had done hundreds of times, she walked to the back door and with one hand flipped on the outside light switch. With the other, she unlocked the door and slightly opened it.

  The black-and-white cat squeezed through the crack. When the tip of his tail cleared the door, Morgan slowly looked up to see the silhouette of a man less than fifteen yards away, the glow of his cigarette slightly illuminating his sinister face. He looked her dead in the eye before grinning and then stepping backward and disappearing into the darkness of the woods.

  Morgan screamed, slammed the door, and quickly locked the dead bolt. Still screaming, she pushed the panic button on the house’s alarm, unleashing an immediate high-pitched shrill from the speakers, which were located in the attic. Katy was wild-eyed as she watched her mother race from the touch pad to the cordless telephone and begin dialing.

  With remarkable clarity, Morga
n Crosby explained to the 911 operator that a prowler was outside of her house and that she needed immediate help. As she ran to the kitchen window in search of the stranger, she quickly verified her name and address. The operator dispatched the police and stayed on the line to comfort Morgan, who was now shaking uncontrollably.

  “The West Point police will be there in three minutes, Mrs. Crosby,” the young emergency operator said reassuringly.

  “I don’t know what he was doing! He was just staring, staring in the windows…at me!”

  “Can you describe him?” the operator asked calmly and then alertly mouthed to another operator to also inform the sheriff’s office.

  “I don’t know! He was standing in the shadows,” Morgan said, shaking her head and realizing there was something faintly familiar about the man’s profile. “I need to call my husband!”

  “You mean he’s not home?” the surprised operator asked.

  “No! No, he’s not. It’s just me and my daughter.”

  This increased the intensity of the situation. The operator snapped her fingers at a coworker and then mouthed, “She’s alone!”

  “Listen, ma’am, don’t hang up, okay? I need you to stay on the line until the officers get there. Do you have a cell phone handy?”

  “Yes! Yes! Right here!”

  “Okay, use your cell and keep this line open. The officers are getting close.” The operator was trained to keep callers on the line, sometimes improvising to keep the situation under control.

  “Please tell them to hurry!”

  “They are, ma’am, I promise. I need you to turn on all the outside lights you’ve got, and then you and your daughter—what’s her name?”

  “Katy.”

  “Okay, you and Katy need to get away from the windows. Don’t hang up, but run, turn the outside lights on, and come right back. Can you do that for me?”

  “Yes.”

  “Good. Don’t hang up.”

  Morgan wrapped her arms around the now-crying Katy in an attempt to calm her. She told Katy to sit on the kitchen floor and that she’d be right back. Katy started to protest, but Morgan turned around with a stern look and then took off for the front door. After flipping on the light switch, Morgan dashed back into the kitchen, turning off the light as she entered, hoping he couldn’t see her inside. The alarm continued to blare. She hugged Katy as she sat down beside her. She picked up the landline and said, “Okay, I’m back.”

  “Good job. Now call your husband on your cell phone. Don’t hang up this phone, though.”

  “Okay.”

  Morgan picked up her cell phone and fumbled to dial Jake’s number. She started talking the moment the call connected.

  “What? Just slow down. I can hardly hear you over the alarm,” Jake said. He was shocked to hear her hysterics, but he was already moving in the direction of the restaurant’s entrance.

  “Some man was just in our backyard, looking in the windows!”

  “Have you called the police!” Jake was nearly yelling as he ran toward his truck.

  “Yes, I’m on the phone with them now!”

  “Good. I’m on my way!”

  “Hurry, Jake!” Morgan shrieked, tears of terror running down her cheeks.

  “Ma’am, two units just turned into your neighborhood. But stay on the phone and don’t go to the front door until I tell you to, okay?” the operator asked.

  “Pleeeease tell ’em to hurry,” she said frantically.

  Morgan tightly squeezed Katy as they cried. The piercing alarm had surely scared off the Peeping Tom, but it was fraying both of their nerves.

  CHAPTER 2

  JAKE SPED TOWARD home, not knowing what to expect…what to think. He’d never heard Morgan so upset; the terror in her voice was clear.

  It had been almost two years since his horrifying all-night ordeal at the Dummy Line in West Alabama. Not a day went by when he didn’t anxiously remember being in the wrong place at the worst possible time. His journey through life had hit a fork in the road on that night. Fortunately, the decisions he had made were the right ones. Although the event had been physically rough on Jake, Morgan was really having a hard time emotionally. Knowing that she had nearly lost her husband and her daughter was still taking a significant toll. The event had forced both Morgan and Jake to reevaluate their priorities and their relationship. Morgan went to therapy, but Jake just forced it deep down into his guts—as deep as possible. On some level, he knew that one day it would surface with a fury, but he didn’t have the luxury of worrying about that now. He had a family to take care of and to provide for first.

  As he sped through the Old Waverly Golf Club, Jake saw blue lights flashing on at least two police cars in front of his house and saw another driving through the neighborhood, searching with a spotlight. The tires squealed as he slammed on the brakes and parked crookedly at the end of his drive. He jumped out and ran toward the house. A young police officer searching the front yard recognized Jake and radioed the other officers that “the husband” had arrived.

  Inside the house was chaos. Scout, their aged black Lab, was barking at all the strange men and couldn’t hear Morgan’s repetitive commands to hush. Several police officers were now in the house, talking excitedly on their handheld radios, coordinating coverage of possible escape routes and asking for additional manpower. Morgan was on the verge of hysterics. Katy’s eyes were swollen from crying, but she was watching the police officers with great interest. When Morgan saw Jake, she ran to him, and they embraced for a long moment. Jake looked over her shoulder into an older officer’s eyes, trying to read the situation. Nothing in the officer’s face or demeanor offered any clues.

  “What’s going on? What do you know?” Jake frantically asked.

  Morgan had her hand over her mouth. The lead officer spoke first, allowing Morgan a chance to compose herself.

  “Apparently, Mr. Crosby, at the very least y’all had a Peepin’ Tom. Maybe he was gonna rob the house. Maybe worse,” he said carefully, knowing they needed to hear the truth. He continued, “But we think when your wife turned on the outside lights, he got spooked and fled the area.”

  “How did he get in here? How did he get past the security guard?”

  “We don’t know yet. Since Old Waverly only has two ways to drive in, if he drove, we’ll know. We’ve got backup arriving now to seal off both exits. We’ll check every vehicle, stickered or not, and we’ll grid search for him in case he’s still on foot.”

  “Has anybody been broken into out here?” Jake asked, assuming the incident to be an interrupted burglary.

  “No, sir—not unless it happened tonight and it hasn’t been reported yet. This is one of the safest places in the entire state. We’ve never had any incidents out here. Look, we’re only ten minutes into this thing, so we really don’t know what’s going on yet. But we do have most of West Point’s officers out there, plus two county deputies, and the local state trooper just radioed in that he’s en route. We gotta good chance of catching this guy if he’s still in here. He might can hide in the woods along the golf course or around homes that don’t have dogs, but he’ll be wantin’ to get outta here as fast as he can…and that’s when we’ll catch him,” the officer replied confidently.

  With his arm still around Morgan, Jake rubbed her back while he looked out the windows. The small town of West Point, Mississippi, seemed to have deployed everybody on this call. He watched the parade of law enforcement officers outside and saw the constable arrive. He realized he didn’t even know what a constable was, but there was one in his driveway who apparently wanted to help.

  Jake turned to the policeman. “What can I do, Officer?”

  “Can we get this dog in a room somewhere and let me ask y’all some more questions?”

  “Sure,” Jake said as he headed toward Scout. This was the most excitement she’d experienced since retiring from duck hunting a year or so ago.

  As Jake returned, an officer opened the front door and stood in
the doorway, obviously excited. “I found something!”

  Everyone in the room turned to listen.

  “Whatcha got?” asked the lead officer.

  “There is a big oak tree right there in the corner of their lot. You can see the kitchen clearly and what appears to be the master bathroom. At any rate, there’s about twenty-five cigarette butts in a pile behind it, and judging from their appearance, I’d say some are over a week old. Some of ’em are fresh.”

  Everyone looked at each other.

  “Do y’all smoke?” asked the lead officer.

  Morgan shook her head and squeezed Katy tighter. Jake shook his head too and then said, “No, sir. None of us do.”

  “Okay.” Turning away from Jake, he said to the other officer, “Let’s photograph the cigarette butts and then put ’em in an evidence bag. We might get lucky and find some DNA.” He then turned to another officer and said, “Have there been Peeping Toms or anything similar to this going on around town at all?”

  “No, sir. Nothing at all,” the officer said with certainty. He then turned to Jake and asked, “By the way, Jake, where were you tonight?”

  Jake was surprised by the question but appreciated his reasoning. “Working. I…I was at a business dinner at Anthony’s.”

  The police officer nodded. “Okay. Have y’all seen anything or anybody suspicious around here? Anything out of the ordinary?”

  Jake and Morgan looked at each other. Both drew blanks. Neither had noticed anything out of the norm; that’s why they had moved to Old Waverly in the first place. After the life-altering events at the Dummy Line and the kidnapping of a neighbor, Morgan had insisted they live in a secure neighborhood. Jake understood and agreed. Morgan had been the intended target of the kidnapping—only the bad guys had abducted their next-door neighbor by mistake.

  The Old Waverly Golf Club community perfectly fit their needs, although neither Jake nor Morgan golfed. Fortunately, the property had a lot of fishable water that was full of big bass, and there were deer everywhere too, so Jake enjoyed being there. The security at the entrance into the development was adequate. Unless you were a resident, a member, or a registered guest, you weren’t getting in…unless, of course, you could bullshit your way past the guard.

  “There’s never anything out of the ordinary here. That’s what we like about it,” Jake said with a smile.