Excerpt from the Prologue 

    He looked to the unmoving form on the plaid couch beside her. "His name is Daniel Perkins," Officer Kent filled in. "He and his daughter lived here alone. A co-worker expressed concern to the family when he hadn't shown up to work for a few days."

   The detective nodded. The insulin bottle and the empty syringe were lying on the side table nearest the man's head. He had to agree with the officers, at first glance, it sure looked like a simple overdose.

    "Well, Temke?" the older detective called from the living room.  "Ready to go?  Looks pretty cut and dry:  accidental diabetic overdose."

      "Yeah.  I guess so," the rookie replied heading back to the entrance.  His head agreed with his superior, but why didn't he feel the same assurance in his gut?

     In this second book of the For Hymn Mystery Series, Eryka Skidmore, a character introduced in book one, finds herself thrown into the middle of a crisis.  Her boss is missing.  Therefore, all the responsibilities at work have now fallen to her.  To complicate matters, his secretary resigns at the same time.  

    As Eryka attempts to maintain business as usual, obstacles appear at every turn.  Her focus is then forced to change from merely managing the business to finding her boss before the company suffers irreparable damage.  

   Is the 'coincidence' of the missing boss and his secretary an act of indiscretion as it appears?  Or could there have been foul play?  Join Eryka and another acquaintance from book one as they work to solve this dilemma.
 

Excerpt from Chapter 1

Part I
When the storms of life are raging, stand by me.
When the storms of life are raging, stand by me.
When the world is tossing me, like a ship upon the sea,
Thou who rulest wind and water, stand by me.
 

Chapter 1

         The storm raged.  The vibrations from the thunder's rumbling could be felt even from within the rising elevator tucked deep inside the twenty-story Tennessee skyscraper.  Eryka internally groaned when the elevator doors opened on the sixteenth floor.  

         She rushed through the maze of cubicles on her way to her own small corner of movable walls.  Eryka sighed, dropping her valise and purse onto her metal desk. "I'm late again."  

        Ariana poked her head over the top of the divider and smiled conspiratorially.  "Don't worry.  The big man isn't even here yet," she whispered.  "No one has seen or heard from him.  And his secretary is gone as well.  She called in her resignation today."

       "That’s really bizarre,” Eryka said.

       "It looks pretty strange when the boss and his secretary leave together . . . ." 

 Book III - This I Know

          Hymn: Jesus Loves Me                      

 September 2005     ISBN: 1-4137-8782-7         

      Kathleen Gearhart made a final stop on her errand day, leaving her two young girls asleep in the van.  She returned minutes later to find the van and her daughters gone.  The search for her missing children leads her on an unforgettable journey full of questions, fear, and doubt.  Suspicion is around every corner, as even her husband Keith’s actions are called into question.  Kathleen’s faith is challenged as she endures many turns of events to the dramatic conclusion.

Excerpt from Chapter 1

1:30 p.m. – Monday, Gallipolis, OH

            Jabbering.  The girls finally quieted shortly after buckling themselves in at the completion of the grocery store trip.  The backseat was active with talk and giggling between each stop during their busy day of errands.  At least their giggles had not given way to the bickering that sometimes happened when they grew weary of the day and each other.

Just one more stop – the dry cleaners on Third Avenue.  They starched Keith’s shirt collars just the right way to make them stiff without becoming too scratchy.  Kathleen, early in their marriage, tried to imitate the ironing job in an attempt to save money, but she was unable to do it to her husband’s specifications.  In her eyes, it was well worth the money and lack of emotional stress to leave the job to the professionals.

Should I wake them?  No.  I only need to dash in, leave the shirts, and come right back out.  After all, the rain was really coming down now.  If she took the girls into the store with her, they would get soaked because they would be too groggy to hurry.  But, if she left them in the van, she’d have to leave it unlocked and running because she did not have another key with her.  It was too hot and muggy today to leave them even briefly in a vehicle without cool air circulating.

It was a small town.  They would be safe, she decided.

She pulled into the parking spot closest to the front door of McVale’s Cleaners.  Even from inside, she’d be able to still clearly see the van.  Putting it into park, she glanced over her shoulder to see if they had begun to stir.  Nothing. 

Sighing in uncertainty, she grabbed the plastic bag of shirts off the front seat and scurried into the cleaners, leaving the van running.

~~~~~~

Wanting to hurry, but not wanting to appear rude, she hoisted the bag of shirts onto the counter to encourage the man to get down to the business at hand.  Kathleen positioned her body to better see both the van with her sleeping girls and Mr. Grady.

Finally, Mr. Grady pulled out his receipt pad to record the items and give them a retrieval number. 

“Here you are,” he said tearing the bottom portion of the tag off for her.

It couldn’t be soon enough for Kathleen.  “Thanks, Mr. Grady,” she called over her shoulder as she dashed into the pouring rain toward her van and sleeping children. 

The streaming water pelted her face, blurring the view in front of her.  To her amazement, there was nothing before her.  Her van and children were nowhere to be found.