Buried (Twisted Cedars Mysteries Book 1) Read Free

watched for fifteen minutes until, thoroughly depressed, he turned off the TV and fell asleep.
    The next day he was back on the I-80, listening to a Bob Marley CD Belinda had given him. She said he needed to “chill” and “get happy.” She had a point. Hadn’t his mother said virtually the same thing? He’d overheard her telling her friend and housecleaning partner, Stella Ward, that he was too serious. Too much like his—
    She’d seen him listening. Hadn’t said the last word. But he’d filled in the blank. He was like his father .
    Why couldn’t he have taken after his mother and his sister, both of whom had sunny dispositions and kind hearts? Even when his mother was diagnosed with cancer, five years ago, their innate optimism hadn’t been quenched.
    “You can beat this,” Jamie had said, and Mom promised she would. Not that Dougal had been around to witness his mother’s slow and painful decline. He’d been too busy churning out his latest bestseller in the Big Apple.
    Enough of the reggae beat, thank you. He switched the CD for one of Herbie Hancock’s. Another gift from Belinda. “Did you ever consider that the reason you like interviewing other people and writing their stories is so you don’t have to deal with your own issues?”
    Oh, she was full of insights, Belinda.
    On another occasion she’d asked him why he never talked about his family. Poor woman. She’d really believed she could find a kind, sensitive soul beneath his gruff exterior, if she could just get him to open up.
    “Not much to tell,” he’d answered. But the truth was…there was too much to tell.
    His mom, Katie, had been a good woman. Kind. He didn’t blame anything about his childhood on her. In fact, she’d deserved a better son than him. As an adolescent he’d been embarrassed by her, by the fact that she cleaned houses for a living, and worse, that she had a weakness for spending her Saturday nights at the local bar, dancing and chatting with men who always said they would call but never did.
    And then there was dear old Pop. He’d left before Dougal started grade school, when his sister had been only a tiny bump on their mother’s small frame. They’d been lucky. Ed Lachlan had beaten his second wife to death and had only recently been released from Oregon State Penitentiary where he’d served his time.
    Just like your father ...
    Some legacy.

chapter two
     
    as she watched her fiancé approach, Jamie Lachlan felt like a school girl again. Silly, excited, maybe even a little nervous. Kyle Quinpool had always made her feel this way, even when she was younger and Kyle had been one of her brother’s best friends.
    The group of older kids usually hung out on Driftwood Lane, or on the beach. Mostly the guys—Kyle, Dougal and Wade—ignored her. But sometimes Kyle would give her one of his smiles, as if he knew she was going to grow up and knock his socks off one day.
    These days she knocked off more than his socks.
    “Hey there, handsome. I missed you.” He’d been away on business in Coos Bay for a few days. She’d wanted to go with him but, as he reminded her, their wedding was in two weeks and she had lots of packing to do.
    He was anxious for her to move out of her trailer and into the house with him and his children. If he’d had his way, she would have done it the day they were engaged. She wasn’t an old-fashioned sort of woman, but since the children from his previous marriage were only nine and impressionable, she gently suggested they wait.
    Kyle had sulked for a week.
    But that had been months ago. And now there wasn’t much waiting left to be done.
    Kyle took her in his arms and kissed her. “I’ve missed you too. Ready to go?”
    She was. As they passed by the mailbox he asked, “I don’t suppose you’ve heard from Dougal?”
    “Nope. I guess you were right. He isn’t coming.” She tried to sound like it didn’t matter.
    “Maybe it’s better this way. It’s not like he’s an