Elaine Orr - Jolie Gentil 07 - Vague Images (27 page)
Read Elaine Orr - Jolie Gentil 07 - Vague Images Online
Authors: Elaine Orr
Tags: #Mystery: Cozy - Real Estate Appraiser - New Jersey
After telling me he hoped I felt better, Clark let himself out
. I fingered the envelope. It held something larger than the usual card that comes with flowers. I slit the envelope with a fingernail and pulled out a folded three-by-five card that had writing on both sides.
swimming
in deep
uncharted
water
on the coldest day of the year
in dreams so deep you could drown
melting the oldest of fear
with passion too hot to put down
is this heaven?
time will tell
memories/warnings:
the first time i fell
melting an ocean
of frozen tears
swelling emotions
so far…so near
start of a voyage
the end of our fate?
hearts out of storage
kept safe for a soul mate
Love,
Scoobie
I was sobbing when I finished, so I di
dn’t hear the front door open. Scoobie was on the floor by the couch before I realized he was in the room. The best word to describe his expression would be frantic.
“It’s wonderful!” I sobbed, and moved sideways so he could sit on the couch next to where I was lying
. Jazz hissed as she jumped on the floor. Pebbles had already had the good sense to move.
Scoobie sat next to me and pulled me to him while I sobbed
. It took almost a minute before I got calmer.
He tapped the back of my head with his finger
. “I don’t think I want to be around when you don’t like one of my poems.”
I sniffed and whispered
. “I understood this one.”
“Recognize any of it?” he asked.
I nodded into his shoulder, which was now wet. “The last part.”
“Yeah
. I showed you that when you first moved back.”
I pulled a few inches from him and studied him
. “You knew then?”
“Pretty much
. You used to be a quicker study.”
I gave a sniff that was part snort
. He rolled his eyes and reached for a box of tissues on the floor by the couch. “It’s not like there’s a lot I don’t know about you.”
I blew my nose
. “I think there’s a lot I don’t know about you.” I tossed the tissue on the floor behind me.
He grinned and pulled me to him
. Just as I shut my eyes to kiss him, Scoobie said, “Get your heart out of storage and come along for the ride.”
Vague Images
is the seventh book of the Jolie Gentil cozy mystery series. You can enjoy other books in the Jolie Gentil Series.
And the prequel
Jolie and Scoobie High School Misadventures
These and other books by Elaine Orr are at all online retailers.
Your library or bookstore can also order paperbacks from Create Space.
Scoobie’s poetry is actually that of real-life poet, James W. Larkin.
Elaine L. Orr is the Amazon bestselling author of
Trouble on the Doorstep
, fifth in the Jolie Gentil series. She wrote plays and novellas for years and graduated to longer fiction. Biding Time was one of five finalists in the National Press Club’s first fiction contest, in 1993. She is a regular attendee at conferences such as Muncie’s Midwest Writers Workshop and Magna Cum Murder, and conducts presentations on electronic publishing and other writing-related topics. Her nonfiction includes material on caring for aging parents and carefully researched local and family history books. Some of her essays can be viewed on Yahoo Voices. Elaine grew up in Maryland and moved to the Midwest in 1994.
VAGUE IMAGES
Alicia Ortiz – local high school student, daughter of Megan
Annie Milner – county attorney, went to Ocean Alley High
Aretha Brown – not the least bit shy Harvest for All committee member
Aunt Madge
– best aunt ever, sister to Jolie’s late grandmother
Daphne – librarian and high school classmate of Jolie and Scoobie
Dr. Welby – retired doctor and member, Harvest for All Committee
Father Teehan – pastor of St. Anthony’s
George Winters – reporter at
Ocean Alley Press
Lance Wilson – Jolie’s favorite member of the Harvest for All Committee
Lester Argrow – annoying local real estate agent, and Ramona’s uncle
Harry Steele
– owner of Steele Appraisals, and Aunt Madge’s husband
Harriet – nursing assistant at Ocean Alley Hospital
Jason Logan – chairs the hospital’s Board of Directors
Jennifer Stenner – owns the other appraisal firm, appears only once in this book
Joe Regan – owner of Java Jolt, local coffee house
Jolie Gentil
– Ocean Alley real estate appraiser with a nose for trouble
Isaac Gibson – minister for the Unitarian Universalist Church
Harvest for All – food pantry for which Jolie chairs the governing committee
Lieutenant Tortino – member of the Ocean Alley Police Department
Max – friendly but brain-damaged Iraq War veteran who likes Jolie and Scoobie
Megan Ortiz – regular volunteer at Harvest for All food pantry
Mister Markle – owner of In-Town Grocery who is good to the food pantry
Monica
Martin – very shy Harvest for All committee member
Nelson Hornsby – director
of purchasing at Ocean Alley Hospital
Quentin Wharton – CEO of Ocean Alley Hospital
Sandra Cartwright – charge nurse at Ocean Alley Hospital
Sergeant Morehouse – member of the Ocean Alley Police Department
Ramona Argrow – clerk at the Purple Cow office supply store, and Jolie’s friend
Reverend Douglas Jamison – clergyman for First Presbyterian
Sam Dent – head of Radiology at Ocean Alley Hospital
Scoobie
–Jolie’s best bud, studying to be a radiology tech
Sylvia Parrett – Harvest for All committee member
, who can be a tad grouchy
Tanya Weiss – consultant to the hospital Board, and dead.
Tiffany – junior reporter at the
Ocean Alley Press
Todd Everly – helpful head of Security at Ocean Alley Hospital
