Tennessee Touch, Sisters of Spirit #6 (34 page)

SHOW & TELL BIBLE SERIES

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OTHER WORKS BY NANCY RADKE
...
Sisters of Spirit Series

Want a clean, funny, sweet romance? Grab
TURNAGAIN LOVE
, #1 Sisters of Spirit  
Sweet, Contemporary, Humorous.
Stranded on a small island, Jennel is happy to see her handsome rescuer until she finds out he is taking
her
job.
Affaire de Coeur
gave it four stars.
Scribes World
said
"Turnagain Love has some fascinating twists and turns, unexpected complications, and charming scenes."

Can’t get enough of those Turnagain Love characters? Pick up
CLOSED DOORS
,
#2 Sisters of Spirit
   Sweet, Contemporary
.   Ellen must help him keep the secret which could destroy his way of life.
“All the characters from Turnagain Love are back, as unpredictable as ever.”
  Gail P.

Looking for a little mystery sprinkled in with the romance? Investigate
STOLEN SECRETS
,
#3 Sisters of Spirit
   Romantic Mystery
  Murder and robbery in a Seattle houseboat community.
“An emotional roller coaster with a feel-good ending. Ms. Radke sprinkles in humor when you least expect it.”
  J. Rogers

PROLOGUE

Tragedy gave no warning.

Slamming the door on her mother’s new Range Rover, twenty-six year old Perri Linn started to pull on her much-traveled suitcase, then paused to watch the swiftly approaching car.

Her step-father's home was perched on the edge of the mesa near Phoenix, and was the last house on the road. If the car passed the next driveway...which it did...it must be coming here, to his place.

Squinting to see better through the heat waves, Perri recognized Walt's silver gray Mercedes. She knew they weren't expecting her yet, so why would he and her mom be coming home in the middle of the day? Could it be an emergency—they were traveling awfully fast?

They must slow down to turn into the driveway!

As if in defiance, the car roared on past and smashed into the large rocks set as a barricade on the mesa's edge. Red dust swirled upward towards the hot Arizona sun, cloaking the twisted metal.

With a noiseless scream, Perri raced down the gravel drive. A woman lay half out of the car on the driver's side, her light golden hair, so like Perri's own, revealing her identity.

The wreck burst into flames, but Perri ignored the furnace-like heat and half-carried, half-dragged her mother out of danger; then used her hands to snuff out the fire on Crystal's dress.

Blood. Everywhere. Flowing from Crystal's face and arms and body—mainly her head. Perri yanked off her own blouse to press against the deepest wound. "No...no...no," she whimpered, trying vainly to stop the torrent. Wasn't anyone around to help? She didn’t have her cell phone, she had dropped her purse as she ran.

"Papa? Was he with you?" she shouted.

"No. He's...he's still working..."

Perri sighed in relief. Her step-father was deaf, but that wouldn't have hindered his escape if he wasn’t injured.

"My pendant." Her mother yanked at the large ivory pendant around her neck as if it were choking her. A favorite piece of jewelry, it had been given to her by a friend working in Africa.

"Leave it, Mom." Frantic, Perri looked toward the nearby homes. Hadn't anyone heard the crash?

"Take it," Crystal insisted, in a voice so weak Perri had to concentrate to hear. "Take it to..." She faltered, recovered, tried to speak again; all the time struggling with the pendant's leather thong.

Her actions pushed Perri's hand away; started the flow of blood again. "Mom, please. Lie still."

But her mother fought the thong until Perri unscrewed the ivory clasp. With the pendant's removal, Crystal relaxed and let Perri reapply the compress.

"You go—” Her words were slurred.

"I can't. You'll bleed—”

"No. You go. You go... must have it..." Crystal's eyes glazed and she seemed to lose her thoughts.

"Mom!" Perri shouted, desperate to keep her mother conscious. "Mom, what happened?"

"Scorpion."

Perri kept the shirt pressed against her mother's head as she glanced over at the burning wreck.
A scorpion in the car?
No wonder her mom had crashed. She had an excessive fear of all snakes and bugs and spiders.

"It's cooked now," Perri assured her, looking back down. Her mother's next words were almost too faint to hear.

"No. No. Pendant. Take it. Inside..." Giving a small sigh, Crystal dropped into unconsciousness.

"Mom!"

The crunch of gravel next to her caused Perri to look up, seeing her parent's nearest neighbor, a nurse, running to them. Crouching down, the woman took Crystal's wrist, feeling for the pulse.

"She's still with us, Perri. Keep that pressure on." The woman had brought a first-aid kit with her, plus an armful of clean towels. She bandaged as she talked. "My son called 9-1-1, then Walt, while I grabbed these things."

"Thanks."

An ambulance pulled up a few minutes later, followed by a fire truck and patrol car. "Anyone else in there?" a fireman shouted, undoing a hose as two medics ran up to Crystal.

Perri glanced at the flames. "No." Helplessly she stood aside, silently praying for her mother's life. The neighbor placed a towel around Perri's shoulders and she huddled into it, her mind struggling with reality. This couldn't be happening.

After five minutes one of the medics stood up, shoulders sagging. "She's gone. Anyone here know her?"

"It's her mother," the neighbor lady answered, putting her arms around Perri. "Crystal Putman."

Then Walt arrived, his face pale and strained. In silence they clung together, the image of her mother blocking out everything until a voice broke in, insistent in its authority. "Perri. Did you see it happen?"

She stared at the short gray-haired man. Walt's new boss, Luke Rogers. He must have brought him. "Yes. She didn't even try to stop." She glanced over at the blackened wreckage. "It was my fault. I shouldn't have borrowed her car for my trip."