Debby Giusti - Scared to Death

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To Tony

My husband, my hero

To Elizabeth, Joseph and Mary

I am so proud of each of you

To Darlene Buchholz, Annie Oortman,

Dianna Love Snell and Sharon Yanish

Good friends and great critique partners

To Krista Stroever

For your suggestions and guidance

To Jessica Alvarez

For your help throughout the editing process

Contents

Chapter ONE

Chapter TWO

Chapter THREE

Chapter FOUR

Chapter FIVE

Chapter SIX

Chapter SEVEN

Chapter EIGHT

Chapter NINE

Chapter TEN

Chapter ELEVEN

Chapter TWELVE

Chapter THIRTEEN

Chapter FOURTEEN

Chapter FIFTEEN

Chapter SIXTEEN

Chapter SEVENTEEN

Chapter EIGHTEEN

Chapter NINETEEN

Chapter TWENTY

Chapter TWENTY-ONE

EPILOGUE

“Kate. I need your help.”

The urgency in the caller’s voice made Kate Murphy’s heart race. “Who…Who is this?”

“It’s Tina.”

Kate flinched at the name she hadn’t heard in three years. Images of death and betrayal flashed through her mind. Images Kate wanted to forget.

“Maybe I shouldn’t have called.” Tina’s words were clipped, her tone wary. “It’s been so long, but—”

Cupping a free hand over her ear, Kate tried to drown out the whirr of the centrifuges that filled the medical research lab where she worked.

“Wait, let me step into the hallway. I’ll be able to hear better.” Static crackled across the line as Kate changed locations. “Still there?”

“I know this sounds crazy, but I stumbled across something in the woods and need your medical expertise. Remember when you used to joke about what would happen if the bad guys ever unlocked the secrets of science?”

“Yeah?”

“I think they have.”

The tone of Tina’s voice made Kate’s skin crawl.

Her former friend was right. The whole thing did sound crazy. “How’d you find me, Tina?”

“Your name was in the paper. The article said you worked at Bannister Scientific in Atlanta.”

Kate raked a hand through her hair. She had only given one interview and suddenly she was front-page news. “I can’t leave. I’m in the middle of a project.”

No reason to mention her research had been put on hold. Tomorrow started her two-week probation while Bannister Scientific decided whether she’d keep her job.

“It’s Friday,” Tina pleaded. “Surely you get the weekend off? I’m only living two hours away.”

“I…I may be on call.”

“Growing up you said you’d always be there for me, Kate. I don’t have anyone else. We’re kind of kindred spirits in that regard.”

“What about your mom?”

“She died last Christmas.”

A lump formed in Kate’s throat. “I’m sorry, Tina.”

“So am I. You deserve an apology. What came out after Eddie’s death…I should have believed you.”

The last thing Kate wanted was to open old wounds concerning Tina’s brother. “Where are you?”

“Mercy, Georgia. About two hours north of Atlanta. I’m a housekeeper for a man named Nolan Price and his teenage daughter. I needed a job. Nolan was kind enough to take me in.”

“Listen, Tina, I don’t think—”

“Remember your grandfather’s cross?”

How could Kate forget? Of all things to give Eddie as a token of her love, handing him her most cherished possession three years ago had been the most foolish.

“I found the cross in Eddie’s safety-deposit box,” Tina said. “Just like my brother to tuck it away.”

Kate’s shoulders slumped with relief. The cross hadn’t been destroyed in the fire.

Her grandfather’s face floated through her mind—the man who’d loved her, raised her, taught her about a God she had eventually shut out of her life.

“I’ll give you the cross tonight. You can stay the weekend and see for yourself what I’m talking about.”

Kate shook her head ever so slightly. “Sounds like you’re trying to blackmail me into visiting you.”

Tina laughed, a self-deprecating sound that for an instant touched Kate’s heart. “Call it a bribe, okay?”

Kate sighed. Bribery or not, she needed the cross back around her neck. Sure, Tina could mail it to her, but Kate wouldn’t risk losing the cross again.

“Give me directions,” she finally said.

“Take the connector to 400 North.”

Jamming the phone between her ear and shoulder, Kate reached into the pocket of her lab coat. She pulled out a small tablet and ballpoint pen and jotted down the instructions.

“Tell me what you think you discovered, Tina.”

“Not over the phone. You’ve got to see it. With your scientific background, you’ll know if it’s worth my getting worried.”

You already are, Kate wanted to say. “Surely there’s someone else who can help you.”

“I don’t know who to trust.”

“The police?”

“No!”

“You’re scaring me, Tina.”

“Yeah. I know. That’s the way I feel. Scared to death.”

Kate hadn’t wanted the phone call from Tina, hadn’t expected it. Yet, here she was zooming along a desolate back road, heading into rural North Georgia on the coldest day in February to meet a woman she never thought she’d see again.

Dark clouds rolled across the evening sky and added to the anxiety eating at her ever since she’d heard Tina’s voice. Usually the levelheaded pragmatist, Kate had done an about-face. Driving into an approaching storm to revisit a friendship that probably should remain dead didn’t make sense.

Her cherished cross was the only reason she had agreed to meet Tina. Ever since she’d given it to Eddie, her life had fallen apart, as though God had left her when she’d parted with the necklace. Maybe retrieving the cross would turn her life around. Right now she’d do anything to get back on track.

She looked at the empty can of diet soda perched in her car’s console. Too much caffeine and too little sleep over the last few days working on her research project had taken its toll.

Now she had two weeks to kill.

She’d meet Tina, get the cross and find a B and B on the way back to Atlanta. A good dinner and a soak in a hot tub sounded like a fit ending to a long day. About twelve hours of sleep were just what she needed.

Kate reached into her handbag and grabbed a bottle of antacid tablets. She could imagine her boss’s voice. “You’ll kill yourself before your thirtieth birthday.” Jason Bannister often teased her about her marathon work habits. Probably the most savvy scientist Kate had ever worked for, Jason had hired her six months ago for research and development, confident she would succeed.

The partnership study with Southern Technology would have put Bannister Scientific on the map in diabetes research and ensured the two companies merged into the largest laboratory in the southeast.

Except the clinical trials hadn’t supported Southern Technology’s data. The newspaper article only compounded the problem.