“Does that tempt you—the drugs?”
“Some days.”
She watched him with great intensity. “You’re a very honest man, Marcus.”
“I’m getting there.”
“So what’s this surprise you’re talking about?”
He pointed to the Victorian house with the lush gardens. “What do you think?”
“It’s beautiful. Very well kept. Charming.” She faced him, still looking unsure. “Do you know the owner?”
“I did. Mrs. Landry died a few weeks ago. The house is for sale. What comes to mind when you look at it?”
She smiled. “That’s easy. It’s close to the highway, but near a ravine. It would make a perfect bed and breakfast.”
“That’s what I was thinking.”
He stared into her eyes, caught up in the churning emotions he saw there. Happiness. Excitement. Doubt.
“I don’t know, Marcus…”
“I do.” He grabbed her hands and kissed them. “For the first time in a long time, I know exactly what I want.”
They stood in silence, too afraid to speak. Too scared they’d ruin the moment―and all the possibilities.
“Don’t you think we’re rushing things?” she asked.
“Do you?”
“Strangely… no.” She lifted her face and he kissed her.
“I saw Jane and Ryan a few nights ago,” he said. “In my dreams.”
She hugged him tight. “Was it terrible?”
“No. They came to say good-bye. She said they’re both at peace now and want the same for me.”
“Marcus?” Rebecca said in a hesitant voice. “There’s something I haven’t told you. About Jane.”
“What?”
“Right before Tracey Whitaker visited my hospital room, I heard a woman’s voice. She was comforting me, telling me to stay calm. That same voice visited me when Walter came to my house and tried to kill me.”
“You think it was Jane?” he said.
“Who else could it be? You said you keep seeing her, so why would it be so weird if I heard her?”
He didn’t know what to say.
They strolled back to his house in quiet reflection. Instead of going inside, he led her around to the backyard. “Wait here. I’ll be right back.”
Inside, he retrieved the wooden box from its hiding place. Then he headed outside, where he opened the box and showed her its contents. The drugs, the needle. His shame, his guilt. The latter two poured from the box, invisible yet potent.
“It’s time for me to let go of this,” he said.
He set the box in the fire pit. Removing a lighter from his pocket, he lit the kindling beneath the box and they stood a few feet away, watching it smolder, sizzle and burn.
“I spent a long time hiding from the truth,” he said. “I was good at that. Hiding things. Submerging myself in guilt.”
Rebecca took his hand. “You never have to hide from me.”
He kissed her again, pondering the complexity of fate. In his search to find Rebecca and her children, she had found him. And now the world opened to him with all its infinite possibilities.
If you enjoyed this book, please consider writing a short review and posting it on Amazon, Goodreads and/or Barnes and Noble. Reviews are very helpful to other readers and are greatly appreciated by authors, especially me. When you post a review, drop me an email and let me know and I may feature part of it on my blog/site. Thank you.
Praise for SUBMERGED
“Submerged reads like an approaching storm, full of darkness, dread and electricity. Prepare for your skin to crawl.”
“From the first page you know you are in the hands of a seasoned and expert storyteller who is going to keep you up at night turning the pages. Tardif knows her stuff. There’s a reason she sells like wildfire—her words burn up the pages. A wonderful, scary, heart pumping writer.”
“Tardif once again delivers a suspenseful supernatural masterpiece.”
“From the first page, Cheryl Kaye Tardif takes you hostage with Submerged—a compelling tale of anguish and redemption.”
“Cheryl Kaye Tardif’s latest novel Submerged will leave you as haunted as its characters.”
Acknowledgements
A very special thank you to my longtime friend, Mike, without whom this novel wouldn’t be possible. Mike, thank you for sharing your own story of addiction, of how it affected your life, your marriage, your career and those around you. Your quiet courage is inspiring. And your life now proves there is a chance for redemption, if one lets go of old ways, grabs onto hope and rises to the surface.
Thanks to Sharon DeVries of Yellowhead Regional Emergency Communications Center, for all the invaluable information regarding emergency services and practices in the Hinton/Edson area. As with all fiction, sometimes truth has to be bent in order to fit a plot and to rev up the pace, so if there are any mistakes made, these are completely my own, though I do strive to create believable scenes and characters.
Many thanks to Laurent Colasse, president of ResQMe, and Melissa Christensen, for allowing me to use their product and brand in my story. I am hoping this will bring more awareness to this important safety device. And my sincere appreciation for their donation of a dozen ResQMe key chains, which will be given away during the launch of this book. You can learn more about this device at www.resqme.com
And to Christopher Bain, senior manager of product planning and development at BioWare ULC, a division of Electronic Arts Inc., for allowing me the use of their company name in this novel. www.bioware.com
Thanks to John Zur, a valued reader and fan of my novels, for allowing me to turn you into a character―and a good one, at that. I have plans for Detective John Zur, and I believe he’ll make another appearance in another novel sometime in the future.
Thanks to a very special teen fan, Gabbie Gros, who allowed me to immortalize her within these pages. Gabbie, I truly hope you realize you can be whatever you want to be. Your future is in YOUR hands. You are a gift to the world! Never, ever, forget that.
And thanks to fellow author, Luke Murphy, who won a contest I held a few years ago—one in which the winner supplied me with the first line of a new novel. The first sentence of the prologue is Luke’s, and I think you’ll agree it provokes gruesome images… and an elusive scent that might linger in your mind.
About the Author
Cheryl Kaye Tardif is an award-winning, international bestselling Canadian suspense author. Her novels include Submerged, Divine Justice, Children of the Fog, The River, Divine Intervention, and Whale Song, which New York Times bestselling author Luanne Rice calls “a compelling story of love and family and the mysteries of the human heart…a beautiful, haunting novel.”