Mystery/Thriller
Date Published: July 17, 2020
Publisher: Blue Fortune Enterprises LLC, Cactus Mystery Press
Check your email. Help is out there…
When Sherry and Beth discover what their boyfriends have been up to, they want in on the action. Working as vigilantes and providing justice for wrongs committed is a noble thing to do, but the women decide the stakes need to change.
Once again, the conflict is personal.
This follow-up to Roundabout Revenge follows former Professor Phil Philemon as he and his friends continue to seek elusive justice for victims who may not have been able to speak for themselves. Lurking in chat rooms, the group finds a large number of women who have been sexually harassed on the job. Sexually harassed in horrible ways. Harassed until their jobs, their reputations, and their sanity is on the line. And what they find is that the story of he said-she said is not always one that ends well.
But not everything goes as planned, and soon the four friends need to come to terms with a larger reality, including a crime of arson and an FBI investigation.
Excerpt
from Chapter Six:
“It’s
not the kind of thing you talk to boyfriends about, but I guess I should tell you.”
“The
way you talked about it tonight told me it’s still bothering you.”
“I
guess it is.”
“When
Sherry explained this project to us, she explained her motivation clearly.
She’d had a lot of trouble with men in her past, and she hadn’t gotten any
satisfaction when she’d lodged sexual harassment complaints. The men denied any
wrongdoing. It came down to he-said-she-said, and the men got off. I thought
you were joining the team because of me. I had no knowledge about anything
you’d gone through. Can you tell me about it?”
“Let’s
grab a beer and sit on the couch. It’s a bit of a long story.”
Ralph
went to the refrigerator and took out two beers. Beth liked low-calorie beer.
He thought it too weak. He opened their beers and headed for the couch.
Beth
seemed a little nervous. “I got my first job at a big hospital in Pittsburgh.
From the very start one of the doctors, Doctor Burns, took too much interest in
me. He kept asking me to go out with him after our shifts. He was married.
Heck, I’d even met his wife. I turned him down flat. Actually, he was in his
fifties. I found the whole thing creepy. He didn’t get the message. He wouldn’t
stop. He continued to pester me for dates. When he started grabbing me
inappropriately, I finally lodged a sexual harassment complaint at the
hospital. It didn’t work. The hospital personnel people told me they didn’t find
any evidence to back my complaint. My experience resembled Sherry’s.”
Ralph
put his arm around Beth. “It must have been frustrating. I guess he only made
advances when you were alone.”
“Yeah,
it was always just the two of us, and as much as I tried, I couldn’t avoid
those situations.”
“Sure,
nurses and doctors have to work close together at times.”
“Right,
but that’s not the worst of it. Things changed after the sexual harassment
complaint. People started treating me differently. Doctor Burns had lots of
friends on the staff, and they all turned against me. It depressed me. I found
it completely unfair, yet I couldn’t do anything about it. It was so wrong.
Burns had misbehaved, yet I got punished.”
Ralph
hugged Beth, whose eyes were tearing. “It’s all right. It’s in the past.”
“Even
now when I think about it, it still bothers me. And I guess I didn’t handle it
well. I started eating too much. Food provided comfort. I broke up with my
boyfriend, Billy. He didn’t show any sympathy at all. Finally, after I put on
close to thirty pounds, I decided I had to make a complete life change.”
“So,
you moved to Lackey?”
“I
wanted to get out of the city. I applied to a bunch of small-town hospitals,
and Lackey responded first. Nursing jobs are fairly easy to get. And the
hospital here is a good one. After I moved, I put myself on a diet, but I had
trouble sticking to it. I guess I’d still been upset about what had happened.
Luckily, my work went well. The people in Lackey are nice. As I told you before,
I got along with Phil’s wife Mary Jane right away. I even told her about why I
left the hospital in Pittsburg, but I didn’t tell anyone else.
“Finally,
I started to come out of my shell and got more serious about my diet. Meeting
you gave me an impetus to change. I really liked our exercise group. Dieting
together really helps.”
“I
always wondered why you wound up here. I never really thought about it too
hard. I figured I had good luck. Now I’m torn. Part of me is glad you had
trouble at the Pittsburg hospital, but that’s not right. I shouldn’t think that
way.”
Beth
responded. “I never thought about it like that. So, you’re saying we’d have
never met if I hadn’t had my problems?”
“Yeah.”
“I
understand. Nevertheless, I’d have been happier if we’d have met some other
way.”
Ralph
gave Beth a kiss. “Whatever, now we have each other.”
“And
it’s great,” Beth said. “Now you’ve got the full story, I guess you can
understand why I’m so eager to be part of the project along with you and Phil
and Sherry.”
“You
bet. It makes a lot of sense.”
Beth
glanced at her phone. “Look at what time it is. We’d better get to bed,” she
said as she pulled Ralph off the couch.
“You
don’t have to ask twice.”
Excerpt from Chapter Thirty-Four:
Bob turned around and
looked at Sherry. Oh my God, thought Sherry.
He’s going to recognize my car. The
other guy saw her car too, and he pulled out his pistol and began shooting at
her. A shot hit the windshield on the passenger side shattering it spraying a
few small shards of glass toward Sherry.
In a panic, Sherry jammed
her car into reverse and backed away fast. She heard a couple more shots, but they
didn’t hit her car. After backing up about 200 yards, she shifted into drive
and turned on to a farm road. While her compact sedan wasn’t great on dirt
roads, Sherry sped. She knew this farm road, a shortcut to her house. She
seldom used it. A closed gate was situated at the far end of the road. At the
gate, she slammed on her brakes and hurried out of the car. She glanced back
down the way she’d come. Bob probably knows this road, too. No one was
coming. She drove through the gate and stopped on the other side. She had
always been taught to close gates behind her.
When Sherry got to the
main road, she half expected Bob and the other guy would be waiting for her. Luckily,
they weren’t there. Driving quickly to her house, she ran in the front door
shouting for her mother. When she found her in the kitchen, she ran to her
saying, “Mom, we’ve got to pack a few things and get out of here in a hurry.”
“What? Slow down dear.
What are you saying?” her mother said.
Sherry took a deep
breath. “On my way home, I witnessed a shooting. Bob McFall, you know, from
down the road, and someone else ran two people off the road and then dragged
them out of their car and shot them.”
“Oh my God. How
terrible!”
“Yes, and I’m pretty sure
Bob recognized my car. They took a few shots at me as I drove away. We’ve got
to get out of here. I’m a witness, so they’re sure to come after me. Go
upstairs and put a few things in a suitcase. We can find a place in town to
spend the night.”
Gladys Ahearn didn’t
climb the stairs quickly. Sherry had started throwing things in a small bag. A
car pulled up, so she ran to the window. It was Bob McFall and the other guy.
Thinking quickly, Sherry moved to the side of the window. She’d have been a
perfect silhouette if she kept standing in front. She told her mother to stay
away from the windows.
“What’s happening?” asked
her mother.
“They’re here!” Sherry yelled.
She looked out the window
again and saw Bob and his friend get out of their car and take out two big gas
cans, two boards, and a hammer from the trunk of the car. One of them went to
Sherry’s car and splashed gas on it. He then backed away and threw a lit match
on the car. It went up in flames with a big whoosh.
About the Author
Robert Archibald was born in New Jersey and grew up in Oklahoma and Arizona. After receiving a BA from the University of Arizona, he was drafted and served in Viet Nam. He then earned a M.S. and Ph.D in economics from Purdue University. Bob had a 41-year career at the College of William & Mary. While he had several stints as an administrator, department chair, director of the public policy program, and interim dean of the faculty, Bob was always proud to be promoted back to the faculty. He lives with his wife of 47 years, Nancy, in Williamsburg, Virginia.
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