Sign of Danger

E.A Diamond

Description

Bethany Barnett is 12 years old and lives with Aunty Lauren, who is the sister of her mum who had passed away. Her death was a murder. However, it seems like her life takes a turn for the worse when her mother's best friend, Marcus Jensen, makes a reappearance after so many years. She becomes wearily suspicious of him, yet her aunt seems to like him. Even though he seems to really want to get to know Bethany and be there for her, she can't help but think there's something he's hiding. She has two friends Alyssa and Tommy who help her at times. There's a girl at her school named Mia Conway, a bully. There's also a stalker who seems to follow her... Can she solve the case of what happened to her mum?

Informations

• Publié par: Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd
• Date de parution: 28 mai 2021
• Nombre de lectures: 18
• EAN13: 9781528973076
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

T he S ign of D anger
E.A. Diamond
Austin Macauley Publishers
2021-05-28
The Sign of Danger About the Author Dedication Copyright Information © Acknowledgement Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Chapter 19 Chapter 20 Chapter 21
About the Author
E. A. Diamond is a 25-year-old female author who finished writing this story when she was sixteen. She is a hardworking and creative individual who happens to love mysteries. She has written other stories as well and is currently writing the sequel to The Sign of Danger.
Dedication
To all dreamers and my family. To the dreamers, keep the dreams alive and keep working hard at it. They come true.
Copyright Information ©
E. A. Diamond (2021)
The right of E. A. Diamond to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by the author in accordance with section 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.
Any person who commits any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.
ISBN 9781528951340 (Paperback)
ISBN 9781528973076 (ePub e-book)
www.austinmacauley.com
First Published (2021)
Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd
25 Canada Square
Canary Wharf
London
E14 5LQ
Acknowledgement
Huge thanks to the team at Austin Macauley Publishers along with my editors for believing in my story as much as I did and helping me get my book out.
I would like to thank my mum for always being supportive and encouraging me to continue writing.
Thanks to my incredible God whose kindness has blessed me and has helped me immensely.
Chapter 1
Mostly everyone loved my mother…I mean, who wouldn’t? She was your average down-to-earth lady who was always there to cheer someone up and have a laugh with friends; however, something happened and changed my life drastically from being straight and up the narrow to upside down and pear-shaped because one fatal day, my mum was murdered. My mum’s name was Lydia Barnett, who had a lot going for her, and she had a friend called Marcus Jensen, who seemed to be very endearing and supportive to my mother; he was the best friend my mum always wanted. She wasn’t so keen on getting a husband or boyfriend; her first and main priority was always me—her daughter. I loved my mum ever so dearly and I’ve been told I get my striking good looks from her. I always agreed with what everyone said about me looking like her, it made me feel so happy.
And to know my mum had a best friend who could always keep her company was a bonus! I mean, I wish for nothing but the best for my mum. And I’m glad she found that in Marcus; they met up at a party where a friend of theirs introduced them to one another and they both seemed to get on very well together and the rest was…well, pretty much history. Marcus was sort of a family friend and I got to know him a lot better; he visited quite a lot just to check up on me and my mum, he was like a gentleman; however, after my mum died, he didn’t seem to check up on me anymore, which I found profoundly unusual. I was certain that he knew about the murder of my mother; so why hadn’t he stayed in contact all these years?
It really annoyed me but that just showed how much he didn’t care in the slightest about other people’s feelings but his own. However, boy…am I glad to know that I have my dearest aunt—my mum’s sister—supporting and looking after me; her name is Lauren Nicola Barnett but I just call her Aunt Lauren. I owe so much to her; if she hadn’t taken me in, I wouldn’t have known what to do with myself because I would have ended up in foster care with a group of strangers.
Of all days, it was Saturday when my aunt and I would get to have some time together and I really enjoyed her company; it was nice to know I could still have time to be with someone I truly loved and felt close to. In some ways, she was quite similar to my mum—they were both caring and funny and supportive. She was like the second mother figure in my life after my mum died.
When I would watch a programme on the TV, she would always be right there beside me, reassuring me as I was still getting used to my mum’s absence and preventing me from bursting into tears, reminiscing over my mum’s time with us.
She wasn’t trying to fill the gap of being my mother; she was my guardian that I loved equally as my mum. I went into the kitchen and made myself some breakfast (which my aunt suggested). I got some cornflakes and took the bowl with me to the living room, holding it in my hands steadily. The thing was my aunt never really minded me eating in the living room, if I didn’t create a mess on the floor, which would involve me having to clean it up. As I sat down on one of the sofas in the living room, I heard my aunt Lauren speaking to someone on the house phone. I looked at her curiously because she seemed very eager about whatever the person was saying and was nodding her head majority of the time.
“Aunt, who were you speaking to?” I asked curiously.
“It was a friend of your mum’s,” Aunt Lauren replied.
A friend (or so it seemed) was calling my aunt; there must be a reasonable explanation for this and I was about to find out just what it was. Even if it was difficult finding answers, I was ready and willing to find out any clues essential in this suspicious game.
There were always going to be times when I would end up being in the middle of anything that was private, which drove me crazy because I really wanted to know what was being hidden from me. I mean, I know that I’m young but that doesn’t mean that I have to be isolated from things that could be essential to my upbringing, does it? This friend of my mum’s could be a psychopath and my aunt surely wouldn’t know what she was letting herself in for.
She finally said bye and hung up; I felt slightly guilty asking her questions whilst she was still on the phone but I always had this urge of finding out what happened in certain occasions or situations. I didn’t understand that my curiosity made my job slightly harder than I would have wanted.
“Sorry, Aunt, that I interrupted your conversation,” I said ruefully.
“It is okay, Bethany, really,” Aunt Lauren replied.
“So what exactly did mum’s friend want?” I asked curiously.
My aunt looked taken aback by my approach, wondering what it was that I was so keen on finding out; to be honest, I couldn’t really blame her because I must be annoying her right now.
“He wants to come and see you, take you out for lunch today,” my aunt replied enthusiastically.
“Er, Aunt, I don’t know this person,” I said warily.
“Surely you will when you see him,” my aunt replied.
“So, wait a minute, he’s coming here today?” I asked, astonished.
People used to say that I was quite fast in figuring things out and at this moment in time, I didn’t feel the need to disagree with them, even my aunt looked pleased at how fast I had figured it out. However, I wasn’t too pleased; I just wanted to spend the day at home with my dear aunt; was that too much to ask?
“Yes. I thought it will be a great deal for you to go out,” she said, “instead of being cooped up in the house with me all day.”
“Well, did you ask me first, Aunty?” I asked angrily.
My aunt didn’t reply; she looked distraught as if someone had just slapped her and she wasn’t sure what to do next, and I think I hit a nerve because she looked at me ruefully and wanted to tell me everything will be okay, but I didn’t really give her the chance of doing so.
As I walked up the stairs to my bedroom, I wondered about the outcome of all this, if it would mean that I would actually have to go with this ‘so-called friend’ that I wasn’t so sure I knew. However, I did know quite a few of my mother’s friends but it couldn’t be who I thought it could be, or could it be? Many things ran around my mind that I found difficult to keep up with, such as it probably could be Marcus Jensen (the man who was up to no good).
Chapter 2
As if things couldn’t get any worse, my aunt made it official on the phone that Marcus Jensen was coming to collect me and take me to a restaurant with him, which I surely wasn’t looking forward to. I mean, Marcus, of all people! I’m a sort of person who likes to be informed about going with certain people and doing stuff with them on my own terms; I didn’t like it being all sorted out and chosen for me.
This was not making my day any better and knowing that was making me feel much more terrified than I’d ever been, and also not to mention really nervous. This was happening way too fast and I wasn’t too sure if I was able to keep up.
My aunt—why would she want to do this to me? Didn’t she want me to stay at home with her? All these questions in my head were emerging to depict some sort of picture that wasn’t your average, typical, feel-good picture; it was something much deeper and bigger than I would have expected.
Suddenly, there was a knock on the door and I knew immediately that I had to get dressed for this stupid soppy outing that I never even agreed going for; however, I was doing this for my aunt who always felt the need to do things for me and sort out things on her own accord without speaking to me about it first. To be honest, I think that was the only thing that was lack