Amethyst

By

Sharon R. Barrett

********

PUBLISHED BY

Sharon R. Barrett at Smashwords

Amethyst

By Sharon R. Barrett

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Smashwords Edition

copyright 2010 Sharon R. Barrett

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This e-book is licensed for your personal
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Adult reading material

The book is a work of fiction and any
resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or
locales is purely coincidental. The Characters are production of
the authors imagination and used fictitiously.

I also wish to thank all those friends who
let me practice on them with all the revisions; a special thank you
to my niece Melissa to whom I delicate this book too.

Cover picture by Robyn Swaim

Casper, Wyoming, U.S.A.

In the corner of the office hung an old clock
from the eighteen century which did not fit in to the ultramodern
furniture of the high-rise office. A large glass desk sat near the
floor to ceiling windows with the name plate Mark Hartman
President. Two pictures on one wall gave way to a warped view of
life with abstract paint marks on canvas. On another wall framed
diplomas from UCLA. The walls painted a cream color to give the
brown carpet a feeling of warmth. A door to a private bathroom was
on the left. Double doors lead out of his office into the
secretarial area.

The man sitting at the desk in a deep brown
plush high back office chair looked like a weasel. His sharp
pointed nose stuck out from to thin a face. His gaunt appearance
made him appear shorter then his five foot ten height. His dark
brown suit was tailor especially for him; Italian made shoes,
giving off the outward aspect to having money. He said nothing as
his mind dismissed plan after plan that would not work in his
favor. From the sixteenth floor he could see all of Casper and the
day proved to be a sunny day, but his mood was less than sunny! He
was down right angry!

Two men stood waiting for their boss to
speak. Finally speaking both men jumped slightly as his voice
boomed across the room. "We have to get the girl!" Good he thought
they were scared of him. Put the fear of God into a man and he will
do anything you ask. Or put enough money in his pocket!"

"Her father is out of the picture now, nice
and tidy; work well done! But he left a will with his only daughter
Amethyst as beneficiary. I tried to find the damn will and could
not, searched the entire house, found nothing, but then didn't find
the money she had to have taken with her to get away. We have to
get her to sign over everything to me then we can sell her off to
some slave trade in Asia. I am sure I can make a nice tidy sum for
her. To bad we cannot get the lawyer to bend to our will. The damn
man is faithful to his clients I'll give him that. And his life has
been clean; he has never gotten a parking ticket in his life. The
man is a new description for squeaky clean and should be in the
dictionary."

"Boss you want for me to rough up the lawyer
a little?" The tallest man Big Red said with a sneer. Hartman
looked at Big Red and thought, "he is really a big man, over weight
by fifty pounds, must be six foot five. He had been in the minors
as a wrestler and never made it to the big time. An accidental blow
to his head left him slightly incapable of thinking things out. He
was good at taking orders and nothing more.

The other man Ray was shorter, hot tempered,
and just as mean as Big Red. The stupid man never thought first
then acted. Just reacted to what ever was happening around him. The
fool would get himself killed one of these times; maybe that would
be a good thing the man was dangerous when out of control.

"No, damn it, that is too risky. As for
Amethyst, after marrying her, I would have screwed her a few times,
he laughed. Tried black mail, but she saw right through me. Now
either way we are going to have to kill her!" A smile crossed his
lips as he thought about how great it would have been to poke her a
few times; maybe I could have kept her for a while, but I know I
could not keep her for good. That would be too dangerous to do, she
knew too much. People who know too much it is best to get rid of
them, no telling when they might turn on you. Damn the bitch ruined
all my plans!"

"The lawyer's telephone is bugged, there is a
man watching him all the time. So far he has done nothing out of
the ordinary. Hired a private investigator named Zanderland he
specializes in run a ways and people in hiding. Told the stupid
investigator she was my niece and she had run away from home. The
damn fool believed me when I told him her father passed away and
she was out of control. Told Zanderland I was worried about her and
what might happen to her with her so distressed. I hired him
because I understand he has special talents for his work. His rate
of success is extremely high. It is as if he has a six sense about
run a ways. He damn well better find her for what I am paying him a
day! It will be well worth it when he finds her; I can then dispose
of her. I have the house phone bugged, a man watching the house
keeper Anna. Amethyst has not tried to contact her; Anna truly does
not know where Amethyst is. I slipped her a drug; she talked about
everything, but knew nothing about what I needed to know. Anna and
Amethyst were extremely close; it surprises me that she has not
tried to contact Anna. Amethyst will want to contact Anna after a
while just for nothing else then to let her know she is well. When
she does, then we have her! Now the two of you get out of here and
get back to work," Hartman's face turned red with anger.

"Yes boss," Big Red said as he was leaving
the room.

Hartman shuffled a few papers around his
desk, then got up and walked out of his office. Stopping at his
secretary's desk; "Miss Marshall I will be back in an hour I am
going out to lunch." Miss Marshall was an older woman in her
fifty's. Small amount of gray hair at the sides of her ears, very
nice looking, but not to his taste she was too intelligent. She was
smart enough to keep her mouth shut mind her own business. One of
the reasons she had been with Hartman for ten years. Walking out
the glass door that said Richardson & Hartman Company, he
walked quickly to the elevators pushed the down button and waited;
when the doors opened he stepped in side. Pushing the button for
lobby the doors closed.

Lifting her ass off the car seat for the
tenth time and trying to move a little was impossible. "The next
small town I drive into I am staying the night! My butt and my one
leg is a sleep. Should have my head examined for being alone on
this damn trip! But then I could not endanger another person. Darn
how many miles has it been since I left the last big town heading
north. Seems like days instead of hours. At least the roads are
decent to travel on," she thought.

When her father had told her she was born on
the dark of the moon moving to the waxing moon of the dark moon on
an eclipse. She laughed then needed to know what it all meant. Her
father had told her she was capable of thinking first then action.
She was a warrior type. "Oh sure warrior what am I doing running
not fighting. Father would say I was smart enough to run to fight
another day. And he had said she was a survivor!"

Knowing you can't win where you're at then
you move to a place you can. Laughing we are to make good mothers,
great lovers and intelligent. Her father had nearly named her
Sliver because that was what the moon was when she was born.
Amethyst knew her father was teasing. She had been sixteen when
they had the talk that all she wolves got from their fathers. She
had been amazed at how much the moon effected were's and more so
with her. Memories flooded her mind and a tear ran down her cheek
to be quickly wiped away with her hand. "No time to cry now, oh a
road sign."

Five more miles to the next small town, the
bottom of the sign is obscured to see the town clearly, I've driven
enough miles for one day; my eyes do not want to focus on the last
part of the name! Was it Coyote Ridge or Coyote Run? I hope to God
they have a motel, sick and tired of sleeping in this vehicle. At
least there is some day light left to check the town out. Could be
a safe place to stay for a couple of days", she said to herself out
loud.

"Small northern town; damn right" she swore!
"Population hundred and twenty-one is a really small town; yes
Coyote Ridge." It is made up of two streets the main street she
noticed had a gas station, diner, a bar, clinic, bank and, grocery
store combination with a small hardware store, newspaper office and
a few houses. The second street has houses and a saddle shop,
dentist office, and an antique shop, fur traders' store, but no
motel! At the bottom of the first street, awe yes cabins for rent
that works for me since there is no hotel or motel in the whole
town," she thought." Slowly driving to the northern end of the town
to the sign saying cabins for rent she pulled her vehicle into a
parking spot. "Well let's hope one is available."

Climbing out of the SUV she almost slipped to
the ground. Hanging on to the door, waiting until her feet and legs
could hold her. She grabbed her purse and slowly walked up the four
steps and into the small building to a counter. Sitting at a table
was a man who appeared to be around fifty and a woman who seemed to
be around the same age playing crib. Both were in excellent shape
for their ages. The woman was tall around five foot seven, slender
with a pretty round face, she didn't appear to have any gray hair
and it was not dyed. The man was more than likely six-foot, looked
like a lumber jack from an old-time movie. Nice looking guy with
brown hair that was a little to long. It looked more like the
hippie style of the seventy's, the style suited him. The office was
spotless, counter shined; floors looked as if they were cleaned
after someone walked in to the office.

Looking at the couple Amethyst felt
uncomfortable at first as if she was intruding on their date night.
"Do you have a cabin available for me to rent?" Saying with more
confidence then she felt, and her voice sounded tired, other wise
OK.

The woman looked her way and smiled, "sure
do. You could take your pick we have six. Too early for summer
vacationers and hunters, so they are all empty."

"One bedroom will do nicely, thank you. How
much for a week? I can use a break. Relax; see some of your
beautiful country side. Take a picture or two."

"My name is Paula, husband here is Ned, rent
is seventy-five dollars a week, have you been driving a long
distance?" Paula asks with a big smile.

"Amethyst instantly liked Paula and Ned.
Paula had a way of making a person feel relaxed and trusting. For
that reason she felt it was safe to tell Paula her real name and
where she was from. Yes, all the way from Wyoming!"

"My, that is a long drive! What brings you up
this far north? Certainly not our weather this time of the year and
there are no fancy or historical sites around here. Please sign the
register".

Once Amethyst signed the register Paula
turned it and looked, "so your name is Amethyst Richardson. Welcome
to our small town Amethyst I hope you enjoy your stay. How long
will you be staying?"

"I am sure I will like it here, thank you.
Just needed to get away for a while, maybe take some pictures as I
said before, take some home with me of the local wild life."
Feeling as if she pulled that lie off the woman seems to believe
her thank goodness. "Just a few days to a week is all."

"Cabin six has a single bedroom; here is the
key, just drive around the back of the building here, and down the
narrow road about a quarter of a mile. Bedding and everything is in
the cabin. You will have to go up to the store and get some
groceries otherwise; you will have to eat at the diner. Foods good,
home style cooking, all you can eat on Wednesday nights. They open
at seven in the morning and close around eight at night. If you
want to eat after that you will have to go to Wylie's Bar, you can
get sandwiches, hamburgers and fries there. People here are
friendly, mind their own business and don't get involved in
vacationers. If you need anything Amethyst just drop in."