The Hanged Man's Noose Read online

  The Hanged Man’s Noose

  A Glass Dolphin Mystery

  Judy Penz Sheluk

  Contents

  Praise for The Glass Dolphin Mysteries

  Praise for the Marketville Mysteries

  Also by Judy Penz Sheluk

  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

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  Chapter 46

  Chapter 47

  Chapter 48

  Chapter 49

  Chapter 50

  Acknowledgments

  A HOLE IN ONE

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  About the Author

  Praise for The Glass Dolphin Mysteries

  The Hanged Man’s Noose (Book #1)

  * * *

  “A thoroughly engaging mystery… well-plotted, well-paced and just plain well done!” — Elizabeth J. Duncan, award-winning author, the Penny Brannigan and Shakespeare in the Catskills mystery series

  * * *

  “A small town with a dark past, its inhabitants full of secrets, a ruthless developer, and an intrepid reporter with secrets of her own come together to create a can’t-put-down-read.” — Vicki Delany, bestselling author of the Sherlock Holmes Bookshop Mysteries

  * * *

  “A small town with a history that is pertinently addressed, numerous characters with backstories explored just enough for us to want more and an antiques shop with the most exquisite candlesticks you’ll never be able to purchase: what more do you want?” —Canadian Antiques & Vintage

  * * *

  “Compelling characters with hidden connections and a good, old-fashioned amateur sleuth getting in over her head.” — James M. Jackson, author of the Seamus McCree mystery series

  * * *

  “In her first book, Toronto writer Judy Penz Sheluk probably scores a record for the most characters with skeletons in the closet. Even the sleuth figure, an investigative reporter, guards a personal mystery in a book whose author hits large in the business of concocting secrets.” — Jack Batten, The Toronto Star

  * * *

  “I admit to thinking, more than once while reading The Hanged Man’s Noose, ‘I didn’t see that coming.’ Sheluk holds the reader captive with hints of secrets and promises of revelations that, when finally unveiled, do not disappoint.” Gail M. Baugniet, author of the Pepper Bibeau mystery series.

  * * *

  A Hole in One (Book #2)

  * * *

  “What fun! A twisty tale chock full of clues and red herrings, antiques and secrets, and relationships that aren’t what they seem.” — Jane K. Cleland, award-winning author, Josie Prescott Antiques Mysteries and Mastering Plot Twists

  * * *

  “A bang-up mystery! Two friends, two murders, secret pasts, and a touch of romance. Who could ask for more?” — Lea Wait, USA Today bestselling author, Shadows Antique Print and Mainely Needlepoint mysteries

  * * *

  “A captivating page-turner…you don’t have to love golf to love A Hole In One.” — Kristina Stanley, bestselling author of the Stone Mountain mystery series

  * * *

  “Writing with a light touch, Sheluk has a knack for inserting just the right amount of intriguing detail about the antiques market and running a small business. The writing style is thick with dialog, with the banter between the two main characters full of good humor. You may not doubt that they will succeed, but the fun is in seeing how they go about it as the theories—and the bodies– pile up. — Crime Fiction Lover

  Praise for the Marketville Mysteries

  Skeletons in the Attic (Book #1)

  * * *

  “Callie’s plight grabs the reader from the get-go and, as the plot twists and twists again, you follow her with heart in mouth. Is there any way for this to end well? Yes, there is, and you won’t see it coming!”— Catriona McPherson, bestselling author of The Reek of Red Herrings

  * * *

  “A thought-provoking, haunting tale of decades-old deception. In this first-of-a-new series, Judy Penz Sheluk reveals herself to be a masterful storyteller, weaving a page-turner that hooked me from the start and kept me intrigued until the stunning finale.” — Annette Dashofy, USA Today bestselling author of the Zoe Chambers mystery series

  * * *

  “Her father’s sudden death. Her mother’s disappearance from long ago. Inheriting the house where her childhood began. These items all connect to the journey that Callie must face and what a can of worms this roller-coaster ride opened in this debut series.” — Dru Ann Love, Dru’s Book Musings

  * * *

  Past & Present (Book #2)

  * * *

  “A tense, emotionally gripping, multifaceted mystery that serves both as a perfect continuation of Callie's life story and as a fine stand-alone read for newcomers.” — Diane Donovan, Senior Book Reviewer, Midwest Book Review

  * * *

  “Sheluk nails it with this intriguing mystery that stitches together an investigation into the past with people’s lives in the present—including that of protagonist Callie Barnstable. Treat yourself to a new present-day read—you won’t be disappointed.” — Edith Maxwell, author of the Agatha-nominated Quaker Midwife Mysteries

  * * *

  “An engaging journey into the past that ripples into the present. Sheluk's well-written narrative and clever banter follows protagonist Callie Barnstable as she seeks answers for a client; each photo, memorabilia, and news article reveal an intriguing picture of love, family secrets…and murder. A top-notch mystery that keeps you guessing to the end.”— Kings River Life Magazine

  * * *

  “A fascinating mystery with more intertwining appendages than an octopus trying to juggle!” — Cozy Up With Kathy

  * * *

  “An electrifying cozy mystery weaving history, genealogy, and contemporary issues into an engrossing multilayered tapestry.” — Mallory Heart’s Cozies

  Also by Judy Penz Sheluk

  NOVELS

  Glass Dolphin Mysteries

  The Hanged Man’s Noose

  A Hole in One

  Marketville Mysteries

  Skeletons in the Attic

  Past & Present

  A Fool’s Journey

  SHORT STORY COLLECTIONS

  The Best Laid Plans: 21 Stories of Mystery & Suspense (Editor)

  Live Free or Tri

  Unhappy Endings

  SHORT STORIES

  Plan D (The Whole She-Bang 2)

  Live Free or Die (World Enough and Crime)

  Beautiful Killer (Flash and
Bang)

  Saturdays with Bronwyn (The Whole She-Bang 3)

  Goulaigans (The Whole She-Bang 3)

  This is a work of fiction. Names, places, and events described herein are products of the author’s imagination, or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locations, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  * * *

  The Hanged Man’s Noose: A Glass Dolphin Mystery (#1)

  Copyright @ 2015/2018 Judy Penz Sheluk (www.judypenzsheluk.com)

  * * *

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

  * * *

  Cover design by Hunter Martin

  * * *

  Published by Superior Shores Press

  * * *

  ISBN Trade Paperback: 978-0-9950007-5-9

  ISBN eBook: 978-0-9950007-6-6

  ISBN Large Print: 978-0-9950007-8-0

  First Edition: July 2015

  Second Edition: November 2018

  Third Edition: April 2019

  Fourth Edition: July 2019

  Large Print Edition: February 2019 / April 2019

  For Mike, who never stopped believing

  1

  Emily Garland stared at the blank white page on her computer screen. Less than five hours to meet her Urban Living deadline, and she still hadn’t come up with a new way to spin the same old condo stats.

  She blamed the lack of concentration on her upcoming meeting with Michelle Ellis. Why would the editor-in-chief of Urban Living Publications want to meet with her in person? Outside of the obligatory appearances at builders’ conventions and awards galas, Emily couldn’t remember a time when she’d met with Michelle face-to-face. Certainly she’d never been invited to her office. She glanced at her Timex Ironman watch. 11:03 a.m. Time to get writing.

  While it’s common knowledge the Greater Toronto Area’s (GTA) high-rise market is through the roof, most people don’t realize how far along it has come: as of this reporting period, high-rise condominium suites make up approximately 60 percent of total new homes sold.

  According to the Urban Building Association (U-BUILD), several factors are behind the condo surge, including a shortage of land. With limited supply, the cost of detached, semis, and townhouses has continued to escalate.

  “Condominiums are a practical alternative,” said Garrett Stonehaven, a prominent real estate developer and CEO of HavenSent Developments, Inc. “Builders are also ‘right-sizing’ to create more space-efficient and, thus affordable, units.”

  Right-sizing for affordability. What a bunch of hooey. After ten years of writing about the residential housing industry, Emily had been around Garrett Stonehaven enough to know he didn’t have an altruistic bone in his handsome, six-foot tall body—at least not once the television cameras stopped rolling. But it didn’t matter what she thought. The camera loved him. The readers of Urban Living loved him. Which was why Emily quoted him, every chance she got. It was called job security, a precious commodity to a freelance writer. She wrote a while longer until it was time to zero in on the closer.

  “As the builder/developer of CondoHaven on the Park, we are interested in foreign and local investment potential,” said Stonehaven. “But our primary focus is, and always will be, building homes for people to come home to.”

  - 30 -

  Complete blather, Emily thought, entering the somewhat archaic -30- to denote The End. She looked at her watch. There was still plenty of time to get in a five-mile run.

  Emily arrived at the offices of Urban Living Publications at promptly five p.m., punctuality being both the curse and the reward of living life eternally on deadline. The offices took up a generous portion of the forty-fourth floor. Someone was doing okay. The going rate for commercial real estate in the financial sector was in the nosebleed section of dollars per square foot.

  A petite fifty-something bottle blonde in a navy blue power suit marched out of a glass-walled office. “Emily, dear, so glad you could make it.”

  “Michelle. Good to see you.” Emily held out her hand before Michelle could get into the whole hugging, air-pecking-on-the-cheek business.

  “Come to my office. We need to talk.”

  The office was far more luxurious than Emily could have imagined. Emily had always thought editors and publishers were crammed into windowless, paper-infested cubbyholes. This was definitely a far cry from the cramped Queen Street quarters where she’d interned for a small press publisher right after graduation. Those offices had mounds of manuscripts threatening to buckle battle-scarred tables and bookcases overflowing with titles from past to present, bestsellers and busts and dreams turned to dust.

  Michelle’s office, on the other hand, featured a bank of windows with a view of the city’s waterfront. A handful of sailboats dotted the late season waters. The remaining walls were covered in paintings, although none were immediately recognizable, at least to Emily’s untrained eye. She suspected they might be by up-and-coming artists. She’d heard Michelle was heavily into the art scene. A massive mahogany desk—real mahogany, not the laminate look-alike she had in her own home office—held nothing but a twenty-seven-inch iMac, a twisty-looking acrylic sculpture in shades of gold and cobalt blue, and a silver-framed photograph of a fine-boned teenager, his straw-colored hair and peach fuzz whiskers glinting in the noonday sun, his clear blue eyes looking up with adoration at a tall, handsome teenager standing next to him.

  “My son and his best friend,” Michelle said. “The sculpture is from an Aboriginal artist in Northern Manitoba. But enough of the pleasantries. I’m sure you’re curious to know why I asked you here, Emily, dear, instead of sending the usual email. Or calling.”

  “A little curious.” Hoping for the best, expecting the worst. Already a little tired of the “dear.”

  “I’m assuming you’ve heard the Huntzberger acquisition rumors?”

  Word on the street had Michelle and a couple of silent partners in negotiations to purchase Huntzberger Publications. Emily debated feigning ignorance but instead opted for the truth. Publishing was a small world. No way Michelle would believe she hadn’t heard. “Yes.”

  “They’re all true. Like many publishers these days, Huntzberger has been bleeding red ink. With the possible exception of tabloid journalism, people simply aren’t buying print like they used to. But Huntzberger’s loss is Urban Living’s gain. My partners and I believe that properly managed, and with some innovative investments, publishing can be more than profitable, it can be lucrative.”

  Once again Emily wondered why she’d been summoned. As a freelance writer, she wasn’t exactly privy to any corporate secrets. “I’m sure it’s a wonderful opportunity.” She straightened her posture and attempted to look suitably impressed.

  “More than you can imagine. The official announcement of the acquisition was sent to all the media outlets earlier today, embargoed until tonight’s six o’clock news. From that point onward, we’ll be known as Urban-Huntzberger, Inc. My partners are in the process of preparing our IPO. These things take time, but we’re hoping to get listed within a few months.”

  Preparing an Initial Public Offering, getting listed on the stock exchange. It had definite possibilities. Maybe Michelle was going to offer her a full-time job, one with benefits: dental, medical, paid vacation. A girl could dream. “Who are the partners?”

  “They prefer to remain silent investors for the moment, though that will change when we go public. But you needn’t let such things concern you. I’ll remain editor-in-chief for all Urban-Huntzberger publications, and you’ll continue to report directly to me on any assignments. Which brings me to today. We would like to offer you an assignment. But this one is a bit, hmmm, different.”

  Emily shifted forward in her seat. “Different?”

  “It would involve relocating.”

  “Relocati
ng?” Emily realized she was beginning to sound like a bit of a parrot. “To where? For how long?”

  “To Lount’s Landing. For as long as it takes. Probably three to six months. Possibly longer.”

  Lount’s Landing? Emily searched her brain for any sign of recognition. None came. “Where exactly is Lount’s Landing?”