Moore Mysteries
Riveting paranormal mysteries by Aaron Paul Lazar
** Breaking News: Healey's Cave will be published by Twilight Times Books under the Paladin Timeless Imprint in 2008. **
Healey's Cave
Healey's Cave
a green marble mystery
featuring Sam Moore
Book one
Sam Moore's little brother Billy disappeared fifty years ago. Riddled with guilt, Sam still hasn't recovered from the loss that locked him in a mental institution as a teenager. Life as a country doctor has helped soothe his soul, but he mourns for Billy each day and is obsessed with thoughts about his fate. What happened to him? Was he kidnapped? If so, why didn't he come home when he reached adulthood and subsequent freedom? Sam doesn't like thinking about the alternatives, and at the age of sixty-two sill feels a strong link to the eleven-year-old boy who slept in the bottom bunk.
Retirement allows Sam more time in his sumptuous gardens. One day, while struggling to eliminate the rapacious Japanese Knotweed from the grounds, Sam discovers a glowing marble. It warms to his touch and whisks him back in time to his childhood. Billy and Sam's childhood pals appear beside him - breathing, sweating, laughing - and very much alive. Sam is drawn into the strong young body of his twelve-year-old self to re-experience his past.
When Sam pops back into the future, he believes it must have been a dream until the next time the marble warms in his hand and flings him back to his youth. Thrust back and forth through time, Sam tries to untangle the mystery of Billy's disappearance. Demonic teenager Manfred Healey tortures the boys, exactly as he did in Sam's youth. Recently released from prison in real time, Healey haunts Sam and becomes a prime suspect. Did he murder Billy? Or were Sam's childhood friends involved? What about his old buddy, Bruce MacDonald, who'd risen to N.Y. State Senator and was about to be tapped for the Presidential nomination? Or Doug Smythe, the most annoying guy in the world? It couldn't be Harvey Allen, that puppy dog of a man with the shock of white hair who staunchly served his country in the Marines. Could it?
Sam's beloved wife Rachel frets when Sam "falls asleep" outside while journeying to the past. Stricken with multiple sclerosis, she harbors a fierce desire to maintain her independence. Sam cares for his wheelchair-bound wife between the events that escalate, although he's afraid to admit the truth about the marble. With her dry wit and persistent love, Rachel gently helps Sam stay afloat.
When Sam uncovers the skull of a young boy in the knotweed patch, the FBI flocks to his property, sifting through the soil to search for evidence. Sam is sure it's Billy's body, but he's astounded when he learns that the bones belong to young boy who disappeared five years before Billy. Aging FBI agent Mac Stewart befriends Sam and reveals the history of a serial killer who engaged in ghastly crimes for the past fifty years, and who may return to the scene of his first crime to make his final kill. Boys have been murdered every five years since Billy disappeared. Was Billy one of his victims?
As the deadline for the next murder rapidly approaches, Sam worries about his grandson Evan, who fits the profile of murdered boys. Billy's old toys mysteriously reappear in the present. Someone attacks the sixty-two year old Sam, shooting him and bludgeoning him in a nearby cave where the boys used to play near a waterfall. When Evan experiences the same "dream" as Sam, all hell breaks loose.
Little by little, Sam relives the past, following Billy until the day he disappeared. Horrified, he follows his brother's spirit to its final destination. Now, armed with knowledge that may save his grandson, Sam struggles to prevent Evan's murder and is shocked when confronted by the true killer during a raging thunderstorm for the final showdown.
Book two
After Billy's bones are recovered, Sam holds a memorial service for his little brother at the Moore family plot. The whole family is in attendance, except his two children, Andrew and Beth. Andy's absence is no surprise - he was called for duty in the National Guard and is serving in Iraq. But Beth has been unreachable for several days, which is completely out of character. Something is seriously wrong, and the Moores don't know where to turn for help.
As fears escalate regarding Beth's safety, her Egyptian roommate, Zafina Azzia, swoops down on East Goodland. The NYU med student expresses concern about Beth as she waltzes into the Moore's life with long limbs swinging and head held high. The woman reminds Sam of an Egyptian princess, with cat eyes and a sultry voice. Hashim Azziz, her brother, is newly arrived in the States and will attend local Conaroga University. He cowers under his sister's will, and Sam doesn't quite trust his nervous mannerisms coupled with those deadpan eyes.
When Sam's friend, Senator Bruce MacDonald, is tapped for the Presidential nomination, the town goes berserk as they prepare to welcome the sitting President to the opening of a new arts center. Yet all is not well in the small village. A bomb explodes in the back of Yasir Khoury's Dry Cleaners, escalating fears of terrorism and anti-Iraqi bigotry. Sam vows to help Khoury, who he believes is innocent.
Meanwhile, Evan returns the green marble to Sam. Although Sam hoped the memorial service would give closure to the fifty-year-old mystery and allow Billy's spirit to move on, he's wrong. The green marble glows again, whisking Sam back in time to experience vignettes from his youth. Why does Billy show Sam scenes with Fletcher Biddle, the one-time schoolyard bully who now runs a dirty dairy farm and owns the house where the Iraqi students live?
Without warning, there's a twist in the marble's method. Sam finds himself floating above the small room in which Beth sleeps. Is she on a business trip? As Sam witnesses more, he realizes that Beth is being held captive by unknown assailants. No ransom note comes, no kidnapper calls. Sam and Rachel unravel with worry as the marble thrusts Sam between past and present.
Just as it seems things couldn't get any worse, Rachel slips in the kitchen and breaks both shoulders. After two operations to put her arms back in joint and pin the breaks, she returns home to Sam's capable hands. Now, on top of the debilitating symptoms of MS, Rachel must deal with both arms strapped to her torso. Sam is her only link to normalcy as she worries about the safety of her daughter.
Events escalate as the big day approaches. Sam uncovers the awful truth - someone is out to destroy the President, and that someone is alive and well in East Goodland. As Sam fights the tide that threatens to sweep his daughter away, he discovers a shocking link between Beth and the terrorists, then dives head first into the melee to avert a calamity that could rival the 911 disaster.
Book three
