Page 1 of A Beach House Beginning

Chapter One

“Jenna? Are you still there?”

Jenna Haynes slowly lowered herself to one of the kitchen chairs of her apartment on the second floor of Brambleberry House. Her cell phone nearly slipped from fingers that suddenly trembled.

“I...yes. I’m here.” Her voice sounded hollow, thready.

“I know this must be coming as a shock to you.” Angela Terry, the prosecuting attorney who had worked on the Oregon part of her case, spoke in a low, calming voice. “Believe me, we were all stunned, too. I never expected this. I’m sorry to call you so early but I wanted to reach out to you as soon as we heard the news.”

“Thank you. I appreciate that.”

“Seriously, what a shock. It’s so hard to believe, when Barker was only halfway through his sentence. Who expects a guy in the prime of his life to go to sleep in his cell one night and never wake up? You know what they say. Karma drives a big bus and she knows everybody’s address.”

Jenna didn’t know how to answer, still trying to process the stunning news that the man she had feared for three years was truly gone.

On the heels of her shock came an overwhelming relief. A man was dead. She couldn’t forget that. Still, the man had made her life a nightmare for a long time.

“You’re...you’re positive he’s dead?”

“The warden called me to confirm it himself, as soon as the medical examiner determined it was from natural causes. An aneurysm.”

“An aneurysm? Seriously?”

“That’s what the warden said. Who knows, Barker might have had a brain anomaly all along. What else would cause a decorated police officer to go off the rails like he did and spend years stalking, threatening and finally attacking you and others?”

Jenna fought down an instinctive shiver as the terrifying events of two years earlier crawled out from the lockbox of memories where she tried to store them for safekeeping.

Dead. The boogeyman who had haunted her nightmares for so long was gone.

She still couldn’t quite believe it, even hearing it from a woman she trusted and admired, a woman who had fought hard to make sure Aaron Barker would remain behind bars for the maximum allowable sentence, which had been entirely too short a time as far as Jenna was concerned.

Jenna didn’t know how she was supposed to feel, now that she knew he couldn’t get out in a few years to pick up where he left off.

“I hope I didn’t wake you, but I wanted you to know as soon as possible.”

The concern in her voice warmed Jenna. Angela had been an unending source of calm and comfort, even during the most stressful of times during the trial.

“No. I’m glad you called. I appreciate it.”

Slowly, her brain seemed to reengage and she remembered the polite niceties she owed this woman who had fought with such fierce determination for her.

“You didn’t wake me,” she assured Angela. “I have school this morning.”

“Oh good. I was hoping I didn’t catch you while you were sleeping in on your first day of summer vacation or something.”

“One more week for that,” Jenna answered. “I’m just fixing breakfast for Addie.”

“How is my little buddy? Tell her we need to get together soon for aMario Kartrematch. No way can I let a seven-year-old get the better of me.”

“Eight. She turned eight last month.”

“Already? Dang. I can’t believe I missed her birthday. I’ll have to send her something.”

“You don’t have to do that, Angela. You’ve done so much already for us. I can never thank you enough for everything. I mean that.”

“Well, we still need to get together and catch up. It’s been too long.”

“Yes. I would love that. I’ll only be working part-time at the gift shop this summer so my schedule is much more flexible than during the school year.”

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