An Offering of Hope Read online

  An Offering

  Of Hope

  DIANE GREENWOOD MUIR

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication / use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review.

  Cover Design Photography: Maxim M. Muir

  Copyright © 2019 Diane Greenwood Muir

  All rights reserved.

  CONTENTS

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  THANK YOU!

  CHAPTER ONE

  Eliseo tapped on the doorframe of Polly's office. "Is this a good time?"

  Noah nearly fell over himself as he leaped to his feet. He stopped and waited, staring at Polly with big, hopeful eyes.

  She grinned. "It's a great time. Thank you for working hard on your homework, Noah. We'll see you this evening."

  "It won't be too late," Eliseo said. "Elva has gathered everyone to help. We'll be finished in good order."

  "Have fun," she said.

  Noah had been antsy since arriving in her office after school. Even though he would put in some hard work at Elva's place this afternoon, he couldn't wait. They'd moved the horses into a bigger barn over the weekend. The old barn was getting scrubbed from top to bottom this afternoon to make room for winter boarders.

  Caleb and JaRon watched longingly as Noah left with Eliseo. They’d only be in the way out there and would hate the work after fifteen minutes. It wouldn't do any good for her to tell them the truth. They’d never believe her, and this was not the day for an object lesson. Neither Eliseo nor Elva had time for that.

  Elijah was in the auditorium, practicing on the baby grand. He loved being alone in that immense space and filling it with music. His passion for the piano continued to grow every day. She and Henry had wondered if it might wane as he grew used to the grand piano in their living room, but it hadn't. He had opted to give up fall baseball to have more time to practice. Henry wasn't necessarily in favor of that choice, but he couldn't dispute the fact that Elijah was busy with many different activities.

  "Can I go?" JaRon asked.

  "Go where?"

  He looked at his brother. "I don't know. I'm tired of sitting."

  It was another quiet Monday afternoon at Sycamore House and that meant the kids had freedom to move around. Any other day of the week the building was filled with people. On warm days, she let them play outside, but the colder it got, the less fun that became. Once snow arrived, there would be plenty for them to do outside. Polly didn't want to think about next week when Lydia and her crew began building the Haunted House. She hadn't told the kids about that yet, knowing it would only give them time to come up with ways to sneak in and out of the Halloween sets.

  "Go ahead. Don't bother your brother in the auditorium and you know better than to go upstairs or into the kitchen. Play in the hallway."

  Kristen, the receptionist for Sycamore House, loved these boys, so having them play in front of her office wasn't a terrible idea. Edna Dahlman, the financial secretary and human resources manager for Sycamore Enterprises, was the only other person in the building this afternoon. The second custodian, Scott Luther, had taken the day off.

  For as busy as this building was throughout the week and into the weekend, Mondays were very different. Kristen, Edna, and Polly all agreed that having one day when they could work without interruption was wonderful.

  Her two youngest boys raced out of the office, leaving Cassidy alone with Polly. The little girl had fallen asleep on the sofa, the same as she did nearly every day after school. Mondays were the hardest for her, returning to school after their busy weekends. Polly shook her head. Weekends were never quiet and restorative for the Sturtz family.

  This last weekend had been exceptionally nuts for Polly. Cat and Hayden went to West Liberty to spend time with Cat's family. After telling everyone that she was pregnant, her mother insisted on a party. There would be baby showers yet to come, but Helena Mendez had called everyone home to celebrate their new grandchild. By the time the young couple returned late last night, it took the last few ounces of their energy to drag themselves up to their apartment and crash.

  Rebecca and Beryl were returning this evening from a short trip to New Mexico. They'd flown out on Friday to spend the weekend with Beryl's shirt-tail cousin, Tallie Carter, also a talented artist. When Tallie and Beryl found each other, they’d become fast friends. This was the third trip Rebecca had made with Beryl to Taos.

  The whole thing had come up at the last minute after Beryl scheduled meetings with two gallery owners there. When Rebecca asked about going, there hadn't been much of a discussion. If she couldn't take two days away from school to do this with her teacher and mentor, what fun was life?

  With Cat, Hayden, and Rebecca all gone from the house, Polly and Henry got a full dose of high-energy boys. Cassidy's best friend in the whole world, Agnes Hill, had come over twice — on Friday evening and Saturday afternoon. Fortunately, the Waters' kids from across the street were always ready to play.

  A piercing shriek brought Polly up out of her chair. She was already moving when Caleb rushed in.

  "Mommy, hurry!"

  "What's wrong, honey?" she asked, taking his hand.

  "Something bad. Come here." He pulled at her to move faster.

  Her office was in the addition that Henry had built on to the original structure of Sycamore House. There was a small foyer with bathrooms and an elevator to the second floor. Glass doors opened into a larger foyer where doors to the north led directly into the main building and doors to the east opened onto a sidewalk.

  "Where are we going, Caleb?"

  As soon as she hit the second foyer, she saw where he was pulling her. JaRon was crouched over a pile of clothing tucked into the corner of the building.

  Polly pulled the door open and bent down beside her youngest son. "What did you find?"

  "Is she dead?"

  It couldn't be. Polly was the only person who found dead bodies in this county. If her boys found someone, she would still be alive. The temperature outside was bitter today. A cold front had come through over the weekend and the wind was still howling. There would be another storm late tonight.

  "Bring me the blanket from the sofa," she said to Caleb. "JaRon, I want you to go inside. It's too cold for you without your coat."

  "But she's cold."

  "I know. I'm going to help her. Go get Kristen. Would you please?
"

  He went inside and Polly reached out to touch the woman's cheek. It was bright red and felt so cold.

  "Can you hear me?" Polly asked.

  There was no response.

  Polly took her phone out of her pocket and dialed Aaron's number.

  "Polly?" he asked.

  "I need an ambulance at Sycamore House. There's a young woman here. She isn't dead, but she's unconscious. She can't have been here very long, but the poor thing is freezing. She's wearing a thin t-shirt and a skirt. Oh, Aaron, her skirt is bloody." Polly pulled back a sticky hand. "It's fresh blood. Something is wrong."

  "Honey, don't move her."

  "I know. Caleb is bringing me a blanket. We're outside the door of the addition."

  "I'm sending someone right to you."

  "Thank you. Tab?"

  "You prefer Deputy Hudson to me?"

  "I figure you’re so busy, she's the one who will do the work," Polly said with a smile.

  "Tab is already in Bellingwood. She’ll be right over."

  Kristen and Caleb came out of the building together.

  "Polly!" Kristen exclaimed, kneeling beside her. "What happened?"

  "I don't know," Polly said. She reached to take the blanket from Caleb. "Do we have more blankets in the building? I don't want to move her."

  Kristen frowned at her. "Why not?"

  "Caleb," Polly said. "Would you go back inside and get my heavy coat?"

  He nodded and though he stared at the woman on the ground for a second, went inside.

  Polly shook the blanket out and covered the young woman with it. "She's bleeding below her waist. I don't know what's happened, but I can't make it worse."

  "What would do that?" Kristen asked. She stood and walked down the sidewalk. "There's blood here." She continued. "There's a trail." She kept walking, then stopped and called back to Polly. "It starts here."

  Here was at the parking spaces in front of the barn.

  "Were you dumped here by someone?" Polly asked the girl on the ground.

  Caleb came back out with Polly’s coat. "Is she dead?" he asked.

  "I don't think so," Polly said. "We just need to get her to the hospital. I've called for help."

  "JaRon is scared."

  Polly looked inside and smiled at JaRon, who stood in front of the glass doors inside the addition. "Tell him thank you for helping. It's cold out here. You go on in and stand with him. Everything will be fine." She knew better than to send them back to her office. That was only asking them to disobey and sneak out to watch what was happening.

  "I can't stay? I'll get my coat," he said.

  "No. Pretty soon there will be a lot of people here. You need to be out of the way."

  He slumped his shoulders as he turned to go.

  Polly turned back to the young woman and placed her coat around her, glad that today she'd chosen to wear something so warm. She lifted the woman's shoulders to get the coat between her and the cement and elicited a soft moan. "Oh, honey," Polly said. "What happened to you?"

  Kristen had come back. "Do you think she was dumped here?"

  "I suppose." Polly looked up. Kristen was holding herself as she shivered. "Go on inside and get warm. The ambulance will be here any minute."

  "What about you?"

  "Adrenaline," Polly said. "Right now, I feel nothing. Deputy Hudson is coming. She'll have more blankets."

  "I could go to the barn and get some of the horse blankets."

  "We're fine. In mere minutes, the cavalry will arrive and we're off the hook. This is enough for now. Would you keep an eye on my kids?"

  Kristen glanced inside and chuckled. Polly turned to see what had caused that response and smiled. Three little faces, Caleb, JaRon, and Cassidy, were pressed against the inside door, trying to see what was going on.

  "Cassidy just woke up," Polly said. "Talk to her, would you?"

  A siren's wails grew closer.

  "See," Polly said. "Help is nearly here."

  Kristen nodded and opened the door. "Let me know what you need."

  "I will. Thanks." Polly gave a small wave to her kids and then turned back to the woman huddled in on herself. She looked at the blood on her other hand again, knowing that it had transferred to everything - her phone, her coat, the blanket.

  A blurp of the siren sounded. Then she heard a car door slam and within seconds, Tab Hudson rounded the corner of the building.

  "Polly, what now?" she asked, rushing over.

  "I don't know. My boys found this girl lying right here. She isn't responding to me, but I feel a pulse and when I moved her to put my coat under her shoulders, she moaned."

  "I suppose that's good. The ambulance is almost here," Tab said. "Aaron told me you found blood?"

  Polly held her hand out. "That was from me touching her skirt." She pointed down the way. "Kristen followed the blood trail down to those parking spots."

  "A dump. Damn it." Tab stood back up and walked down the sidewalk. She stopped in the same place Kristen had stopped. "Right here." She looked around at the barn, and then up at the building. "You guys keep your cameras up to date, right?"

  "Yes. I can put Kristen on that."

  "We'll find whoever did this, then." Tab followed the blood trail back to Polly. "Do you suppose they dumped her here on purpose? They could have dropped her anywhere. If she’d been dropped off in the country, no one would ever have found her."

  The door behind Polly flew open again and Edna Dahlman came out with her coat in her hands. "I saw the deputy's car come in and Kristen told me what happened. I have my big old warm coat, too. Will this help?"

  More sirens wailed, the sound coming closer.

  "I think we'll be okay, now," Polly said. "But thank you."

  "I'm sorry I wasn't here to help. I had my head down in numbers and wasn't paying attention to anything. Is she okay?" Edna huffed a frustrated laugh. "No, she's not okay, but I hesitated to ask if she was still alive."

  "So far," Polly said.

  Edna draped her coat across Polly's shoulders. "You've been out here long enough without a coat, dear. Your nose is red."

  Tab had walked out to meet the emergency vehicles and directed the ambulance to back up onto the sidewalk.

  "Honey," Polly said to the girl in front of her. "Help is here. I hope that's why you were dropped at Sycamore House. My name is Polly Giller. I won’t let you go through this alone." She stood up as the paramedics came toward her.

  "One of yours, Ms. Giller?" Jimmy, a familiar face asked.

  "I hope not," she said.

  He blinked. "Really." With that, he knelt and placed his fingers on the girl's throat, looking for a pulse. "Sure enough. She's alive."

  "The blanket over her is covering blood below the waist," Polly said.

  He peeled it back. "Oh, crap."

  Polly stepped back and nearly tripped over Edna. "You should go on in," Polly said.

  "So should you. You need to at least wash the blood off your hands."

  Tab Hudson looked up at those words. "Polly?"

  "Did I stick my hand in blood?" Polly asked, her stomach flip-flopping. She saw spots in front of her eyes and turned to Edna. "I need to sit down."

  Tab laughed. "Catch her, boys. She just realized what she did."

  The other paramedic jumped to his feet, stripped off his gloves and grabbed Polly around the waist. "Are you planning to faint?"

  "Not planning to," Polly said. "Might happen anyway. I just need to sit down."

  "Can you make it inside?"

  "Here's good." Polly's knees buckled and she sagged to the ground. "I'm sorry about this. I don't do blood."

  "You did blood for a while," Edna said. "We had no idea."

  "She needed me."

  Polly tried to push the paramedic away with her elbow and he chuckled. "Head between your knees."

  "Take care of her," Polly said. "I'm fine. This is just me being stupid. I'll be okay. Sorry about this."

  He chuckled again. "L
et me at least wipe the blood off your hands."

  "I've got it," Tab said. She already had a wet wipe in her hand and gave it to Edna, who cleaned Polly's hand.

  "This is embarrassing," Polly whispered.

  "You held it together just long enough," Edna whispered back. "Can you stand up and go inside with me?"

  "I need to. I don't want to watch them take care of this poor girl."

  "Deputy Hudson?" Edna asked. "Would you help me? I think she's ready to walk now."

  Tab laughed as she stood over Polly. "There are so many things I want to say to you right now."

  "Don't you dare," Polly said. "Get me out of here before I have to see anything else."

  "Do you really believe I'm going to let you forget this?"

  Polly allowed Tab to pull her to her feet and then the three women went inside. As soon as Polly felt the warmth of the addition, she started shivering.

  "There ya go," Tab said. "Can we keep your coat for a few minutes, Mrs. Dahlman?"

  "Certainly. I'll get her a cup of hot coffee."

  "That sounds wonderful," Polly said. "Where are my kids?"

  "Kristen took them," Edna said. She walked beside Polly long enough to be sure that Polly was walking on her own. Once they turned into the office, she left them to it.

  "I'm so embarrassed," Polly said.

  Tab guided her to the sofa and stood over her when Polly dropped into it. "Don't be. They've seen worse. Adam will likely be in to make sure you're okay before he leaves. Are you okay?"

  "I'm fine. I'm an idiot, but I'm fine. I stuck my hands right in that girl's blood …" Polly gulped, closed her eyes and shook her head. "Nope, not going to think about it."

  "Is that your coat and blanket around her?"

  "Yep, don't want 'em back."

  Tab chuckled. "The coat should be fine. Maybe just take it to the cleaners."

  "Burn the blanket," Polly said.

  "I'll wash it for you."

  "Do you think she was brought here because we'd take care of her?"

  "I have no way of knowing anything yet," Tab said.

  "Will you let me know how to find her at the hospital?"