Genre: Fiction / Psychological Thriller / Romantic Suspense
Text Copyright © 2021 by Kaira Lansing
All rights reserved.
Visit the Author’s website at www.vklockwood.com
Editing by SJS Editing
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any
means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any
information storage and retrieval system without the written permission
of the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents
either are products of the author’s imagination or are use fictitiously. Any resemblance
to actual living persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
VKL Books is an imprint of Kaestes Publishing.
LCCN 2021901168
ISBN 978-0-9908166-6-9 (Paperback)
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
The Stranger In The Guest Room
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
The End
Epilogue
The End
The Shadows | are Falling
“...I went for a drive last night with a buddy, shining for deer.
At least he was. My mind kept going back to you.
We drove through the canyons and up the mountain and over
to some lake. The moonlight was beautiful.
I really wanted you to be the one I was sharing the drive with.
I wanted to call and tell you all about it, but I couldn’t.
You should have seen the lake in the moonlight.
And at the base of the mountain, there
was the soft yellow glow from the moonlight.
I know where I want to take you next time.
If I ever get a next time...
Love & forever yours.
Brooks
Just don’t take too long, you’re starting to miss so much.”
Chapter One
“Hey, Margo.” I grinned as I answered the video
call.
“Happy Thursday over there in the Northwoods,” she chuckled. “Well, how is the day so far?”
“Cold. Freezing.”
“I was watching the weather, and it looks like you have one killer of a storm blowing in up there.”
I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, to magnify the scene and to be over-dramatic. Margo laughed and again requested I move back.
“You’ll be back.”
“I don’t think so, Margo. I love it up here. It’s peaceful. Very private now that most of the neighbors left for the winter. I still have one... two neighbors. One right in the next cabin and another a few cabins down. So, I’m not quite alone up here. I mean, have you noticed how much work I’ve been able to get done? I’ve had no interruptions, just the silence...”
“Of the falling snow.” She smirked as she finished my sentence for me.
“Yes, it can be silent. Unless it’s not. Kind of like what’s headed this way.”
“Are you stocked up on everything you’ll need? You have enough food, gas, emergency supplies?”
“I’ve been stocking up since I moved in. You just never know when something evil will show up.”
She grimaced as she readjusted her headphones. “Somehow I knew you were way ahead of the game.”
“I always am,” I beamed. “I don’t like to be surprised.”
She chuckled. “Okay. Check in with me tonight for dinner. And Erika, thank you. Thank you for putting in more hours to wrap up this book...”
“Hey,” I consoled her. “I’d step up anytime and do anything you need me to do. This story is flowing nice so far. Once I get past this next chapter, it should be easy sailing.”
“Okay. I’ll let you get to work for the day, and we’ll be in touch. Let me know if you need anything from me.”
“Thank you, Margo!” I waved to her. “We’ll talk soon.”
I let Margo end the video chat like always.
Moving to the Northwoods was never on my bucket list. In fact, I took a drive out east and west to uncover the perfect place to start over. I finished my road trip with a never-ending list of places I admired, however, there wasn’t one place I loved or that connected with me. In a crushed heap, the last road I traveled was through the Northwoods of Wisconsin. I’d be lying if I didn’t say I fell in love with the beauty of this area in that first trip through. One wrong turn had me lost on the backroads, driving down some narrow dirt driveway until I came to a secluded little area that contained thirteen cabins, dispersed out just enough to each have their own private section of wilderness. When I turned around, I caught the For Sale sign attached to the tree in front of a three-story cabin at the end of the road. At first, I was reluctant to take a picture of the phone number. But once I did, I couldn’t wait to get service to call on the place. And all fell into place from there. I moved in a month later, not realizing how dicey the winters could go up here.
Margo came up to help me move in and was in complete awe at the landscape and my new home. “This place is you. I have to admit, it has you all over it,” Margo said as she set the box down and paraded through the main floor.
She was right—this cabin was me. It was perhaps one reason it reverberated with me so much that I disregarded the bitter, long winters. The exterior had a gothic vibe to it, along with the two lion statues that greeted you before you walked onto the sidewalk. The cabin itself was three floors, with a walkout basement that dominated the lake, and dark‚ charcoal-grey‚ wood siding with burnt, rustic‚ wood shutters. A dark wooden porch wrapped around three sides of the cabin and on two sides‚ a small woodland of mature trees and shrubberies sequestered it. In the summer, the pond was awake with fish, and the sound from the waterfalls was so calming, I could fall asleep on the porch. It was the ideal place to have an outdoor office on the warmer days.
Inside, the open floorplan was handcrafted with beams and customized French doors throughout. There were two master bedrooms upstairs, and each
