American Heroes Series - 03 - Purgatory Read Online Free PDF

where the winding staircase rose gracefully to the upper floor.
    It truly was a spectacular house,
a diamond in the rough waiting to shine again. It was quiet and still at the
moment, the only light from the open front door.  She stood in the middle of
the hall, gazing around at the ancient beast she had purchased.
    “Hi,” she whispered to the walls.
“My name is Elliot Catherine Jentry and I own you now. I promise that I am
going to do my very best to restore you to the way you were meant to be, and
you’re going to live again with people and parties and light and music. I… I
need you, just like you need me. I think we’ll make a good team.  I’ll take
care of you and you take care of me.  And if you’re really here, Miss Sophie, I
promise only to show you the greatest respect if you’ll just try not to scare
the crap of my family and me. That’s all I ask.”
    The walls didn’t respond. She
didn’t expect them to, but she felt much better having said her piece. Maybe
the wise old walls were watching her, judging her, hopefully deeming her
acceptable as the next mistress of the house. As Alec neared the front door
with his arms full of bags, she rushed out to help him.
    Together, they brought the first
semblance of life and love into an old house that hadn’t seen such things for
decades. 
    The old heart began to beat
again.
     
    ***
     
    “I remember now,” Mayor
Montgomery Le Blanc Torres pointed a fat finger at Nash. “Louise told me that
she finally sold Purgatory.  What a relief that must be for you, Nash. So you
met the family, did you?”
    Nash was standing in the mayor’s office,
located in a rather nondescript one story building on Main Street near the
maintenance department and the local baseball diamond in the heart of the city
of Sorrento. 
    “I met the owner and her son,”
Nash replied. “Elliot Jentry and her son, Alec.”
    Monty sat heavily behind his big
desk, his round body squeezing into the big leather chair. “Louise told me that
she’s a writer.” He lifted his eyebrows knowingly. “You know; smutty novels
meant for women.  Louise says she’s been on the New York Times bestseller list
four times. She must be making a fortune.”
    Nash lifted his shoulders. “I
don’t know. We didn’t discuss that. Mostly, I was making arrangements to pick
up the furniture that my family didn’t pick over after Mamaw’s death. Anything
that’s left there now isn’t worth a dime.”
    “So…,” Monty sat forward on his
desk, his dark eyes glittering. “Is she pretty?”
    “Who?”
    “The famous Ms. Jentry.”
    Nash was careful in his response.
“She’s a typical California woman I suppose, blond and beautiful,” he didn’t
want to discuss her, mostly because Monty was a hound and also because he
wasn’t quite sure how he would react if Monty showed the normal interest Monty
usually did with single women. He shifted the subject. “We’ve got a city
council meeting coming up Tuesday night and we need to make sure we are on the
same page about the development measure those hotheads from Baton Rouge have
put on the agenda.  If they get their way, they’re going to tear up everything
from John Le Blanc Boulevard all the way down Railroad Street and turn it into
a….”
    Monty cut him off. “You worry too
much,” he told him. “Tell me more about Ms. Jentry. I’d love to see the
reaction of the church she tries to join down here when they find out what she
does for a living. They’ll run her out of town.”
    Nash sighed faintly. “I don’t
know anything about that,” he said, growing irritated. “She seemed like a very
nice woman.”
    “Is she married?”
    Nash didn’t want to tell him what
he knew, knowing that Monty would probably drive to Purgatory right now if he
knew the woman was widowed. Nash began to feel either very defensive or very
protective of Elliot; he couldn’t figure out which.  All he knew was that he
didn’t want Monty getting his hands on