Madness & Mayhem

By Angela Grey and Paige Peterson

Told in alternating timelines, this murder mystery takes place on the 16-acre island of Garden Key, the second largest island of the Dry Tortugas, a group of sandbars 68 miles southeast of Key West in the Gulf of Mexico. It's home to Fort Jefferson's hexagonal fortress. Beyond the moat, where you'll find on two sides the docks, primitive camping grounds on the southern part of the island, picnic areas under swaying palms, and immaculate white sand beaches. This is where darkness descends, and then murder and madness ensue.

While their group starts with more than a dozen people in adjacent campsites, mostly couples seeking a romantic night camping are suddenly thrown together with the challenge of escaping a serial killer far away from civilization. Callie, a young architect and fiancée, appreciates the islands' beauty and danger early on, as do veterinarian Oliver, electrical engineer Jack, and restoration architect Liam.

While everything starts happily, there are dangers and surprises that nobody could have foreseen. Will they learn to trust each other, or will their interpersonal obstacles be more devastating than the impossible physical and emotional challenges of escaping an unknown murderer who could be any one of them? The majority of the group is reluctant to team up with the one mentally challenged man, Jack, because of the whispers of suspicion surrounding his ex-wife's untimely death that they all were made aware of by his buddy Oliver on the two-and-a-half-hour ferry ride to the islands earlier in the day. But the closer Callie gets to Jack, the more she questions his innocence. However, a series of strange occurrences at the camping site makes Callie fear she might be the next to disappear in this romantic suspense thriller.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Shady Oak Press
• Release date: May 25, 2024
• ISBN: 9781961841178

Angela Grey

Angela Grey has been writing since 2002. Initially, she self-published under the pseudonym Peyton Mathie; but then changed to her own name in 2008. She's a writer with mental illness, and has created memorable, moving tales about the sometimes unexpected and challenging road to first love. Those books are Dancing Without Music, Of Laughter & Heartbreak (a piece about obsessive-compulsive disorder), Déjà vu (a tale about a teen with bipolar disorder), and Secret Whispers (a story about schizophrenia). Although Angela is a South Dakota native and an enrolled member of the Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate, she's lived in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, New York, on and off throughout her childhood. Currently, Angela resides in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, which is in the suburban Twin Cities, with the love of her life, Robert, their two Manx, two American Bobtail, their Cocker Spaniel/Cavalier King Charles mix, near their four adult children and their spouses, and two grandsons. In her spare time, Angela enjoys budget travel, camping, grilling/BBQs with family, yoga and spirituality classes and being a mental health advocate.

Book preview

Also by Angela Grey

Spirit Pass: A Jessica Stone Novella #1

Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women & Girls: A Jessica Stone Novella #2

The Lasting Echo of Lost Souls: A Jessica Stone Novella #3

Resilience Throughout Recovery

Beyond Quirky

Run Fast, Run Far

Sifting Through a Storied Past

Coteau des Prairies Runaway

Prologue to an Epitaph

A Childhood Lost to the Wind

Secret Whispers

Déjà vu

Of Laughter & Heartbreak

Beating Drum of a Broken Heart

Spirit Pass: Expanded Edition

Also by Angela Grey & Paige Peterson

Lake of Secrets

Dancing Without Music

Echoes of the Past

Echoes at Midnight

Bdóte

Madness

& Mayhem

Angela Grey

Paige Peterson

A logo with a tree and text Description automatically generated

Madness & Mayhem © 2024

by Angela Grey & Paige Peterson

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any form whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations in critical articles or reviews.

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the authors' imaginations or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, business establishments, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Printed in the United States of America.

For more information or to book an event, contact :

[e-mail]

http://www.shadyoakpress.com

Cover Design: GetCovers

ISBN – Paperback: 978-1-961841-15-4

First Edition: May 2024

To the love of my life, Robert, and our four adult children,

Paige, Cody, Chase, & Brooke,

children-in-law

Vince and Angel,

and grandsons Luke and Logan

—AG

CONTENTS

COVER

ALSO BY THIS AUTHOR

TITLE PAGE

COPYRIGHT

DEDICATION

CONTENTS

A Field of Nightmares – Now     1

The Last Dawn – Then       10

I Spy a Sinkhole – Now       20

A Quiet December Sunday Morning – Then   28

Drenched in Death – Now      37

Bloodstained Backpack – Then      46

The Kiss of Death – Now       54

The Less I Know, the Better - Then     62

In the Dead of the Night – Now     73

If You Go Down to the Water – Then    80

As the Moon Wanes, Darkness Descends – Now  88

Least Spooky Option – Then        96

When Forever Ends – Now     104 

The Blackness Engulfs Me – Then    114

Curse of the Heavens – Now     123

Vanishing Into the Depths – Then    131

A Shadow in the Mists – Now     139

Song of the Siren -Then      147

Moonlight Menageries – Now     155

The Lost Art of Losing Faith – Then   163

Steady Splashes of Water – Now    173

Restless Legs, Wandering Hearts–Then   181

The Lost Art of Dying in Vain – Now   189

The Forgotten Fiancée (wife-to-be) – Then  197

Shame Walks on Dry Land – Now    205

Six in One, Half Dozen in the Grave–Then  213

EPILOGUE – Now       222

FOR FURTHER READING    226

AUTHORS’ NOTES      228

ABOUT THE AUTHORS     230

A Field of Nightmares

1

Now

D

ana and half the campers sit snugly in the catamaran's saloon, mostly drinking and laughing.

So, tell me about you guys, Dana says, You sit here drinking my liquor. Now entertain me. Tell me about yourselves. Why don't we start with the couple in the group? Dana points to Liam and Jami, who are quiet. What? Did I hit a nerve?

Richard speaks up and points to Callie, Actually, Callie and Liam are the couple here.

Holy crap. Big nerve. I'm sorry, but you seemed affectionate, and I should shut my mouth, Dana stops as Richard nods.

Well, Kessia and I are recent high school graduates celebrating our accomplishments. We also have another buddy, but she, Linzie, is making out with Jack in his tent right now, Abi shares, then squeezes Callie's hand on the table.

Really? Dana asks. He seemed like he was around thirty years old.

Richard responds, He is.

Whoa. It appears my husband and I aren't the talk of the town, necessarily.

Yeah, you are, but there's other gossip to be had, Richards says, glancing at Callie.

Kessia jumps in, What's going on? Richard, why do you keep looking at Callie? And, Abi, why squeeze Callie's hand just now?

Abi responds, It turns out that Jack and Callie dated when she was back in high school.

Richard adds, That was before he may or may not have murdered his wife.

Holy crap, is right, Dana. Don't fall asleep around here. You may miss a whopper. Then hit a nerve, unintentionally. Kessia continues, And I thought waking up and walking to find Liam and Jami opening the composting toilet would be the night's highlight.

Liam asks, And you had the nerve to make me feel like crap for finding Jami was on the same trip as us?

Jami submits, Well, don't act like we didn't coordinate this to some degree, Liam.

Jami, Liam blurts as lightning strikes the boat's mast.

Meanwhile, Jack and Linzie bolt upright with the loudest crash of lightning. He holds her tight, but she shudders regardless. It's okay, Linz.

What about the others? Linzie asks.

They're safe on the boat, Jack wipes away her tears. They're safer than we are.

Shall we go join them?

It's too dangerous out there right now. Besides, as Dana said, there isn't enough room on the boat.

Brent says, I'm glad we're not on that boat right now with this lightning. That boat is going to sustain some damage from that dock. She should take it out further. Dumb bitch.

Liane asks, Why do you hate everybody on this island? They haven't done anything that bad to you.

It's nice to know you're on my side, he responds sarcastically. He reaches for his backpack and a lantern. I'm going to go take a crap. Don't wait up.

The power on the boat goes out, and everything goes dark. Each of them reaches for their lanterns, opens the door, climbs out, and jumps ship. They scatter in different directions as if running for their lives. Liam darts out in front of the younger girls with Richard in the tail end as they head toward camp. Dana stays behind to take inventory of her boat once she realizes that it wasn't a direct hit as it seemed. Jami and Callie don't know it but are twenty feet apart as they seek shelter or security inside the fort.

Jami and Callie both start by pounding on the service area and staff quarters, where the immigrants continue to hide. When lightning flashes, they see a shadowy figure closer to the park headquarters and sally port, along with the immigrants. The figure holds a long, shiny object like a filleting knife. Jami and Callie both scream relentlessly, but nobody opens to them. Jami runs to Callie, who is suddenly stunned, silent, and standing awestruck out in the open. She pulls Callie along the length of the side that prohibits public access and around the officers' quarters' ruins, all the while looking out for the killer on their toes. They maneuver in and out of the ruins, trying to locate the figure amid a torrential rain pour.

Callie trips and bumps her head. Jami reaches down to pick her up, and practically carries her in and around the officers' quarters' ruins down to the shot furnace. The rain is really pounding at the moment, so Jami can't see anything or anyone. A lantern a short distance away flickers. Jami pulls Callie towards a bastion and nearly drags Callie up the spiral staircase to the roof. They walk along the path as lightning lights up the island, which gives them glimpses of who may be out there with them. There's movement down by the soldiers' barracks ruins.

Who is it? Callie asks.

I can't determine if it's even a man or a woman.

What are the chances it's a woman?

Well, then it has to be Richard or Brent, Jami deduces.

Why? What about Liam or Oliver?

You know Liam couldn't hurt a fly, and Oliver wouldn't hurt me, Jami says, looking quizzically.

Well, actually, I don't really know if I know Liam or not.

Callie, he could say the same about you and Jack.

Touché.

Do you love him?

Which one, Liam?

Either, or both, for that matter.

I think that I love Liam. Oliver may love me, but he knows I'm into Liam.

So, you don't have any feelings for Oliver? Callie stands of her own accord.

He's just a friend that you kid around with, you know, like Jack is for you.

Jacks into Linzie, Callie holds the goose egg on her forehead.

He's too old for Linzie. She's just a sexual conquest for him, as Oliver says.

You think? Callie wipes the rain from her eyes.

I know. You should go for him. You and Jack would make a cute couple. Callie, I think I saw somebody walking near the park headquarters. We should try to get down from here. This was a bad idea. We're like shooting ducks.

Okay, be careful not to fall into the moat. It's like a forty-foot drop into jellyfish. That'd make you wish you were dead.

As they huddle together, they make their way down the bastion's spiral staircase and over to the shot furnace, then the powder magazine. This time, they calm down and look around all directions for the stalker. Suddenly, Callie screams. Jami rushes closer to her and sees the body of the short law enforcement ranger stuffed in the powder magazine and his head and neck hanging out in front of them. Jami searches around his body for his sidearm, but it's missing.

His weapon is gone, as is his bulletproof vest, Jami's perplexed. Did he crawl in here on his own accord to hide?

Why do you say that? Callie asks.

He looks like he took his shoes off or had them taken off him before he either climbed in or was put inside.

You're probably right.

Almost anybody could've done it since he was a small-statured man, Jami thinks. Jack could've done it.

Why do you say him?

Oliver told us that Jack may have a BOLO bulletin with mainland police looking for him. The law enforcement ranger would've heard it over the radio before the storm set in, and then he had search and rescue choppers take the junior ranger kids to safety when they couldn't find Jack or to rescue us.

He must've stayed behind to capture Jack and protect us from him.

I don't know if Jack could do something like that.

Oliver said that Jack has had psychotic breaks in the past.

Are you serious? Callie prods, Does he have proof?

Callie, Oliver visited Jack in the hospital.

That's astonishing.

Men lie. You need to protect yourself, girl.

The person we saw with the knife really could've been Dana. You know her 18-inch stainless steel filleting knife.

Dana isn't that tall and thin. Only the guys are. Plus, Dana said she has a missing knife.

Well, it seems like whoever it was left. Shall we cross the field?

Who do we inform about the ranger's body?

Maybe everyone?

Maybe no one. The killer may mess up and reveal himself with details about the ranger's body that only he knows, as we do from finding it.

The storm has calmed down again. Maybe the others have come out, and we can get back to them and some level of group security, you think?

Don't tell anybody what happened. I want to feel things out first.

Okay, but let's cross the field now. The migrants are moving from one apartment to another. They must've seen the person leave.

Outside the fort, Brent returns to his wife. He opens the tent flap and says, I'm sorry that I'm such an ass. I think this weather is just getting to me. I'm goddamn soggy. and then there are mosquitoes and rats and hermit crabs everywhere. I'd like this place more if it weren't so damn rainy.

Any island trip would be a pain in the ass with weather like this. What do they call it anyway when it's subsequent storms back home? Training?

Yeah, I think so, Brent says setting his backpack down gently in the far corner of his sleeping side of the tent.

Liane reaches near there to grab an apple out of the hard top cooler, and he flinches. She wonders, What the hell?

I picked up some shells and souvenirs and didn't want them cracked. Please stay out of there till we get home, and I'll show you.

Abi picks up a gorgeous conch shell and puts it back where she found it on her way to the composting toilets, where she holds her nose shut but still gags at the smell. Even though Liam locked the door again on Kerry, the stench of his body is horrendous. Kessia follows shortly behind Richard, whom she picked up on the way. After they each use the restroom, they decide to walk to the North Coaling Dock ruins and then the North Swim Beach.

What were you doing just walking along the campsites, Richard, Kessia asks.

I couldn't sleep, so I paced South Swim Beach again, made my way back to my tent, and saw you outside yours with your lantern.

These lanterns are a lifesaver out here. It's so damn dark, Abi comments.

It looks like Dana took her boat back out to the harbor.

Oh, my gosh, was that crack of lightning loud? I about crapped my pants, Richard chuckles.

It's too bad that it's still cloudy. I wanted to see the stars again. Kessia wishes.

Do you hear that noise? The trio turns to the sally port just behind them. Is that Jami and Callie?

Richard responds, Yes.

Odd pair to see running along together. They appear to be in a hurry.

Who knows? Maybe they found the missing law enforcement ranger in the same condition as we found Kerry.

Richard, that is a gruesome thing to say, Abi pulls Kessia away from him, and he throws his hands up in the air along with his lantern.

The Last Dawn

Then—Yesterday

2

S

choolteacher Jami and Liam, a managing partner in an architectural firm, race each other on the side-by-side treadmills in the hotel gym. Out of breath, they dismount and fall into each other’s arms. With nobody else in the gym, they fall to the floor and kiss passionately, admiring each other's lithe bodies and baby-blue eyes. He pulls hair from her long blonde ponytail out of his mouth and pretends to spit. She laughs and scrunches his thick brown hair into her fists and pretends to pull.

Hey, I've got to get back to Heidi. She wanted to get a breakfast sandwich before we boarded the ship, thirty-two-year-old Jami says, attempting to push Liam, two years her junior, off her.

They have a bag breakfast on board, Liam says, pulling her back into his arms.

"Heidi wants a breakfast sandwich and lots of coffee. Besides, their ship's bag breakfast is just a bagel, yogurt, and fruit or