Whooten Forest Mystery: Hidden Ties That Bind

Chapter One
Fog seemed to be on her attacker’s side, because where it was hard for Petula to see -- the sound of his feet landing against the ground swiftly, absent hesitancy -- her attacker was moving easily, cutting through the underbrush with haste. But Petula refused to give up, running with her arms swinging wildly, her legs churning up ground, tall grass knifing her ankles.
She pushed aside drooping tree limbs, creating a narrow path through the woods as she ran through the dense fog, desperate to reach the nearest open sand road. Her breath caught in her throat. She gasped and pushed forward, racing against time, eager to widen the space that separated her and the stranger chasing her.
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She’d first seen the man, a bushy salt and pepper beard covering the bottom of his face and a black and red bandana wrapped about his head, while she had been backing her class A recreational vehicle into a parking spot at New Jersey’s Whooten State Forest campground.

Two brown and white Basenj dogs, their ears erect, short tails curled, had stood on each side of the man. They followed him as he came within inches of her RV. She’d been studying the area through her RV’s rearview mirror, checking to ensure that she wasn’t about to back into trees or someone’s pet.

“I can spot you,” he told her, his alto voice gruff, yet gentle, kind.

She turned away from him and rolled her eyes, as sweet a brown as her skin. “No, thank you.” A series of heart-breaking relationships and living alone in Atlanta, Georgia had made her fiercely independent and more cautious of strangers; watching true crime TV series only deepened her distrust. It had reached the point where her friends told her that she was going to regret being overly independent and cautious. Although they cloaked their perception in humor, Petula knew that her friends sincerely meant it when they teased that she was far too solo-strong, too committed to the single life. And yet, when she looked at the man a second time, instead of accepting his help, she twisted her mouth and rolled her eyes again.

As if he hadn’t heard her, he came closer to the RV and started tapping his knuckles on the vehicle’s front side, just below the driver’s window.
“Said I don’t need anyone to spot me,” Petula repeated, a deep frown roughing up her forehead, her husky voice generally animated now booming and hard. “I’ve backed my RV into a parking space on my own many times.”

The strange man smiled, revealing his cracked, stained teeth. “Got one of those backup cameras, do you?”
Punching the accelerator, she sped her black and gold RV backwards, inches in front of a row of trees. Normally, she would have exited the vehicle, to check for scratches and to retrieve parking levelers out of the bottom storage area. Yet, there the man stood, unwilling to move.

Checking that all doors, including the emergency roof exit, were secured, she stood and walked to the back of the RV. When she caught the man looking through the large side windows, his gaze pinned on her, the smile he’d once wore gone, she pulled the black shades down.

She listened to the sound of leaves crunching underfoot as the man walked away from her vehicle. Relief she felt could be heard in the thick breath escaping her mouth.

The relief, though sweet, was short, quick like a sprinter’s thrust.

The man sneered, his voice threatening. “I’ll be watching you.”

Fear turned into anger. She’d traveled to the area to visit with her friends, Gloria and James, a couple she’d known since college. No way was she going to let this strange man run her off. Despite what the man may have thought, she told herself that she didn’t owe him her time. On top of that, if he was attempting to flirt with her, she thought he was doing an awful job.

“Men,” she sighed. During college and her early working years, Petula’s life had been filled with a string of broken relationships, men she’d given her heart to lying to her while they tried to hide painful affairs. Her last breakup had come two years ago, with a man who she had dated for three years, a man who’d abandoned his romantic relationship with her colleague, Veronica, to start dating her.

Now single and to avoid further heartache, Petula vowed to never fall in love again. Armed with a master’s degree, her life was filled with work. On top of logging 60 to 80 hours a week at Custom Accounting Designs, she volunteered on weekends at a housing company that built homes for families facing homelessness. Her schedule had become so full that she scarcely found time to travel to Ohio to visit with her sister, Ariana. She needed this trip, downtime to rest, relax, and have fun with her friends.

The strange man’s last words echoing in her mind, she hurried to the front door and yanked it open. “What?” she screamed. In an instant, her anger subsided, turned into shock. She stepped back and gasped when she saw a familiar keychain hanging out of the man’s pocket. “Custom Accounting Designs,” she whispered, leaning forward, staring at the keychain. Looking at the man’s head, she made out a bright green Army patch sewn into his bandana’s top right corner.

Seconds later, her gaze fastened on the man’s dogs. Glancing away from the dogs, she told the man, “I don’t know you. Mind your business. Leave me alone.”
The dogs snarled, their jagged teeth showing like hard, sharp blades, eager to draw blood.

As if starving for a fight, the man let go of their leashes and the dogs sprinted toward her.

Petula pulled the door closed, but not before the dogs slammed into the RV, barooing and growling.

Half an hour passed before she opened the front door again, climbing out of the luxury RV and retrieving the parking levelers out of the bottom storage bin, refusing to be imprisoned by the man’s threats. “I haven’t done anything to him,” she mused. “I don’t even know him, and I’m not about to spend my vacation hiding in my RV or anywhere else.” Plus, she was no longer alone.

When successful insurance investment agent Petula Abebe drives her luxury RV into Whooten State Forest, she expects peace, fun and relaxation until a strange man begins following her. His presence is subtle at first… a shadow by the trees, a van in her mirrors. Then, a looming storm brings unexpected damage and threat.

Digging for answers, Petula discovers the man may be connected to her life back in Georgia. The more she investigates, the more she realizes her stalker isn’t acting alone.

Now, trapped by a sudden storm, Petula must survive in the forest, and later, in a familiar town she hasn’t visited in years only to fall into greater danger the more secrets she uncovers.