The Paintings

Warren McCord has a mystery plaguing him; someone killed his high school friend and the paintings hold the key. This mystery has baffled him for fifteen years. Now he finds out his close friend and his new sergeant are in the middle of it. Pete Barber, his wife, his daughter, and their six best friends are going to their cabin in the Allegheny National Forest for another vacation. But instead of cold beer and peaceful ATV rides, they have their wilderness retreat thrust headlong into intimidation, threats, kidnappings and murder. Every night while Pete sleeps his wife kills four people. Only his best friends, his daughter, and the newly hired sergeant of the Wetmore Township police know about it. Their secret safely haunts them for fifteen years; until a chance meeting in a small town bar changes everything. Missing persons, hidden caves, finely crafted portraits of horror and high speed chases become the norm for this vacation, and only their unswerving friendship holds this tightly knitted group together. After a murderous rampage and a full throttle chase through the National Forest, Sergeant Reeson brings the high flying crime spree back to Earth. Gerald S. Passmore began writing essays, reports, thesis papers and short stories nearly twenty-six years ago both professionally and academically. He has written on subjects ranging from classical music pieces to specific battles of the Civil War and has conducted research on global environments and phosphorus content in Lake Erie. Gerald worked as a Certified Quality Inspector for twenty-one years in a specialty metals manufacturing plant. He resides in the Texas hill country near Austin. This is his first novel.