The Dead Indian

The Dead Indian

The wealthy, but dysfunctional, Fadden family, known for its vast business empire and local charities appears to have everything a family could want. Like their patriarch, Roger Fadden, they are content with their affluent lives. The exception is Mary Jo, who is bored and discontented with her cold and distant husband. Hoping to find a new dimension in her life, she joins a community philanthropy, whose members include the handsome and suave Darius Davis and the blue-eyed Mitch McCabe. When she makes choices that complicate her life, her position in the family is threatened. But Roger and his family are hiding plenty of secrets like adultery, extortion, money laundering and, of course, murder. These secrets, however, are being guarded by a dead Indian and a special man and his strange-looking dog. When Mary Jo stumbles upon information that will destroy the future of the Fadden dynasty, she must choose between protecting her family or following her conscience. Doris M. Dorwart, Ed.D. resides in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Doris served as Director of the School Library Media Services Division for the Pennsylvania Department of Education for a period of ten years. Prior to her retirement, she served as Director for the Online Masters Program in School Library and Information Technology for Mansfield University, Mansfield Pennsylvania. The Dead Indian By Doris M. Dorwart AuthorHouse Copyright © 2018 Doris M. Dorwart All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-1-5462-5053-1 CHAPTER 1 Mary Jo leaned heavily on the bathroom sink. Her head was hanging down, so she could not see her face. She didn't want to look at herself — a God-fearing woman — who did the unthinkable. There were no excuses. Nothing, or no one to blame it on; just herself. In spite of this, her mind went back to this afternoon. Slowly, she forced herself to accept what she had done, but the problem looming on the horizon was that she wanted to see him again. Slowly, his name rolled off her tongue — Darius. Without looking in the mirror, she turned and sat on the edge of the tub. She reached for her bath salts and sprinkled them over the mat. Turning on the water full force, she watched as little pebbles created mounds of white suds. When they were almost even with the edge of the tub, she turned the water off and climbed in. Putting a small pillow behind her head, Mary Jo leaned back and closed her eyes. His smile — his voice — his touch were all beyond her reach. Surprisingly, she had no regrets — or so she tried to tell herself. As her thoughts shifted to Greg, however, guilt took over. She had no idea how she would be able to keep this from her husband. In the twenty-five years that they had been married, she had never experienced anything like she had this afternoon. Many years ago, her Aunt Emma had told her that having sex was the price wives had to pay for having their husbands take care of them and that she should just close her eyes and that it would soon be over. Now that she knew better, Mary Jo was even more miserable when she thought about the possibility of never being with Darius again. Mary Jo thought it amazing that just two days before her forty-fifth birthday, she had entered a new phase of her life. What happened today had really begun months ago when Maggie Adams, director of the Cutler County Animal Rescue Association, where Mary Jo volunteered, asked her to represent the organization on the planning committee for a charity event, designed to raise money for the many special services that were at the disposal of the residents of Cutler County. She had almost turned her down since she knew that her sister-in-law, Crystal Fadden, also would be attending the meetings to represent a shelter being built for abused women and children. The sisters-in-law spent as little time as possible together, and they were perfectly happy with such an arrangement. But Maggie had pleaded, and Mary Jo had given in. The committee had decided on a formal name for the four-day event — Sharing Talent and Inter-agency Resources Services — STAIRS. Thirty-two organizations had joined forces to strengthen the financial support needed to address the special needs of the population of Cutler County. Each organization had been adopted by a large corporation that agreed to provide not only financial support for the undertaking, but also guidance in putting together such a huge event. For their logo, they had chosen a sketch of a flight of stairs with a figure moving to the top. When Mary Jo had arrived at the first committee meeting, she had learned that Darius Davis, of Davis Media, would be her sponsor. When she had turned to shake his hand, she had looked into his eyes and had known that something was different about this man. After casually removing his jacket and hanging it over the chair beside her, he had smiled and immediately had begun a friendly conversation. Her heart had begun beating rapidly and her hands had trembled slightly. Mary Jo had remi