Night Scream

by William Kerr

From the beautiful, yet sometimes terrifying depths of the great Okefenokee Swamp, to the world of professional football, MATT BERKELEY, former U. S. Navy Special Warfare Officer, must defend his godson from another man's obsession and a scheme built on murder and lies. * * *Jacksonville, Florida and a North American Football League pre-season game. Overhead, lightning creates a battle zone in the night sky. Some miles north, the storm rips apart Atlantic Airways Flight 244. Somewhere below, the mysterious Okefenokee Swamp, a lake and a "floating" island claim Flight 244's wreckage as their own, hiding it beneath the island's tangle of underwater roots. The lone a frightened, three-year-old Kristin. In the island darkness, her face is nuzzled by a panther kitten and a kindred link is formed. THREE YEARS LATER, Berkeley answers a call for help from his godson, Jeff Hodges, defensive left end of the Jacksonville Panthers. Jeff's sister, Dr. Brandy Mason of Florida State University, leads an archaeological dig on Bog Island in the Okefenokee Swamp,. the island beneath which Flight 244 lies hidden; the island that harbors Jeff's last hope of finding the remains of his wife, Ruby, entombed in the wreckage.Letters threatening the death of a fellow player, the murder of a famous sports agent, plastic garbage bags containing the agent’s dismembered body, a racist Homicide Lieutenant determined to solve the crime, no matter whose life is ruined, and suddenly, all evidence points to Jeff. Working with old friend and soon-to-be lover, police Sergeant Polly Bartelow, Matt searches for something that will disprove Jeff's involvement. But it’s Bog Island, deep in the Okefenokee, where the scream of a panther echoes through the night; where the fate of Jeff’s wife and young Kristin will be learned; where the final confrontation with the true killer will force Matt and Polly to fight, not only for their lives, but to prove, once and for all, Jeff's innocence.

215 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 12, 2011