The Demon Of The Lake Murders (Derrick Mallow Mysteries Book 1)

Book summary

In "The Demon Of The Lake Murders," retired Detective Derrick Mallow seeks a fresh start in Lake Tisdale, South Carolina, only to be drawn into a chilling investigation. After two murders and a suicide shock the small community, a young boy's claim of witnessing a demon intensifies the mystery. Teaming up with local law enforcement, Mallow confronts the haunting question: Is the perpetrator a supernatural entity or a very human menace? This gripping tale weaves suspense and the supernatural in a small-town setting.

Excerpt from The Demon Of The Lake Murders (Derrick Mallow Mysteries Book 1)

It is another cold and snowy day in Decreston, New York, this morning. It is the 15th of February, in the year 2025. Detective Derrick Mallow is getting ready to go to work at the Decreston Law Enforcement Division, for the last time. Today, he will be packing up all of his items in the office. As he gets ready to move to Lake Tisdale, South Carolina, to start his new job and life, he will be moving from his three-room apartment in Decreston to another apartment in Lake Tisdale.

He is sad today for many reasons. He is leaving the job that he loved doing as a homicide detective for twenty-five years. He lost his wife, Nancy, to cancer in 2020. Then in June 2023, their only child, James, was killed by muggers in Clanston, New York, on his 14th birthday. He was there on a school trip and had gotten separated from the teacher and the rest of the class when he was mugged and killed.

The shock of his wife, Nancy, dying so young at the age of forty from cancer, and then the unthinkable murder of his son, James, became too much for him to bear. He got a job in Lake Tisdale, South Carolina, as a police officer with the local police department. He couldn’t take living in Decreston any longer; the pain from the loss of his family was eating away at him every day. He decided a change was needed if he was ever going to live his life again.

Derrick Mallow, along with the local police force from Clanston, investigated his son’s murder for a year and a half, without finding any suspects, or any evidence that would lead to the culprits who mugged and murdered his son.

The coffee is brewed, and the toast has popped up from the toaster, as Derrick Mallow slowly pours himself a cup of black coffee and adds two sugars. He grabs a saucer out of the cabinet to put his two pieces of toast on it. He sighs, yawns, wipes his eyes, and looks out of the kitchen window at red birds sitting on a limb in the oak tree outside the apartment complex.

He pulls out a chair from the table and sits down to drink his coffee and eat his toast. His mind wanders, thinking about what is about to happen, and about how much he misses his wife and son.

After he finishes drinking his coffee and eating his toast, he gets up from the table and walks into his bedroom to dress for his final day at work, and his final day in Decreston, New York. He puts on his white shirt and walks over to the mirror to put on his black tie. In the mirror’s reflection, he sighs and gasps, as he sees the pictures of his wife and son on the end tables by the bed.

He holds his head down, trying not to cry, but some tears emerge anyway. He puts on his black coat and his black hat and walks out of the bedroom, heading to the door to go to work.

The snow is falling, and the flakes are the size of silver dollars. As Derrick Mallow opens the door to his black SUV, he reaches across to the floorboard to retrieve the snow brush to clear the windows of sticking snow.

After starting the SUV, he pauses for a moment to look at the apartment, the place he has called home for a very long time. He sighs, puts the SUV in reverse, backs out of the driveway, and onto the road, heading for work.

***

The traffic is moving at a snail’s pace on this 15th of February. The snow is falling so rapidly now that Derrick Mallow can barely see the way in front of him. His twenty-minute commute to work seems like twenty hours today, because of the inclement weather and the fact that it is his last day at work.

When he arrives at work, he parks in his usual place in the back of the building.

He sits in his SUV for a while, thinking about what is about to happen, and wonders if he is making the right decision. Because this has been his life for a long time, and now he is walking away from it. He has good friends here at the DLED, in the city, and in his community. He sighs, exhales heavily, slowly gets out of the SUV, and starts walking toward the back entrance to the DLED Building.

The building is two stories high, brick with white wood trim, a flat roof, and double glass doors at both the front and back entrances. There are shrubs and flowers planted in a bed near the entrances to the front and back.

When he reaches the double glass doors at the back entrance, he pauses, and when he opens the door, he is greeted by a kiss on the cheek from his good friend, Greta McCall.

“Hello! Short-timer! Welcome to your last day with us folks…who hate very much to see you…go,” Greta said with a smile at first, and then with tears starting to flow down her cheeks.

Greta McCall is thirty-eight years old, and five-foot-six inches tall, with brown eyes, and blond hair. She never wears dresses to work; only expensive suits. Her father is a prominent lawyer in Decreston. She has been with the DLED for ten years.

“Hello, Greta! Good morning! And thank you!” Derrick Mallow said with a slight smile, and then he felt a lump growing in his throat.

“I thought I would escort you to your office on your last morning here at the ‘old grind.’“

“That is thoughtful of you, Greta. Thank you, that means a lot to me.”

She put her arm under his elbow, and they started the walk to Derrick Mallow’s office, which was down the hall and the second door on the right.

Inside the DLED is very spacious. The hallways are big, and the walls are all painted light blue with dark blue trim. The office doors are all painted dark blue with windows. The offices all have big picture windows facing the hallways, and double windows in the back of the offices.

When they arrived at his office, Derrick Mallow looked at Greta, and said softly, “Thanks for being my friend.”

She looked at him and smiled, sighed, with tears in her eyes, and said, “Derrick, I will always be your friend…no matter where you hang your hat.”

“Derrick, please, think about what you are doing. Are you sure that you want to do this?”

He looked at Greta and then at his office, and said reluctantly, “Yes, this is what I want to do. Every day reminds me of how Nancy suffered with her cancer, and the horrible murder of my son, James.”

Greta smiled at him and then walked away, headed toward her office. Derrick slowly walked into his office. And started looking at the file cabinets, pictures on the wall, and the achievement awards he had earned through the years. Then he walked over to his desk and looked at the pictures of his wife and son, which were in the middle of the desk in a double picture, gold-plated frame.

He picked up a plastic basket that was on the floor, put it on the desk, and started putting his wife’s and son’s pictures in it first. Then he stopped and sat down and turned his chair toward the windows in the back of his office. He had a blank expression on his face, and he sighed, coughed, then looked at his watch, exhaled heavily, and said to himself, I gotta…get busy…I am wasting time.

He held his head up, exhaled heavily again, then closed his eyes and opened them when he heard a knock at his office door.

“Come in.”

It was Captain Joe Coats. The captain walked in and looked at Derrick, sighed, and said concerned, “I hope I am not disturbing you. I can come back later.”

James Coats is the captain of the detectives at the DLED. He is sixty-nine years old. He has gray hair, blue eyes, and is six feet two inches tall. His wife Ruth died five years ago from breast cancer. He is Derrick Mallow’s father-in-law. Nancy was James Coats’ daughter.

“No, sir… it’s okay. When I finished packing up…I was going to come and see you before I left.”

“I just wanted to come and wish you the best in your new job and home.”

“I want you to know…Derrick, I always admired you, and I know you are a good man. You were a good father to my grandson and a good husband to my daughter. I wished you would stay here, but I do understand why you want to leave.”

“If you ever need me…for anything, please let me know.”

Derrick got out of the chair and walked over to the captain they shook hands and the captain hugged him. Derrick started to tear up but held it back, and told the captain he appreciated everything he did for him.

“Take care…Derrick,” the captain said as he coughed and left Derrick’s office.

When Derrick finished his packing he walked toward the door with his basket of personal items and took one last look at his office. He opened the door and started walking down the hall when he heard a familiar voice calling to him.

It was Calvin Nettles, a good friend and former partner of Derrick Mallow.

“Wait, Derrick, I just wanted to say goodbye, and wish you the best in your new job at Lake Tisdale.”

Calvin Nettles is a detective at DLED and was Derrick Mallow’s partner at one time. He is a black man, forty-eight years old, and five-foot-eleven inches tall, with brown eyes, and a shaved head. He was Mallow’s partner and friend for the twenty-five years, that Derrick Mallow was with the DLED.

“Thank you, Calvin.” I enjoyed working with you, and all the good times we had together here at the DLED. I am going to miss…all of you. But this is something I have to do. It’s too hard for me…here, living in Decreston, and at the DLED, after all that has happened.

“I know, DM…you take care now. If you ever need to talk or need help…you let me know…okay,” Nettles said sincerely as they shook hands.

“Thanks, Calvin. You take care…too,” Derrick said as he turned away, sighed, inhaled deeply, and started walking toward the exit doors with his basket in his hand.