Jennifer
Chase is a multi award-winning and USA Today BestSelling crime fiction author,
as well as a consulting criminologist. Jennifer holds a bachelor
degree in police forensics and a master's degree in criminology & criminal
justice. These academic pursuits developed out of her curiosity about the
criminal mind as well as from her own experience with a violent psychopath,
providing Jennifer with deep personal investment in every story she tells. In
addition, she holds certifications in serial crime and criminal
profiling. She
is an affiliate member of the International Association of Forensic
Criminologists, and member of the International Thriller Writers.
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Author: Jennifer Chase
Publisher: Bookouture
Pages: 300
Genre: Crime Thriller
“Please Mommy, can Tessa and I go play on the swing by
the creek?” the little girl begs, pushing a blonde curl from her eyes. “We’ll
stay together, and we promise to be safe.” Hours later, their mother waits
anxiously for her darling girls to arrive home with a list of reasons why they
are late. But the front door never opens…
When the bodies of eleven and twelve-year-old sisters, Tessa and Megan, are
found at the bottom of a ravine—dressed in matching pastel summer outfits,
their small bodies broken from the fall—Detective Katie Scott is called
to one of the most shocking and heartbreaking crime scenes of her career.
Carefully picking through the fragile remains, Katie makes the first of many
disturbing discoveries: the girls were not biological sisters. The
youngest, Megan, is a DNA match to a kidnapping case years before. The tiny
number burnt into her skin the mark of a terrifying killer intent on keeping
count of his collection.
Her PTSD from the army triggered, Katie is left reeling as she maps other
missing children in the local area. Has this twisted soul found a way
to stay nearby his victims? Could he be watching now as Katie hits one dead end
after another?
A wild storm building, matching a fiber found during the autopsy to a nearby
boatyard is the break Katie needs. But when another girl goes missing, just as
lightning strikes and the power goes out, Katie only has her instincts, her
team and her service dog to rely on. As time runs out for Katie to finds the
stolen child alive, who will become the next number on this monster’s deadly
list?
Fans of Lisa Regan, Rachel Caine and Melinda Leigh, you better
buckle-up for the ride of your life! BEWARE – this gripping crime thriller
is guaranteed to keep you up all night!
EXCERPT
PROLOGUE
“Please can we go?” whined Tessa as
she followed her mother through the living room and into the kitchen. “Please,” she said again, pushing her
blonde curls away from her eyes. “I really want to go to the swing by the
creek.”
“Not by yourself,” countered Mrs. Mayfield, ignoring her
daughter’s angry stare. “We’ve talked about this before.”
“Yes, and you said I couldn’t go alone, and I’m not. Megan
will be with me.” Tessa’s older sister was barely a year older and her best
friend. Her mother began emptying the dishwasher, putting plates and glasses
away in the cabinet. It was unclear if she was thinking about what Tessa had
said or not, so she tried again. “I’m almost
eleven and Megan is almost twelve.
We’re practically teenagers,” she said. “Besides, Janey and her brother will
probably be there.”
Mrs. Mayfield laughed. “You know, you would be a good lawyer
the way you make your case.”
“I don’t want to be a lawyer. I’m going to be a vet,” Tessa said,
grinning.
“Well, I know you are going to be whatever you want to be.”
Mrs. Mayfield laughed to herself as she slipped the last piece of silverware
into the drawer and turned to face her daughter. At the sound of her name,
Megan had joined Tessa in the doorway and they both stood quietly waiting for
an answer. Glancing at the wall clock with a sigh, she said, “You both have to
be back by four thirty, not a second later. Understand?”
“Thank you! Thank you!” Tessa said, grabbing her sister’s
hand in glee. Both girls were in denim shorts and pastel T-shirts with their
favorite matching blue sneakers.
“Be home on time,” their mom called after them.
“We will,” chimed the girls.
Mrs. Mayfield heard the front door shut, followed by the
sound of running footsteps.
She smiled and went back to her chores as the afternoon
ticked by.
At
4:45 p.m. Mrs. Mayfield was waiting impatiently to hear the girls enter the
house with a list of a dozen reasons why they were late—but the front door
never opened. An hour after that, unable to wait any longer, she looked outside,
thinking that the girls might be in the yard.
Debris from a croquet set littered the lawn; the wooden
mallets abandoned and colored balls scattered as if the girls had been playing
only moments ago. The trampoline in the corner had one of the girls’ bright
blue sweatshirts hanging on the edge. It swayed slightly in the breeze.
There was no sign of them.
She ran through the house to the backyard, but it, too, was
deserted. No whispers. No giggles. No shrieks of laughter. The wind was picking
up and whistling through the branches and leaves of the surrounding
trees—almost whispering a warning.
Mrs. Mayfield pulled off her apron and reached for her coat,
deciding to walk to the creek and bring the girls back herself. At this point,
she was more angry than concerned, knowing how they could be forgetful when
they were having fun, and often lost track of time.
But surely they would be on their way home by now? she
thought to herself as her pace quickened from a fast walk to a jog.
Against her better judgment, and knowing that she couldn’t shelter them
forever, she had crumbled and let them go down to the creek where one of the
neighboring boys had constructed a swing that they loved to play on.
And now fear ripped through her body. “Tessa!” she yelled.
“Megan!” Terrible scenarios shuffled through her thoughts as she tried
desperately to keep her emotions on an even keel.
“Tessa! Megan!”
She yelled their names over and over until her voice went
hoarse. Her chest felt strangely heavy and her vision blurred as she ran, but
her strength and mother’s instinct pushed her forward, down the trail leading
to the creek. The trail was well-worn by local kids looking for adventure and
fun. Stumbling as she ran, she frantically turned left and then right. There
wasn’t a soul around… She was alone. She kept moving.
Looking up at the tall pine trees, everything spun in a
dizzying blur of forest and darkening sky. She squeezed her eyes tightly shut
and open again, then stopped for a moment to listen.
The swing was only visible at the bottom of the path just
above the creek and she could hear the water rushing below. Peering over the
edge, there was no sign of them—or anyone. She kept turning, expecting to see
her girls everywhere she looked. They weren’t there. All around her were
discarded candy wrappers and remnants of fast food containers. Proof that
children played here often.
There was no sound apart from the whisper of the trees. No
children laughing nearby.
“Megan! Tessa!” she yelled again, but there was only silence.
She ran all the way up the trail to the street, still calling their names in a
full-blown panic.
Mrs. Mayfield turned her attention up the road, her mother’s
instinct in high gear. Something blue lying beneath a bush caught her eye and
she ran towards it.
She leaned down and her hand trembled over the light blue
canvas before she forced herself to grab the abandoned blue sneaker.
“No,” she said, barely breathing.
Written on the side tread of the shoe with a thick black pen was one word: Tessa.
I don't know if I could stomach this one!
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