You can do it, p.21
Shadow's Escape (Shadow Island FBI Mystery Series Book 13), page 21
Smiling, she rubbed her hand over her master’s mark on her thigh. It was her permanent sign that she’d graduated from the schooling she’d been subjected to. It had taken her most of her teen years to accomplish. The last lesson had been a yearlong voyage, being passed from yacht to yacht. During that time, she’d been ordered to showcase her skills and abilities.
It had ended one glorious night when her master had chosen her. He’d promised that if she was a good girl and could endure one final test, she’d be his forever.
She hadn’t even flinched when they brought out the branding iron. Though she’d nearly wept with pride, seeing that it had been made specially for her. When the glowing red metal had been pressed against her flesh, she hadn’t moved at all.
If she had smudged the mark, they would’ve removed it, along with the flesh around it. She wouldn’t have belonged to anyone.
But she was a good girl and didn’t move as her beloved master pressed it hard to make sure the mark went deep enough that it wouldn’t fade.
That night had been one of the best of her life, only slightly outshined by the night her master gave her permission to continue carrying the child he’d put in her. A child who resembled him so much, he’d instantly loved her.
Her moment of happiness faded as footsteps splashed behind her.
“Spread ’em.”
Conditioned to always obey, Elaina put her hands on the wall in front of her, leaned forward, and spread her feet shoulder width apart. In this position, she was off balance and totally at the mercy of the person giving the orders.
“Holy shit. They were right. This is going to be an easy one.”
Despite not knowing who was behind her, or how many, Elaina smiled. She’d heard that so many times over the years.
As joy flooded her heart, a stinging pain raced up her right arm as another shot up her left. The water from the shower, which was cascading down her body, blended with the blood racing out of her slashed arteries, rendering it bright pink as it circled the drain.
She opened her mouth, desperate to ask why she was being punished. No one had told her not to talk, after all. Before she could, a burning pain erupted in one thigh, then the other.
Her legs went weak, and despite her efforts, she collapsed to her knees. Glancing down, she saw even more blood rushing out of her thighs.
They’d cut her femoral arteries. The blood poured out, leaving her lightheaded as her body continued to collapse and slide down the slick tile walls of the shower room.
A hand reached over, blocking the splash of water for a moment.
“I set the water hot enough and on high. That’ll stop you from cramping up.”
Elaina wanted to smile, to say thank you, but she was too weak to move. As the light dimmed from her eyes, fear grabbed her heart. She was going to die. Did that mean her master was angry at her? Had she disappointed him? Maybe she’d screwed up by killing the girls. But that didn’t make sense. Only bad girls were punished. She wasn’t a bad girl!
Adrenaline raced through her veins, giving her one last burst of strength. It was just enough for her to whisper, “But I was a good girl.”
The man whose orders she’d followed squatted down next to her, and she could see he wore the same clothes as the other guards. Elaina couldn’t see his face, though. Her vision had gone dark.
It was so hard to breathe now.
“You got your ass caught. He doesn’t give a shit about you now.”
The words ripped through her, and she wanted to deny them. To rage against them. He chose her! She was a good girl! But she was too tired, too drained. There was nothing she could do.
Elaina willed her body to die faster. To put her out of her misery. Even if she went to Hell, and she was sure that was where she was going, it would still be a kinder place than living, knowing her master didn’t love her anymore.
40
It was finally Saturday, and her day off. For once, Rebecca was actually thinking of not going to the office.
Ryker had packed his things and left two days before. Though she missed her morning runs with Humphrey, she was so grateful for the peace and quiet that she’d actually been catching up on her sleep.
Now she was just lazing about, sitting on the couch in the rental she’d shared with her parents as a child. The same rental she’d called home, and where she’d tackled the worst of the worst on this idyllic island. On the television, one of her favorite documentaries about the Mothman of West Virginia aired.
Looking around, you couldn’t even tell Ryker had just moved out, or that she’d be moving in the next couple of weeks herself. She and Ms. Shuping had gone over who would get what. Ms. Shuping was beyond generous with everything she was giving Rebecca. The landlady had no living heirs after a drunk driving accident killed her son and his wife decades ago.
The accident had been a hit-and-run, and the sheriff at the time, Wallace’s predecessor, claimed there were no leads. Ms. Shuping always blamed the Yacht Club but had never been able to prove anything. Rebecca hadn’t said anything to the elderly woman, but she planned to look into the case. There was no statute of limitations on murder, after all.
Rebecca wasn’t surprised in the least when her phone rang. With a sigh, she paused the Mothman show and answered, not bothering to look at the caller ID.
“This is West.”
“This is Rhonda.”
Rebecca frowned. “I have a feeling you’re not calling me to chat about that cute guy over in—”
“Elaina Roth is dead. We’re never going to find out what led her down the path of a serial killer. They’re calling it a suicide. She slashed her wrists and her thighs while in the shower alone.”
Rebecca sat upright. “Bullshit.”
“That’s what I’m saying. Someone didn’t want us to learn more about her. I’m not going to be surprised when a high-powered lawyer shows up claiming he represents her estate and insists we hand over her shop and home too.” Rhonda’s voice dropped. “Did you see her booking information? The brand on her leg?”
“I saw it.” In fact, she could picture it perfectly in her mind right now.
“Do you know who J.S. is?”
“I don’t.”
“We need to find him, if he’s still alive. That scar was more than thirty years old. Or at least, that’s what my M.E. said when I showed her the photos. We’ll know more once we get her body here.”
“And of course your people are doing an autopsy.”
“Sure are. A suicide with four different cuts? While she’s in a shower, alone, in the middle of the day? Yeah, we’re doing an autopsy, despite the warden’s bitching.”
Rebecca levered herself out of her comfy spot on the couch to sit straight. “Make sure you document those bite marks.”
There was a pause. “Something special about them you want me to look for?”
“I want to know if any of them match the marks on my victim, Mary Bergman.”
“Elaina is more than thirty years older than Mary. You think the same guy was with both of them?”
“I think it’s worth looking into. You saw those scars. She had old and new ones. Even more telling, they match what was done to Mary. To me, that says the same men that destroyed her life and made her into a killer are still out there, victimizing more young women.”
“Okay, I’ll make sure it gets done.” Rhonda sighed long and slow. “What’s really got me worried is, if Elaina Roth was the woman in Shadow Island keeping an eye on the Yacht Club girls, but the girls aren’t only sourced from Shadow, does that mean there are more women like Roth in other towns?”
That was a horrifying thought. Rebecca was certain the answer was yes, but she didn’t get a chance to say so.
“I’ll start looking for ways to track them down. Before they start doing what Roth did, hopefully. Rebecca, you’d better win the upcoming election. Otherwise, these things are going to keep happening. And I’m afraid Burke won’t bother looking as deeply as you do.”
As if Rebecca needed anyone else to remind her how important it was that she win an election when she had no prior experience running for office and hated every minute of campaigning. “Because he’s almost certainly being paid off by the Yacht Club to look the other way. I didn’t like him before, but once he shot our suspect who was willing to turn state’s evidence, I was certain of it. Burke’s a dirty cop.”
“Then you’d better get your ass out there and campaign even harder. Put all your focus into that. You’ve only got a few days left.” Rhonda suddenly shifted gears. “By the way, you’re not going to believe this either. Roth had a life insurance policy. And you’ll never believe who the beneficiary is.”
“Oh, please, tell me it’s someone with the initials J.S.” Rebecca could dream.
“No. It’s Gemma Roth. Her daughter. And it pays out even if it’s suicide or if she’s imprisoned. Which is not the norm. And it’s been in place for fourteen years. Gemma was the sole beneficiary and will be set for life now.”
Rebecca went ahead and said what she knew they were both thinking. “If we ignored everything else we knew about her, that could lend credence to the suicide aspect.”
“Possibly, but it got me to wondering, and I did some digging. I still have no idea where Gemma is. She’s not enrolled in any schools I can find, even though she’s still a minor. I’m going to send her picture around and see if it matches any of our Jane Does.”
That was something Rebecca hadn’t considered. What if Gemma had been her mother’s first victim all along? Now that Roth was dead, they’d never know it unless they found a body.
41
Rebecca’s nerves were strung so tight, she wanted to jump up and start pacing. They’d all gathered at the Seabreeze Café, waiting for the voting results. She was sitting at her usual chair on the patio, hoping the “sheriff’s seat” would give her a bit of good luck.
Betty had cranked up the music, and nearly everyone who was pressed in there tonight claimed they’d voted for her and Meg. With no televisions in the café, it was impossible to watch the results live, so Rebecca was checking her phone periodically.
She hadn’t been keeping count of everyone who said they voted for her, but it seemed like at least half the island had already come by. No one had been rude enough to show up and say they’d voted against her. Everyone who had come down was in good spirits, laughing and talking while Betty passed out food and drinks to the different tables while not so subtly ensuring they had I Voted stickers on their shirts.
“The polls have been closed for an hour already. How long does it take to count two thousand ballots?” Hoyt dropped down at the table next to Rebecca.
“Meg called me thirty minutes ago and said we were still in the lead.” She picked up her phone, willing it to ring again. For the last month, she’d been complaining about how hard it was to campaign, but that was before she knew how nerve-racking it was to sit around, do nothing, and wait for the results to come in.
If she had known, she’d have stayed at home where no one else could see her. Looking around, she spotted Trent Locke, Jake Coffey, and Viviane and Dale Darby. Elliot Ping had made an appearance, and she thought he might still be at the shake bar. The café was so packed, she couldn’t see that far.
Even the patio, which was normally empty at night, was full. Rebecca had been here since five o’clock and had spent half the time talking to people who came to reassure her and the other half wondering what she would do if she didn’t win. The music was loud enough that they had to get close to be heard, making this a near-literal “press the flesh” event.
“What are you going to do if you don’t win?”
Hoyt’s teasing question almost made her swallow her tongue. “I’m not sure. I can’t just leave. I’m a homeowner now. And even more pressing, I’ve got the rest of the Yacht Club to throw in jail.”
That brought a round of cheers from around them, and Hoyt laughed. “You don’t have to keep campaigning, Boss. We’ve already voted for you. Besides—”
Whatever he’d been about to say was cut off as Rebecca’s phone rang in her hand. It was the station. “Hold on, I think Melody wants an update again.” Rebecca accepted the call. “Hey, Melody, I don’t have any news. Meg hasn’t called back yet.”
“Sheriff.” Melody sounded like she was about to cry.
Rebecca stood up. “What?”
“Meg…it’s bad.”
“Melody, what happened?” She locked eyes with Hoyt, who was no longer smiling. He stood as well.
“Meg called. Called nine-one-one. I answered. Rebecca, Meg said she was in a bad wreck. She could hardly breathe but said she was on Coastal Drive near the bridge. I’m still on the line with her, but I can’t get her to respond. Rescue crews are already on the way, but you’re closer.”
“The easy ones just aren’t our style, Sheriff.”
Hoyt was right.
They never were.
As she turned to find Viviane, she sent up a silent plea…
Please, let Meg be okay. My little sheriff’s department family won’t survive another loss.
The End
To be continued…
WHAT’S NEXT?
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Storm’s Fury (Amelia Storm Series: Book 1)
Military veteran Amelia Storm returns to her hometown of Chicago when her beloved police officer brother is killed in the “line of duty. Now she is a special agent with the FBI. No longer a scared girl, she vows to avenge her brother and do what she can to end the city’s deep wells of corruption. A television documentary puts a spotlight on a four-year-old kidnapping. Amelia and her colleagues in the Organized Crime Division know there’s more to the girl’s case than meets the eye. The twelve-year-old wasn’t just abducted. She was targeted by a human trafficking ring. Intrigued?
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SERIES READING ORDER
Shadow’s Edge (Shadow Island Series: Bonus Story)
Shadow’s Secret (Shadow Island Series: Book One)
Shadow’s Captive (Shadow Island Series: Book Two)
Shadow’s Deadline (Shadow Island Series: Book Three)
Shadow’s Force (Shadow Island Series: Book Four)
Shadow’s Watch (Shadow Island Series: Book Five)
Shadow’s Hostage (Shadow Island Series: Book Six)
Shadow’s Ritual (Shadow Island Series: Book Seven)
Shadow’s Conspiracy (Shadow Island Series: Book Eight)
Shadow’s Mystery (Shadow Island Series: Book Nine)
Shadow’s Darkness (Shadow Island Series: Book Ten)
Shadow’s Flame (Shadow Island Series: Book Eleven)
Shadow’s Hoax (Shadow Island Series: Book Twelve)
Shadow’s Escape (Shadow Island Series: Book Thirteen)
Coming Soon
Shadow’s Loss
More Shadow Island series books coming soon!
HAVE YOU READ MY OTHER SERIES?
New Series:
Emma Last Series
A Villain's Story Series
More Series:
Winter Black Series
Amelia Storm Series
Ellie Kline Series
Charli Cross Series
Stella Knox Series
Kylie Hatfield Series
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
How does one adequately express gratitude to all those who have transformed a shared dream into a stunning reality? Let us attempt to do just that.
First and foremost, our families deserve our deepest thanks. Their unwavering support and encouragement have been our bedrock, allowing us the time and energy to translate our collective imagination into the words that fill these pages. Their belief in our vision has been a constant source of strength and inspiration.
As coauthors, our journey has been uniquely collaborative and rewarding. Now, with Mary also embracing the additional role of publisher, our adventure has taken on an exciting new dimension. This transition from solely writing to also publishing has been both a challenge and a joy, opening doors to share our work more directly with you, our readers.
We are immensely grateful to the entire team at Mary Stone Publishing — a group who believed in our potential from the very beginning. Their commitment extends beyond editing our words; it encompasses the tireless efforts of designers, marketers, and support staff, all dedicated to bringing our stories to life. Their expertise, creativity, and passion have been vital in capturing the essence of our tales and sharing them with the world.
However, our greatest appreciation is reserved for you, our beloved readers. You took a chance on our book, generously sharing your most precious asset—your time. It is our fervent hope that the pages of this book have rewarded that generosity, offering you a journey worth taking and memories that linger.
