“I’m not going to ask you again. Put the gun down!” demanded McGaven.
“You can’t tell me what to do,” said Weaver. “I have rights.”
“Your rights are going to be revoked. What you did to those women is despicable.”
“Deputy, I pity you. You are so delusional and quite defenseless, even with your gun aimed at me. Nothing can defeat me.”
Katie was listening to utter madness; it was clear that Weaver was beginning to unravel and he was capable of anything.
“Vi compatisco deputati. Io vinco. Hai perso,” Weaver said in Italian almost singing his reply of how he had won and they had lost.
The tension around them heightened with his eerie Italian words still hanging in the air. His desperation could mean catastrophe for anyone around him. Katie had to think quickly. There wasn’t a good enough shot to get him from her vantage point, so that meant she had to go to plan B.
Katie moved her aching body into a crouching position, but her foot slipped, making a scraping sound.
Weaver looked up, along with the deputies and McGaven.
It was a split second that meant life or death. Katie’s training taught her that was all you had at times, and you had better make peace with it.
In that split second she regained her balance, then pushed up and jumped off the train compartment roof. Within two seconds, she saw Weaver rotate and bring up his arm to shoot her. Katie landed directly on him, taking them both to the ground. The gun fired. Thunder crashed. Deafening explosion in her ears. She had let out a Comanche yell, not realizing it as she dive-bombed the killer, hitting the ground hard and rolling several times out of McGaven’s and the deputies’ views.
Loud voices hollered different orders. “Drop the gun! Let’s see some hands! Stay on the ground NOW!” There was a frenzy of chaos as they scrambled to save Katie.
She landed on her back a few feet away from Weaver. He had already stumbled to his feet with the gun still in his hand—turning his focus on Katie. His face contorted, full of rage, wanting blood to spill. He was going to kill her.
Her hearing hadn’t cleared as her ears still buzzed from being next to Weaver as he fired the gun. The side of her face burned. Her left eye watered uncontrollably.
With a shaky hand, anchoring her feet against the ground from her lying position, she managed to pull her gun and fired once—missing Weaver. A bullet whizzed by her head simultaneously as she fired a second shot, hitting Weaver directly in the chest. He crumpled over and hit the ground—not moving, with his gun still hooked on his fingers.
Katie readied herself to fire again—she watched—waiting for Weaver to get up.
“Katie, Katie,” came a familiar voice, although it was muffled.
She looked up as McGaven scooped her to her feet, holding her tight.
The deputies made sure Weaver was dead and gathered his gun, handcuffing his hands behind his back, as procedure, until the shooting investigation began.
Katie couldn’t take her eyes away from Weaver—the two cases were closed and Tanis was going to the hospital.
“You okay?” said McGaven, holding his hand to her face.
Katie could hear him clearer. “I’m okay,” she said.
“You know how close that bullet came to doing some serious damage?”
“No, how close?” was the only thing that Katie could think of to say.
McGaven tore a piece of his shirt and pressed it against her cheek. “Too close. It grazed your cheek.”
“That wouldn’t even need a Band-Aid on the battlefield.”
McGaven shook his head.
Katie finally averted her eyes, tearing them away from the killer lying on the ground, wrists handcuffed behind his back—as his eyes stared fixed at the sky.
Katie thought that was too good for Jerry Weaver—he got off easy.
Sirens sounded.
Cars screeched up to the rundown motel.
McGaven hugged Katie and then helped her walk up to the motel and to the parking lot as they met reinforcements.
The sky finally released the rain.
Fifty-Five
A week later…
Katie heard the car pull up her driveway and when she looked out the window, she saw a black Lincoln Town Car slowly ease in and stop. She had no idea who it was until Candace Harlan jumped out and ran to the front porch.
Katie opened the door still wearing her robe, with Cisco at her left side.
“Hi, Detective Scott,” said Candace, who was all smiles.
“You can call me Katie,” she said. “What’s going on?”
“I wanted to… I mean, we wanted to say thank you.”
“Who?” Katie was puzzled at first then she saw Mrs. McKinzie step from the car. She was dressed casually in a pair of slacks and a yellow blouse, still looking elegant.
“Ms. Scott, I thought long and hard about what you said that night of the gala. And I took your advice. You made quite an impression.”
“Yes, she did,” chimed Candace. “And guess what?”
“What?” said Katie. Even though she had an idea of what the news was going to be.
“She’s my mom—my real mom,” said Candace.
Katie looked at Mrs. McKinzie who nodded.
“Well, we had the mitochondrial DNA testing done. And yes, Candace is definitely my daughter. Candace and Carol are my daughters. We’re going to stop by Carol’s grave today.”
“And we’re going to visit Tanis at the hospital too. She’s doing much better,” said Candace.
“I’m so happy for you, both of you. That you were able to find each other.”
“We just wanted to come by and see you and tell you the good news in person,” said Candace. “Thank you, Detective Scott—I mean Katie.” She hurried back to the car. “I hope you’re feeling better,” she yelled over her shoulder.
Katie watched mother and daughter get back in the car and leave. She waved and watched the sleek car disappear.
“Well, Cisco. That’s the best news that could have come out of these investigations.” She tightened her robe and returned inside her house to rest and to contemplate some serious questions that were weighing heavy on her mind.
Fifty-Six
A month later…
The fall was stunning in the Pine Valley Mountains along the Sagebrush Lake. Sunny days this time of year were some of the most memorable. The best sunsets. The most picturesque clear water. The most beautiful dense forests with equally lovely wildlife.
Katie returned to the camp from a brief walk dressed in jeans and a heavy cream sweater. She loved this area and the time of year, and especially sharing it with Chad. Sitting next to their tent, she smiled and said, “Does it get better than this?”
“Nope,” he said. “Not in my book.”
“I just keep thinking that—”
“Nope.”
“What?”
“No thinking, no contemplating, no investigating, just relaxing.”
She snuggled into him, feeling the warmth of his body. “You’re absolutely right.”
They watched McGaven and Denise play with Cisco along the shore of the lake. Denise’s young daughter Lizzie ran around laughing before throwing the ball for the dog. The three of them looked happy together playing tag.
Katie laughed. “They are going to wear Cisco out.” She turned to Chad. “I’m glad that you suggested this trip with them. This is one of my favorite places—if not my favorite.”
“Of course, I thought we all could use a break. And what better place?”
She gazed at the water.
“Have you heard from your friend Shane?” he asked.
“Yes. His physical therapy is going well. He’ll make a full recovery. And Tanis is doing well. She’s staying with the McKinzies and Candace Harlan.”
Chad nodded. “That’s good to hear.”
“And I closed my cases.” She smiled.
“How are you feeling now with everything?”
&n
bsp; “I’m on to my next cold case.”
“Hey, who wants hot dogs?” said McGaven as he hoisted Lizzie on his shoulders.
“I do, I do,” said the little girl with absolute delight.
“Sounds good to me,” said Chad. “I’m hungry.”
“Count me in,” said Katie as she got up. “C’mon, Denise, let’s have some wine before the boys burn some hot dogs.”
“You got it,” she said.
“Hey, I heard that,” said McGaven.
“Don’t pay any attention to them,” said Chad.
“I don’t burn hot dogs. Well, maybe once.”
Katie sipped her wine and watched her friends joke with one another and just have fun. She knew that this was home. It was where her family was and where she was supposed to be.
Fifty-Seven
Katie sat down on her couch, taking a deep breath several times before opening her laptop computer. She glanced at the clock and it was 6.58 p.m., two minutes before Dr. Carver was to log on for their appointment.
She was nervous, wringing her hands and feeling the moisture of perspiration. As usual, her heart rate increased and pounded in her chest. Her anxiety took a backseat, but it was still there—hovering.
Taking another deep breath, she looked around the room and realized how lucky she was with friends, family, and a job that suited her.
Cisco whined and snuggled in next to her—her constant and loyal companion.
A chime resonated, indicating that her appointment was logged in and ready to go.
The smiling face of Dr. Carver filled the screen. She had a calming effect on Katie with her low voice—it soothed her. “Hello, Katie,” she said.
“Hi, Dr. Carver.”
“It’s good to see you, Katie. How have you been feeling?”
“I’ve been doing well.”
“And work?”
“It’s been more routine and not as stressful. I’ve been learning to pace myself.”
“Is there something that you would like to talk about today? Something that happened this week?” she said, and gazed down to make some notes.
“Yes,” said Katie. “I want to talk about something that happened, but not this week.”
“That’s fine. An incident that happened this month?”
“No. It was an incident that happened in Afghanistan,” said Katie. She felt her mouth go dry, but she was going to talk about it, get it out in the open, so that she could begin to heal.
Dr. Carver looked directly at Katie with a slightly surprised look on her face. “Of course. You can talk about anything.”
“Well,” began Katie with a little bit of shakiness to her voice. “It was a typical morning, extra hot and dusty, it was soon going to reach a temperature of over 110 degrees, but that was normal. We were going out on patrol as a team because we had received our special orders from the Pentagon and the President. So Cisco and I took point as usual…”
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Books by Jennifer Chase
Detective Katie Scott Series
Little Girls Sleeping
Her Last Whisper
Flowers on Her Grave
Last Girls Alive
Emily Stone Series
Compulsion
Dead Game
Dark Mind
Dead Burn
Dark Pursuit
Dead Cold
Chip Palmer Series
Scene of the Crime
Body of the Crime
Standalones
Silent Partner
Short Stories
First Watch
Never Forgotten
Available in Audio
Little Girls Sleeping (Available in the UK and the US)
Her Last Whisper (Available in the UK and the US)
Flowers on Her Grave (Available in the UK and the US)
A Letter from Jennifer
I want to say a huge thank you for choosing to read Last Girls Alive. If you did enjoy it, and want to keep up to date with all my latest releases, just sign up at the following link. Your email address will never be shared and you can unsubscribe at any time.
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This was a special project and series for me. Forensics and criminal profiling has been something that I’ve studied considerably and to be able to incorporate them into a crime fiction novel has been a thrilling experience for me.
One of my favourite activities outside of writing has been dog training. I’m a dog lover, if you couldn’t tell by reading this book, and I loved creating a supporting canine character for my police detective. I’ve had the incredible opportunity to train with my local police K9 association, which includes several counties throughout California. My dog is certified in trailing, scent detection, and advanced obedience. It’s been exciting pulling from my own experiences to create specific scenes. I hope you enjoyed it as well.
I hope you loved Last Girls Alive and if you did I would be very grateful if you could write a review. I’d love to hear what you think, and it makes such a difference helping new readers to discover one of my books for the first time.
I love hearing from my readers—you can get in touch on my Facebook page, through Twitter, Goodreads or my website.
Thanks,
Jennifer Chase
authorjenniferchase.com
Little Girls Sleeping
Detective Katie Scott Book 1
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She looked at the smiling, eager face of the little girl in the photograph, with dark hair, bright-green eyes, a missing front tooth, and her entire life ahead of her. Chelsea was last seen walking back from a friend’s house one summer afternoon. She never made it home…
An eight-year-old girl, Chelsea Compton, is missing in Pine Valley, California and for Detective Katie Scott it’s a cruel reminder of the friend who disappeared from summer camp twenty years ago. Unable to shake the memories, Katie vows she won’t rest until she discovers what happened to Chelsea.
But as Katie starts to investigate – her PTSD flashbacks kept at bay with the help of her loyal ex-military dog, Cisco – the case reveals itself to be much bigger and more shocking than she feared. Deep in the forest, she unearths a makeshift cemetery: a row of graves, each with a brightly coloured teddy bear.
Tracing the silk lining the coffins, Katie links the graves to a stack of missing-persons cases involving young girls – finding a pattern no one else has managed to see. Someone in Pine Valley has been taking the town’s daughters for years, and Katie is the only one who can stop them.
And then another little girl goes missing, snatched from the park near her home…
Compulsive and gripping crime fiction for fans of Lisa Regan, Rachel Caine and Melinda Leigh. Katie Scott’s first case will have you on the edge of your seat and gasping with shock.
Her Last Whisper
Detective Katie Scott Book 2
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Katie focuses her mind, trying to keep another anxiety attack at bay. The victim’s long brown hair is slick and wet, her body rigid in the grass. She looks more like a mannequin than the woman Katie had spoken with only yesterday, the woman she had promised to protect…
When a cold, naked body is discovered by a couple on a jog through the lush woodlands of Pine Valley, California, new recruit Detective Katie Scott is stunned to discover the victim is Amanda Payton – a much-loved local nurse and the woman at the heart of an unsolved case she’s been investigating whilst getting a grip on her crippling PTSD.
Weeks earlier, Amanda had run, battered and bruised, out into the headli
ghts of a passing patrol car. She claimed to have just escaped a kidnapping, but with no strong evidence, the case went cold. The Pine Valley police made a fatal mistake…
Katie is certain the marks on Amanda’s wrists complete a pattern of women being taken, held captive and then showing up dead in remote locations around Pine Valley – and she won’t let someone die on her watch again.
But then a beautiful office worker with a link to the hospital where Amanda worked goes missing. With only days before the next body is due to show up, can Katie make amends for her past by saving this innocent life?
Totally gripping crime fiction for fans of Lisa Regan, Rachel Caine and Melinda Leigh. Nothing will prepare you for this nail-biting roller coaster ride…
Flowers on Her Grave
Detective Katie Scott Book 3
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On the floor, amongst the piles of freshly pressed laundry, lay the woman’s lifeless body, her pale yellow nightdress soaked in blood.
Last Girls Alive: A totally addictive crime thriller and mystery novel (Detective Katie Scott Book 4) Page 29