MacDougal removed Brennan’s gun, slid it over to Maisie, and then pinned Brennan against the wall, cuffing him. He dragged him down the hallway, thrusting him on the living room floor.
“How long had you and Jayden been raping women together?” MacDougal said.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Your gun is going to be tested, and when it matches the bullet we removed from Zoey Marshall, it won’t matter what you say. You’ll be tried and convicted for her murder.”
“Whatever. I’m not talking.”
MacDougal aimed his gun at Brennan.
“You are talking. Now.”
“You can’t fire at me! You’re a cop.”
MacDougal glanced at Maisie. “What do you say? Should I shoot him?”
She shrugged. “It’s a hardwood floor. It’ll clean up just fine. Do what you must.”
“Are you kidding me?” Brennan said.
“Last chance,” MacDougal said.
When Brennan still refused, MacDougal fired his gun, shooting Brennan in the leg. Brennan screamed. “Screw you! Both of you! I’ll tell everyone what you did.”
“What we did? What about what you did? I don’t know what you saw, but what I saw was you drawing on a detective.” Maisie looked at MacDougal. “Isn’t that what you saw happen?”
“That’s exactly what happened,” MacDougal said. “Then again, maybe he came at me twice, and I needed to pop him a second time.”
“Whatever it takes,” Maisie said.
At the thought of being shot again, Brennan curled into a ball, shouting, “All right, all right!”
“You said you didn’t run in the same circles as Jayden Conrad,” MacDougal said. “So how do you know him?”
“We lived near each other when we were teenagers. Not for long. Six months maybe. Used to talk about some of the dark fantasies we both had and realized even though we came from different worlds, we had a lot in common. I moved away and we didn’t see each other again until college. We got to talking about the past, and one day we decided it would be fun if we could actually corner a girl. Jayden didn’t care whether any of the girls saw him. He thought he was untouchable. I knew I wasn’t. That’s why I wore a mask.”
“And you didn’t talk to each other on campus or mingle in the same groups, so the two of you could never be connected to each other.”
“Yep.”
“How many women were raped?”
Brennan hesitated.
“Spill it. We’ll find out eventually anyway.”
“In total, maybe six. We were careful, only two or three a year. We picked the girls, planned it out. It was part of the thrill.”
“What about Zoey? You said Jayden was the only one who raped her. True or false?”
“I didn’t touch her. He saw her with me a few times when we were all going out together, and he told me he wanted her. I tried to talk him out of it, but then he went and did it on his own.”
“Why was she any different to you than any other girl?”
“I had genuine feelings for Linda. I love her. I knew it would hurt her if something happened to Zoey, and it did.”
Maisie noted he hadn’t said he loved her, past tense, he said he loves her, present. Could Linda still be alive?
“You say you didn’t want to harm Zoey because of Linda, and yet you killed Zoey anyway.”
“She opened her big mouth, and that’s why Jayden’s dead. She had to pay, and Lane had to pay. I thought Linda would never know any different, never know my involvement.”
“Why didn’t you kill Zoey the night you killed her husband? Why wait?”
“I ran out of bullets, and I couldn’t leave her there, alive. She ripped my mask off, saw my face.”
“Just one more question before I take you in.”
“Yeah? What?”
“Where’s Linda Perry?”
CHAPTER 39
A few hours later, Linda was found inside an abandoned grocery store. Although malnourished and smelling like she’d been on an extensive camping trip in the woods, she was alive. Brennan swore he would have never done anything to harm her, and even though Maisie saw him as a sick, twisted individual, she actually believed his feelings for Linda were real.
With her neighborhood safe again, Maisie took a drive to the local cemetery, where she now visited not one, but two of the important men in her life. First a visit to Lee to update him on all the recent events, and then a visit to Stuart, to tell him she wished he hadn’t had to go when he did. In the distance, she spotted someone familiar and walked over to him.
“I didn’t expect to see you here today,” Maisie said.
MacDougal placed the flowers in his hands on his wife’s grave and stood. “I took the day off. I might take the week off, actually.”
“You deserve it after all that’s happened.”
Maisie glanced at MacDougal’s wife’s grave. “How long has she been gone now?”
“It’ll be four years in a few weeks. Can you believe it?”
If anyone knew the true meaning of the word suffer, MacDougal did, after losing both his wife and his only child in the same year. First his daughter, who was the unfortunate victim of a tired driver who’d fallen asleep at the wheel, and then his wife a few months later, who’d ingested so many pills to numb the pain of her loss that she overdosed one evening, killing herself. Whether it was an accident, or whether she simply couldn’t bear another day without her child, would remain unknown.
“It’s a shame. I always liked Beth. She was a good woman.”
He smiled. “Me too.”
“Well, I have to be going.”
“Mind if I walk you to your car?”
“Suit yourself.”
He held an arm out, and even though it seemed odd, she took it.
“You really should think about coming back to work.”
“Why?” she asked.
“You’re good at what you do.”
“I’m not needed anymore, and I don’t want to be stuck in the forensics lab again. I like my life now. I’m free to do whatever I like whenever I like.”
“You’re bored.”
He was right. She was bored.
“Perhaps.”
“What about a consulting position?”
She raised a brow. “I’m confused. Why are you of all people pushing so hard to work with me again?”
“You’re the nosiest, most arrogant woman I’ve ever known.”
“Tell me something I don’t know.”
“You’re also addicting.”
Addicting—a word no man had ever called her before.
Unsure how to reply to what she perceived to be his mild attempt at flirtation, she said nothing in return, and they walked the rest of the way to her car in silence.
She reached her car and said, “It was good to see you today. Enjoy your time off.”
He stood still for a moment, then leaned in, planting a kiss on her lips.
She jerked back. “What do you think you’re doing?”
“Something I should have done a long time ago.”
“I’m not sure it’s a good idea, the two of us. I mean, I don’t know what I think of it.”
“Why not?”
“I don’t know.”
“Is it because we used to work together? Because we’re not the same age? Because you had feelings for Stuart?”
“No, it’s not any of those things,” she said. “Well ... maybe. I’ll see you later, okay?”
“Why don’t you see me now?”
“I am seeing you now.”
“I mean, have lunch with me, Maisie.”
“I can’t. Not today.”
“Why not?”
“I’m meeting Maude in a few minutes.”
He nodded. “I understand. See you around then.”
Maisie watched him walk away, playing out what had just happened in her mind, thinking, then overthinking, until the time she had to act on her tho
ughts was almost up. “Colin?”
MacDougal turned. “Yes, Maisie.”
“I’ll be with Maude for a few hours, but I’m free for dinner later.”
He shoved his hands in his pockets and grinned. “Dinner it is then. Pick you up at eight.”
***
Thank you for reading A VIEW TO A KILL. If you enjoyed these stand-alone novels, there’s another stand-alone I’ve written that you will also like called ROADILL, which was a 2019 USA Today bestselling novel.
In ROADKILL, suburban housewife Juliette Granger has been living a secret life ... a life that's about to turn deadly for everyone she loves. Download ROADKILL by clicking HERE.
Fearing for her life after witnessing a gruesome murder, Juliette Granger whisks her two-year-old daughter Nora away in the dead of night and flees, planning to start a new life in a small, forgettable town under an alias. An hour into the escape, headlights flash behind her. A vehicle pulls alongside, and a masked man demands she stop the car. She refuses him, and a deadly game of cat and mouse begins.
Readers are saying:
"Skillfully plotted, keeps you riveted until the end!"
"Intense writing, and the plot was very grand."
"I was glued until the last page."
"Gritty characters that I just loved."
About Cheryl Bradshaw
Cheryl Bradshaw is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author writing in the genres of mystery, thriller, paranormal suspense, and romantic suspense, among others. Her novel Stranger in Town (Sloane Monroe series #4) was a 2013 Shamus Award finalist for Best PI Novel of the Year, and her novel I Have a Secret (Sloane Monroe series #3) was a 2013 eFestival of Words winner for Best Thriller. To date, nine of Cheryl’s novels have made the USA Today bestselling books list.
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Books by Cheryl Bradshaw
Sloane Monroe Series
Black Diamond Death (Book 1)
Charlotte Halliwell has a secret. But before revealing it to her sister, she’s found dead.
Murder in Mind (Book 2)
A woman is found murdered, the serial killer’s trademark “S” carved into her wrist.
I Have a Secret (Book 3)
Doug Ward has been running from his past for twenty years. But after his fourth whisky of the night, he doesn’t want to keep quiet, not anymore.
Stranger in Town (Book 4)
A frantic mother runs down the aisles, searching for her missing daughter. But little Olivia is already gone.
Bed of Bones (Book 5)
Sometimes even the deepest, darkest secrets find their way to the surface.
Flirting with Danger (Book 5.5) A Sloane Monroe Short Story
A fancy hotel. A weekend getaway. For Sloane Monroe, rest has finally arrived, until the lights go out, a woman screams, and Sloane’s nightmare begins.
Hush Now Baby (Book 6)
Serena Westwood tiptoes to her baby’s crib and looks inside, startled to find her newborn son is gone.
Dead of Night (Book 6.5) A Sloane Monroe Short Story
After her mother-in-law is fatally stabbed, Wren is seen fleeing with the bloody knife. Is Wren the killer, or is a dark, scandalous family secret to blame?
Gone Daddy Gone (Book 7)
A man lurks behind Shelby in the park. Who is he? And why does he have a gun?
* * *
Sloane Monroe Stories: Deadly Sins
Deadly Sins: Sloth (Book 1)
Darryl has been shot, and a mysterious woman is sprawled out on the floor in his hallway. She’s dead too. Who is she? And why have they both been murdered?
Deadly Sins: Wrath (Book 2)
Headlights flash through Maddie’s car’s back windshield, someone following close behind. When her car careens into nearby tree, the chase comes to an end. But for Maddie, the end is just the beginning.
* * *
Addison Lockhart Series
Grayson Manor Haunting (Book 1)
When Addison Lockhart inherits Grayson Manor after her mother’s untimely death, she unlocks a secret that’s been kept hidden for over fifty years.
Rosecliff Manor Haunting (Book 2)
Addison Lockhart jolts awake. The dream had seemed so real. Eleven-year-old twins Vivian and Grace were so full of life, but they couldn’t be. They’ve been dead for over forty years.
Blackthorn Manor Haunting (Book 3)
Addison Lockhart leans over the manor’s window, gasping when she feels a hand on her back. She grabs the windowsill to brace herself, but it’s too late—she’s already falling.
Belle Manor Haunting (Book 4)
A vehicle barrels through the stop sign, slamming into the car Addison Lockhart is inside before fleeing the scene. Who is the driver of the other car? And what secrets within the walls of Belle Manor will provide the answer?
* * *
Till Death do us Part Novella Series
Whispers of Murder (Book 1)
It was Isabelle Donnelly’s wedding day, a moment in time that should have been the happiest in her life...until it ended in murder.
Echoes of Murder (Book 2)
When two women are found dead at the same wedding, medical examiner Reagan Davenport will stop at nothing to discover the identity of the killer.
* * *
Stand-Alone Novels
Eye for Revenge
Quinn Montgomery wakes to find herself in the hospital. Her childhood best friend Evie is dead, and Evie’s four-year-old son witnessed it all. Traumatized over what he saw, he hasn’t spoken.
The Perfect Lie
When true-crime writer Alexandria Weston is found murdered on the last stop of her book tour, fellow writer Joss Jax steps in to investigate.
Hickory Dickory Dead
Maisie Fezziwig wakes to a harrowing scream outside. Curious, she walks outside to investigate, and Maisie stumbles on a grisly murder that will change her life forever.
Roadkill
Suburban housewife Juliette Granger has been living a secret life ... a life that's about to turn deadly for everyone she loves.
A View to a Kill Page 52