CAUSE TO DREAD

by Blake Pierce

  As Heather grasped the rail again, Kechner drew his fist back and caught Kellaway in the side of the face. She stumbled back and when she did, Kechner grabbed her right arm and pulled it hard toward him. Kellaway was again slammed into the railing, letting out a groan of pain.

  Avery opted not to draw her Glock, feeling that she’d need both hands as she dashed forward. By the time she got to the rail, Kechner had grabbed Kellaway by the hair and chin, hauling her over the rail. The moment Avery reached them, Kellaway’s feet were in the air as she toppled over the rail. She screamed as her body went flailing toward the water.

  Avery screamed and applied a headlock on Kechner from behind the rail. He struggled against her but she tightened her grip, choking him out. The leverage of the rail between them worked to his advantage, though. He pressed against it, pulling her closer to him.

  “Heather, can you crawl over?” she said, hissing through her effort of keeping Kechner immobile.

  But Heather was paralyzed, starting down at the water. Avery followed her gaze and saw something that made her heart swell: Kellaway, clinging to the bottom edge of the lower level of the bridge. The edge didn’t allow much room for her to pull herself up, but she was carefully moving herself to the left, toward a thick cable that she could cling to and hopefully use to scale back up to the rails.

  “O’Malley!” Avery screamed. “O’Malley, we need help!”

  That moment of distraction was all Kechner needed. He slammed his head backward, the back of his skull connected solidly with Avery’s mouth. She felt her lip burst and tasted blood right away. She released her grip and stumbled back.

  This time, she acted quickly, not making the mistake of leaving her Glock holstered. She withdrew it and aimed right away.

  Kechner was clasping Heather’s wrist, trying to pull it away from the rail. Heather shook and trembled as one finger after the other was pried up.

  “Let her go, Kechner,” Avery bellowed. “Last warning!”

  He didn’t even give Avery the consideration of looking her way. He now had both hands on Heather, determined to pry her loose. It would mean that he would fall with her but compared to the time he’d spend in jail for four murders, Avery assumed he’d rather have death.

  She could help him in that regard.

  “Let her go!”

  When he didn’t respond this time, Avery took a step forward, aimed with skill that had remained with her during her time off, and squeezed the trigger.

  In her career, she had avoided headshots at all costs. But this time, she had no choice. Anything other than a certain kill shot might only injure him, causing him to fall and take Heather with him.

  The shot landed true, creating a black hole directly between Kechner’s eyes. He looked almost confused for a moment as his body went limp. His hands unclenched themselves from Heather and he went falling backward.

  Avery ran forward, relieved to see that his falling body had missed Kellaway by a good five feet. She had made it over to the cable and was using it to hoist herself upward, her feet inching along the side of the bridge back toward the rails.

  As for Kechner, his body continued to fall. She watched it until it slammed into the cold water below them. Even Heather Ellis seemed to break out of her frozen state to watch his descent.

  Kellaway was still out of her reach, about ten feet down along the edge of the bridge. She looked tired and nervous as hell.

  “Can you make it?” Avery asked, looking for a way over to where she could help.

  Kellaway only nodded, her attention solely on the cable and the edge of the bridge. Behind them, two cars pulled to a screeching stop as O’Malley and five officers arrived. They got out of the car with guns drawn.

  “Barry Kechner is dead,” Avery said. “And Kellaway is hanging on for dear life over here!”

  By the time O’Malley and the others had reached the rail, Kellaway had firm footing on the same ledge that Heather Ellis was perched on. She slowly made her way over to her, holding on to the rail for dear life.

  “Heather,” she said. “Come on back to the other side with me, what do you say?”

  Heather nodded and said something, but Avery didn’t hear it.

  Her phone was ringing. She checked it quickly and saw that it was Rose.

  Shit, Avery thought. I’m supposed to pick her up from the hosp…

  The thought seemed to fracture and break as the world grew dizzy. She looked to Kellaway, slowly helping Heather back over the rail and to the pavement on the other side. Avery smiled wanly, took a stumbling step forward, and then passed out.

  CHAPTER THIRTY FOUR

  Three days later, Avery found herself sitting in Connelly’s office. It was Connelly’s first day back, having mostly recovered from the spider bite. It had been a weaker genus of funnel web spider and though its venom was still deadly, it had been stalled by several injections at the hospital. Connelly still wore a small bandage over the area where he had been bitten but other than that, he was basically back to his old self.

  And that included a brash and transparent communication approach. He looked over his desk at Avery and sighed. It was just the two of them and the door was closed. It felt both intimate and suffocating all at once.

  “I want you back,” he said. “I know you’ve been through hell and this Barry Kechner case was only a favor you did for the A1 but…I want you back. I want you working for me until you’re too old to hold up a gun.”

  Avery couldn’t help but smile at the thought of a fifty-five-year-old version of herself battling with Barry Kechner on the edge of the Tobin Bridge.

  “I appreciate that,” Avery said. “And I’d be lying if I told you that I had absolutely no interest in coming back for a few more years. But for right now—in the next few weeks or months—I have to focus on Rose. I have to get my personal life right before I can think about my work.”

  The right side of her head was still sore from the fall she’d taken on the bridge. While the doctors who had seen to her had no real reason why she had passed out, the psychiatrist she’d seen yesterday seemed to think it was some sort of emotional or mental trauma—that her old life and desires were crashing into the need to correct things with her family. Her mind had felt exhausted for a moment and had simply shut itself down for a moment. It had been enough motivation for her to choose one over the other as she sorted her life out, and Rose had won out without much of a contest.

  Connelly nodded and relaxed in his seat. “I can respect that. I expected it, even. So…do I need to let Finley know he only has your office for a few more weeks?”

  “No,” she said with another smile. “Let him keep it. And please…Connelly, do me a favor?”

  “What’s that?”

  “Wait for me to call you this time. I’ll be back. I just…well, I have to finally put Rose first.”

  “Understood,” Connelly said, getting to his feet. He went to the door and opened it for her. “Now get out of here before you see what I look like when I pout if I don’t get my way.”

  Avery did as he asked. She thought about going to say goodbye to Finley and O’Malley but didn’t want to draw any more attention to herself. She’d already been lauded a hero because of her actions on the bridge. Kellaway had also enjoyed some of the praise and was already back out on the streets working her next case. Avery couldn’t wait to see what became of the young woman’s career.

  Hell, who knew…maybe someday soon, they’d share another case. Avery certainly hoped so; she was well aware that she still owed Kellaway for saving her life.

  ***

  She had originally feared that having Rose around the cabin would be weird. But in the end, it turned out to be exactly what she needed…what they both needed, actually. The plan they’d come up with on their first night in the cabin together was to unplug from everything, to just stay in the cabin as winter approached and get to know one another again. If necessary, they’d talk about Jack, they’d talk about Ramirez, and how lif
e had dealt them a shitty hand as of late.

  Rose had also agreed to family therapy and although neither of them liked the idea, they were also not too stubborn to realize how much it could help them.

  On her second week at the cabin, Rose sat down on the couch with Avery. Avery’s reading habits had turned to fiction, something pointless and inane to just reset her mind, to keep the stress of the real world away.

  “Hey, Mom?” Rose said. Her voice was soft and sweet, letting Avery know that what was coming was not going to be easy for Rose to say.

  “Yeah?”

  “I want to live here for a while,” she said. “And not just to fix us. I mean into the foreseeable future. As I finish school, as I find an actual job.”

  “I think I’d like that, too,” Avery said, her heart about to burst.

  “I don’t want to be the deadbeat kid that still lives with her mom, though. I want you to charge me rent. I want to be roommates.”

  “So long as you’re my daughter first, that’s fine with me.”

  Rose nodded and gave her mom a smile. Avery’s heart ached a bit when she was reminded just now much of Jack peeked out when Rose smiled.

  “Now, as my roommate,” Avery said, “I do believe it is your turn to do the dishes.”

  “Oh, you’re going to be that kind of roommate,” Rose said with a smirk. Still, she got up from the couch and walked into the kitchen.

  Avery looked out of the back window to the trees, now stripped completely. The sky looked like snow, though there was none in the forecast. She thought about the quiet hill somewhere out there she had once tried to hunt and realized that she did not quite recognize that woman any longer.

  And that was fine. Because that woman had nearly given up, had thought about ending her own life. And quite frankly, Avery hated that bitch.

  EPILOGUE

  They fell into a routine easily enough. They started therapy, they shared the duties when it came to cooking meals, they went for walks in the cold, and they did indeed talk about the loved ones they had lost. When they were comfortable enough with their living arrangement, they “re-plugged” (a term Rose used to gear enthusiasm) and started watching TV together. It eerily was like she had a roommate. But every now and then they’d come to a tough topic in conversation or one of them would have a bad dream and they’d end up uncovering the mother-daughter relationship they had kept buried for so long.

  Avery was thinking about this turn in their relationship on one of her runs around Walden Pond. It was the only time of the day she allowed herself to be alone. Sometimes her mind would wander toward work, but that was okay. She did miss it, but not with the same urgency as she had months before. She and Rose had been living together for six weeks now and Rose still held sway over work. Even though Rose had told her that it was okay for her to go back to work, Avery hesitated. She had to make sure she was fully prepared, fully invested.

  The Barry Kechner case had caused quite a few nightmares and she still wondered if there might have been some way to keep Kellaway from nearly plummeting into the Mystic River—or even if there might have been some way to prevent putting a bullet between Kechner’s eyes.

  She saw him falling down into the river at least three times a day. That was an improvement, though; in the first week after the incident on the bridge, she’d replayed that moment at least a hundred times a day.

  It was Kechner’s falling body that was on her mind as she wrapped up her run. Her cabin came into view, her signal to slow her pace to a mild sprint. She dimly thought of Kellaway, thinking of calling her up to ask her if she’d like to come over for dinner with her and Rose one night. Maybe they could get to know one another better outside of work and—

  Avery stopped as she reached her porch steps. There was a piece of paper sticking out from beneath the welcome mat at the front door. She walked up the stairs and approached it cautiously, as if it were one of Stefon Scott’s spiders rather than a sheet of paper.

  She plucked it out from beneath the mat and unfolded it. There were a few words written on it, words she read at least ten times before moving again.

  what are you afraid of, avery?

  -HR

  She finally folded the paper up and looked out toward the woods that surrounded her house. The quiet bore down on her as she stood on the porch, breathing hard from her run as a mild panic started to flare within her blood.

  The other letters had unnerved her, sure. But this letter was different.

  This letter had not been mailed.

  This one was hand delivered.

  Howard Randall had been to her house.

  NOW AVAILABLE!

  A TRACE OF DEATH

  (A Keri Locke Mystery--Book #1)

  “A dynamic story line that grips from the first chapter and doesn't let go.”

  --Midwest Book Review, Diane Donovan (regarding Once Gone)

  From #1 bestselling mystery author Blake Pierce comes a new masterpiece of psychological suspense.

  Keri Locke, Missing Persons Detective in the Homicide division of the LAPD, remains haunted by the abduction of her own daughter, years before, never found. Still obsessed with finding her, Keri buries her grief the only way she knows how: by throwing herself into the cases of missing persons in Los Angeles.

  A routine phone call from a worried mother of a high-schooler, only two hours missing, should be ignored. Yet something about the mother’s voice strikes a chord, and Keri decides to investigate.

  What she finds shocks her. The missing daughter—of a prominent senator—was hiding secrets no one knew. When all evidence points to a runaway, Keri is ordered off the case. And yet, despite pressure from her superiors, from the media, despite all trails going cold, the brilliant and obsessed Keri refuses to let it go. She knows she has but 48 hours if she has any chance of bringing this girl back alive.

  A dark psychological thriller with heart-pounding suspense, A TRACE OF DEATH marks the debut of a riveting new series—and a beloved new character—that will leave you turning pages late into the night.

  “A masterpiece of thriller and mystery! The author did a magnificent job developing characters with a psychological side that is so well described that we feel inside their minds, follow their fears and cheer for their success. The plot is very intelligent and will keep you entertained throughout the book. Full of twists, this book will keep you awake until the turn of the last page.”

  --Books and Movie Reviews, Roberto Mattos (re Once Gone)

  Book #2 in the Keri Locke series is also now available!

  A TRACE OF DEATH

  (A Keri Locke Mystery--Book #1)

  Did you know that I've written multiple novels in the mystery genre? If you haven't read all my series, click the image below to download a series starter!

  Blake Pierce

  Blake Pierce is author of the bestselling RILEY PAGE mystery series, which includes eleven books (and counting). Blake Pierce is also the author of the MACKENZIE WHITE mystery series, comprising seven books (and counting); of the AVERY BLACK mystery series, comprising six books; and of the new KERI LOCKE mystery series, comprising four books (and counting).

  ONCE GONE (a Riley Paige Mystery--Book #1), BEFORE HE KILLS (A Mackenzie White Mystery—Book 1), CAUSE TO KILL (An Avery Black Mystery—Book 1), and A TRACE OF DEATH (A Keri Locke Mystery—Book 1) are each available as a free download on Google Play!

  An avid reader and lifelong fan of the mystery and thriller genres, Blake loves to hear from you, so please feel free to visit www.blakepierceauthor.com to learn more and stay in touch.

  BOOKS BY BLAKE PIERCE

  RILEY PAIGE MYSTERY SERIES

  ONCE GONE (Book #1)

  ONCE TAKEN (Book #2)

  ONCE CRAVED (Book #3)

  ONCE LURED (Book #4)

  ONCE HUNTED (Book #5)

  ONCE PINED (Book #6)

  ONCE FORSAKEN (Book #7)

  ONCE COLD (Book #8)

  ONCE STALKED (Book #9)

 
ONCE LOST (Book #10)

  ONCE BURIED (Book #11)

  ONCE BOUND (Book #12)

  MACKENZIE WHITE MYSTERY SERIES

  BEFORE HE KILLS (Book #1)

  BEFORE HE SEES (Book #2)

  BEFORE HE COVETS (Book #3)

  BEFORE HE TAKES (Book #4)

  BEFORE HE NEEDS (Book #5)

  BEFORE HE FEELS (Book #6)

  BEFORE HE SINS (Book #7)

  BEFORE HE HUNTS (Book #8)

  AVERY BLACK MYSTERY SERIES

  CAUSE TO KILL (Book #1)

  CAUSE TO RUN (Book #2)

  CAUSE TO HIDE (Book #3)

  CAUSE TO FEAR (Book #4)

  CAUSE TO SAVE (Book #5)

  CAUSE TO DREAD (Book #6)

  KERI LOCKE MYSTERY SERIES

  A TRACE OF DEATH (Book #1)

  A TRACE OF MUDER (Book #2)

  A TRACE OF VICE (Book #3)

  A TRACE OF CRIME (Book #4)

  A TRACE OF HOPE (Book #5)