by Roger Hayden
She waited as children dispersed in different directions. Among them, she recognized the two Erickson kids walking down the street and toward the house. Not wanting to frighten them, she turned off the ignition and stepped out of the jeep, waiting on them. They were still about three houses down, and she could already see their curious expressions. She waved to them as they cautiously approached. Her visit to the house wasn’t official and no one else in the department knew she was there. Was she already breaking the rules?
The school bus drove past the children and then Sterling, leaving a trail of exhaust. Sterling rubbed her eyes as the Erickson children continued toward her, within an ear shot.
“Alex and Brianne, right?” she said with a friendly smile. “I’m Detective Sterling. I was just checking on you.”
Both kids nodded but remained suspicious as Sterling’s attention switched to an approaching minivan far behind them. It looked like their mother’s van. Perfect timing, she thought. But the driver was hard to see. Its speed increased at a startling rate as the unseen driver stepped on the gas. Something wasn’t’ right, and as the van got closer, she could not Janet, but a driver through the windshield, wearing a ski mask.
“Get out of the road, children!” Sterling shouted.
Alex and Brianne turned around, paralyzed by fear as the van drifted to their side of the road aimed directly for them. Sterling sprinted on instinct toward them as fast as her legs would take her. The van closed in on them, accelerating at breakneck speed. Sterling didn’t think that she was going to make it. The madman at the wheel was driving far too fast.
“Move!” she cried out, inches from the children. She rushed forward and tackled them into the neighbor’s lawn, just as the van blew past them, tires squealing. They tumbled onto the ground, rolling over one another. Brianna screamed. Alex cried out for help. Sterling held them against the grass, acting as a protective shield with fresh exhaust lingering in the air. The van had just missed them. Sterling rose from her knelt position and watched as the van took a sharp right at the other end of the street. She jumped up and held her hands out toward the two frightened and stunned children below her.
“It’s okay now. Come on.”
They grabbed her hands as she pulled them up, dusting the grass from their clothes. “I’m sorry about that, but I need you both to go inside and lock the door, okay?”
Brianne looked at Sterling, confused. “That was my mom’s van.”
“Why was she driving like that?” Alex asked.
“I don’t know,” Sterling said, nudging them toward their home. “Just go inside and don’t come out until I get you.”
Dazed, both children nodded and moved quickly across the neighbor’s lawn and toward their house. She waited and watched as Brianne unlocked the door and they ran inside.
With the kids safe, Sterling turned and rushed to her Jeep, eager to chase their culprit down. She jumped inside and turned on the ignition, frantic. Pulling the car around, she floored the gas and raced down the street with adrenaline pumping through her veins. Way ahead, the van took a sharp turn into the forest and crashed into a tree. She pulled up behind the van and ran out, pistol drawn and ready to fire. As she reached the smashed front-end of the van, no one was there.
Stunned, she circled it, looking past the trees around her and shouting for the man to come out, though she knew it was useless. As she backed into the van, two gloved hands suddenly covered her face, gagging her with a cloth. She couldn’t breathe. She panicked and thrashed in the air, trying to scream, but consciousness was fading fast. The pistol dropped from her hand as her head bobbed down and everything went black.
Dear Reader,
Hi! I hope you enjoyed my latest series. Quality story telling is very important to me. It’s my living, and I can’t thank you enough for your support and for taking the time to read this boxset. But the learning never stops, and your feedback is vital to improving each new series I explore.
I would love if you could take a second to leave a review on Amazon here: Leave a Review Here!
If you would be so kind, please leave a review showering the book with endless praise. Of course, I’m joking, but it would be great to hear from you. If there are any issues you had with the story or any pesky errors or concerns, feel free to email me and let me know. I’d love to hear your feedback, regardless. Your support allows me to do what I do, and I’m in your debt. In a way, I work for you, the reader. So let me know if I’m doing the job. Thanks again and, please, feel free to contact me or leave a review for the book at your earliest convenience.
With Gratitude,
Roger Hayden
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The chain letter killer on the loose, Sterling has been taken hostage, and the last couple to receive the chain letter have both been murdered. With the approach of the Summerville High twenty-five-year reunion, Dobson knows that the killer will strike again, but in order to end the carnage he must connect the dots between the killer and his victims through investigating the secrets of their pasts. Can her save Sterling in time, or will escape be entirely on her after discovering the killer’s reunion plans? Find out in the final thrilling installment of Secret Letter!
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