by Blake Pierce
The older man looked across the counter at Adele. “Yes?” he said. Then his expression brightened. “Ah—hello! I remember you. Just moved in, right? Two weeks ago?”
He smiled genially. Adele was reminded of the older couple back in the cabin. They had been all smiles too.
“Those candies,” Adele said, slowly, “the Carambars…” She pointed toward the offending product.
The man followed her finger and then nodded at the glass mason jar. “Yes, would you like some? How many?”
She shook her head. “Why would you switch the notes?”
The man blinked, his smile diminishing a bit.
Adele stared, deadpan, unblinking. “You would switch the notes. You changed them to meddle with my mother. You taunted her. Scared her. And then you killed her.”
Now, his smile was completely gone. Mr. Gobert just looked at her, stunned. He said, “Excuse me, mademoiselle, are you all right?”
“I really wish people would stop asking me that.” She pointed a finger at him. “Elise Romei. Ten years ago. Murdered. She said someone was switching the notes. On the candies. Someone was changing what was written on the wrappers. I don’t even know what they said.”
Now Mr. Gobert looked like he’d seen a ghost. He stared at Adele, and his jaw unhinged. “I knew I remembered you,” he said, in a sudden spurt of realization. His eyes brightened.
“Do you know anything about it?” she demanded.
He hesitated, distracted, then quickly shook his head. “That nonsense about killing someone? Yes. Of course I deny it. Don’t be silly. But no, I remember you. You’re talking about your mother? Yes? You used to come in here with her. I knew I recognized your name. Adele, right?”
Adele just watched him, her eyes narrowed. Her gaze flicked across his face, along the glass counters, toward the cigarettes behind him, the piles of candies in the jars in front.
Mr. Gobert adjusted his newsboy cap. He wasn’t smiling. He wasn’t pretending. But he also didn’t look scared, and he didn’t look angry. If anything, it looked like he was pitying her.
This hurt more than anything.
But then he said something that caused her stomach to twist.
“I actually remember your mother complaining once about the candies. I don’t remember exactly what. She seemed to think one of them had been switched. I don’t know. I remember though, because it was such a strange thing to say. Like what you’re saying now. You’re saying someone was switching the jokes?”
Adele looked at him, shrewd, refusing to move an inch. A vague flicker of recollection crossed her mind. Something about Mr. Gobert she remembered from her childhood. He always stayed behind the counter… Once, though, she remembered him coming out… But… but it had been strange. So long ago—she couldn’t remember. She stared into his eyes, stared deep.
Mr. Gobert didn’t look away. Then, with a groan, he started wheeling himself, moving around the counter. Adele felt herself go numb. Mr. Gobert emerged from behind the counter through a small swinging wooden door. He was in a wheelchair. She glanced down at one foot and quickly looked away. A prosthetic. His foot was missing.
Now she remembered. When she’d been younger, he’d often walked around with a crutch. And when he didn’t, he remained behind the counter. She remembered, as a teenager, once seeing him in his chair. Shame coursed through her like hot sap—sticky, clinging to her bones and weighing her down.
Mr. Gobert eyed her, quiet. “I lost that thirty years ago. Right before I started running this place. I didn’t have anything to do with your mother’s murder, child. I’m very sorry. But I do remember what you’re talking about. Something about those candy bars. Someone had switched the note, she said. She showed me the note actually. I wouldn’t remember—except it was so strange… especially after what happened to her.” He stopped suddenly and swallowed, glancing away.
Adele stared. “You don’t still have it, do you? The note?”
The man just shook his head. “I wouldn’t have kept it. Sorry. I don’t remember it either… It was long ago.”
She glanced back down toward his prosthetic leg. He couldn’t possibly have been the killer.
Adele felt an avalanche of disappointment drop on her shoulders, starting as a stream of pebbles, but then rising to a churning emptiness in the pit of her stomach. Another dead end… It wasn’t him. It… it couldn’t be, could it?
A fierceness took hold of her, though, and she clawed out from the avalanche of despair, desperately seeking the light.
She was right about the candies. Someone had used them to upset Elise. Someone had switched the notes. Someone who’d worked in the store with him? Someone else entirely? One of the stockers? Someone who supplied the candies?
“You have people that work here with you?” she said. “Anyone who worked here ten years ago?”
He smiled and winced. “We’ve had quite a few employees. Some family, others not. I have a list I’m sure I could compile. You’re law enforcement, right?”
“Yes, I am.”
“Well, if you could come back with a warrant, I’ll happily supply that. In the meantime, if you’d like some of those Carambars, they’re yours. They’re not so popular anymore. Ten years ago, they were.” He smiled at her, a soft, sad smile. Then he wheeled back behind the counter.
Before he turned around again, the bell dinged, and Adele was gone.
Another swing and a miss. But her nose twitched. She scratched at her chin. On the right track. Closer. She could feel herself getting closer. With steady quickening steps, she moved back down the sidewalk toward the waiting taxi outside her apartment.
EPILOGUE
Adele stepped through the open doors of Robert’s mansion, John’s arm looped through hers. He dressed up quite nicely, though she would never tell him that.
Her own dress clung to her, delicate, yet comfortable. She moved, feeling the cold weight of her sidearm hidden near some of the ruffles at her hip. She supposed Robert would likely disapprove if he knew she was carrying a weapon into his party. Then again, what he didn’t know couldn’t hurt him.
As she moved into the mansion, with John at her arm, she smiled softly.
“I hate these things,” John muttered next to her. He was pulling at the tie dangling from his neck, and quickly undoing it.
Adele clucked her tongue. “Socializing is good for your health.”
They moved on into the welcoming room. The two leather chairs Adele was used to had been moved off to the side. The fireplace was still burning, which brought a small smile to her lips. A few of the other guests had already arrived and were moving through the room, picking up small snacks or accepting drinks from some of the servers moving about.
Adele had never seen this many people in Robert’s house before.
“Robert normally host parties like this?” John said.
Adele smiled and shook her head. “No.” The smile faded as she said this though. “Actually, it’s very uncharacteristic of him.” She felt a flash of suspicion. She thought of Robert, his coughing, his declining health. Why was he throwing a party?
She spotted someone she recognized, which jarred her from her thoughts.
In one corner of the room, Executive Foucault, with his hawkish gaze, his slicked back hair, was puffing on a cigarette he was concealing with his body and blowing the smoke out of an open window next to him. Agent Sophie Paige was standing next to him, talking quietly beneath her breath to the Executive. He smiled at whatever she’d said and patted her on the hand.
John pointed, nodding toward the two of them and wiggling his eyebrows.
Adele shielded her mouth with her shoulder and muttered, “Yeah, I see. I’m still saying they’re not lovers.”
“I bet you a hundred euros,” John muttered back.
Agent Paige looked up, and Adele quickly moved to John, her hand tugging at him and directing him toward the kitchen, away from their coworkers. She could hear others entering the house behind them. She
heard Robert’s voice from the room next door, laughing. She spotted him talking to another man. She didn’t recognize this man; he had silver sideburns and was quite handsome. He had a hand out, touching Robert’s arm in a gentle sort of way. Robert was telling a story, flashing a smile and revealing the two missing teeth in the top corner of his mouth.
The man he was speaking to started laughing again, and Robert joined in once more.
Adele smiled and said, “We’ll talk to him later. I don’t want to distract him.”
John allowed himself to be guided away like a child at church reluctantly being shoved into a pew. He moved with Adele through the house. As they headed down the hall, he paused and said, “I remember this room.”
He pulled Adele, this time redirecting her, and pushed open a side door made of glass and aluminum with a protruding rectangular handle. Adele allowed herself to be moved through the door, and the two of them came to a halt.
They were assailed by the scent of chlorine. The door clicked shut behind them.
The indoor swimming pool stretched before them. It was shaped like a natural pond, with a faux oak, and some leaves extending from trees overhead. Adele knew that half of the trees were plastic, but in the dark it was beautiful. A slow misting machine was churning out a healthy fog which hovered over the water.
She spotted a couple in one corner, in the hot tub. Drinks with colorful fruits wedged to the lids sat next to the tub. The couple were making out.
“I remember this room,” John murmured. He glanced down at her, a mischievous glint in his eye. “Fancy a swim?”
Adele chuckled. It had taken a lot of convincing to get John to come with her. Even more convincing to have him show up in something nicer than a T-shirt and jeans. Now, though, as she looked at him, she felt half an inclination that perhaps she liked him better without the nice suit and tie.
She had a brief flashback to what she’d seen, back in his distillery. The scar, his muscled chest, the slope of his back.
She returned his mischievous smile, and through hooded eyes watched him. “All right, I could do a swim. We need to talk to Robert at some point in the evening.”
John waved away the protest, already pulling at his tie and tossing it off to the side.
Adele chuckled softly and then began to move toward one of the back rooms.
“Where are you going?” John called after her.
“Robert has swimsuits. I’ll be right back.”
“Ah,” John said, “you don’t need a swimsuit.”
Adele paused, considering the words.
As she did, and inhaled the scent of the fog, and listened to the quiet chatter from the couple in the hot tub, and the gurgle of the steam jets, her mind wandered. She thought of confronting Mr. Gobert, of his wheelchair. She thought of her anger at her father. She started to understand why he had hidden what he had. Collected the notes he did. Adele was at a party with a handsome man. And yet, she still couldn’t shake the thoughts of her mother’s case. It was an obsession, but something she knew she had to do. Her father had just been doing the same. They weren’t really that different after all. But Adele knew she was better.
Where her father had failed, she would succeed.
“Come on,” John called out after her. She glanced back and saw that he was now down to his underwear. He winked at her, then jumped into the pool with a splash. She sighed, turned, and began to disrobe. “Fine,” she called.
“The water is perfect, American Princess.”
Adele let out a small little laugh, and with that sound, some of the worries, some of the thoughts, flitted away. They didn’t leave, but they tucked themselves, curling up like cats sleeping by a fire, moving to the back of her mind. For now, she was at a party. She was with John. Robert was nearby. At least tonight, her worries could wait.
NOW AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER!
LEFT TO MURDER
(An Adele Sharp Mystery—Book 5)
“When you think that life cannot get better, Blake Pierce comes up with another masterpiece of thriller and mystery! This book is full of twists and the end brings a surprising revelation. I strongly recommend this book to the permanent library of any reader that enjoys a very well written thriller.”
--Books and Movie Reviews, Roberto Mattos (re Almost Gone)
LEFT TO MURDER is book #5 in a new FBI thriller series by USA Today bestselling author Blake Pierce, whose #1 bestseller Once Gone (Book #1) (a free download) has received over 1,000 five star reviews.
A woman is found dead in Bordeaux, murdered against the backdrop of its idyllic wine country, and authorities suspect a connection to a similar murder in Italy—and an active serial killer. FBI Special Agent Adele Sharp, triple agent of the U.S., France and Germany, is called in, the only one with the international expertise—and brilliant mind—to piece it all together.
Adele enters the dark canals of the killer’s mind, finding clues where others do not, and feels confident she can catch him before he kills again.
Until a shocking twist throws all she thought she knew into a tailspin.
An action-packed mystery series of international intrigue and riveting suspense, LEFT TO MURDER will have you turning pages late into the night.
LEFT TO MURDER
(An Adele Sharp Mystery—Book 5)
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 the USA Today bestselling author of the RILEY PAGE mystery series, which includes seventeen books. Blake Pierce is also the author of the MACKENZIE WHITE mystery series, comprising fourteen books; of the AVERY BLACK mystery series, comprising six books; of the KERI LOCKE mystery series, comprising five books; of the MAKING OF RILEY PAIGE mystery series, comprising six books; of the KATE WISE mystery series, comprising seven books; of the CHLOE FINE psychological suspense mystery, comprising six books; of the JESSE HUNT psychological suspense thriller series, comprising fourteen books (and counting); of the AU PAIR psychological suspense thriller series, comprising three books; of the ZOE PRIME mystery series, comprising four books (and counting); of the new ADELE SHARP mystery series, comprising four six books (and counting); and of the new EUROPEAN VOYAGE cozy mystery series.
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), A TRACE OF DEATH (A Keri Locke Mystery—Book 1), WATCHING (The Making of Riley Paige—Book 1), NEXT DOOR (A Chloe Fine Psychological Suspense Mystery—Book 1), THE PERFECT WIFE (A Jessie Hunt Psychological Suspense Thriller—Book One), and IF SHE KNEW (A Kate Wise Mystery—Book 1) are each available as a free download on Amazon!
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
EUROPEAN VOYAGE COZY MYSTERY SERIES
MURDER (AND BAKLAVA) (Book #1)
DEATH (AND APPLE STRUDEL) (Book #2)
CRIME (AND LAGER) (Book #3)
ADELE SHARP MYSTERY SERIES
LEFT TO DIE (Book #1)
LEFT TO RUN (Book #2)
LEFT TO HIDE (Book #3)
LEFT TO KILL (Book #4)
LEFT TO MURDER (Book #5)
LEFT TO ENVY (Book #6)
LEFT TO LAPSE (Book #7)
THE AU PAIR SERIES
ALMOST GONE (Book#1)
ALMOST LOST (Book #2)
ALMOST DEAD (Book #3)
ZOE PRIME MYSTERY SERIES
FACE OF DEATH (Book#1)
FACE OF MURDER (Book #2)
FACE OF FEAR (Book #3)
FACE OF MADNESS (Book #4)
FACE OF FURY (Book #5)
FACE OF DARKNESS (Book #6)
A JESSIE HUNT PSYCHOLOGICAL SUSPENSE SERIES
THE PERFECT WIFE (Book #1)
THE PERFECT
BLOCK (Book #2)
THE PERFECT HOUSE (Book #3)
THE PERFECT SMILE (Book #4)
THE PERFECT LIE (Book #5)
THE PERFECT LOOK (Book #6)
THE PERFECT AFFAIR (Book #7)
THE PERFECT ALIBI (Book #8)
THE PERFECT NEIGHBOR (Book #9)
THE PERFECT DISGUISE (Book #10)
THE PERFECT SECRET (Book #11)
THE PERFECT FAÇADE (Book #12)
THE PERFECT IMPRESSION (Book #13)
THE PERFECT DECEIT (Book #14)
THE PERFECT MISTRESS (Book #15)
CHLOE FINE PSYCHOLOGICAL SUSPENSE SERIES
NEXT DOOR (Book #1)
A NEIGHBOR’S LIE (Book #2)
CUL DE SAC (Book #3)
SILENT NEIGHBOR (Book #4)
HOMECOMING (Book #5)
TINTED WINDOWS (Book #6)
KATE WISE MYSTERY SERIES
IF SHE KNEW (Book #1)
IF SHE SAW (Book #2)
IF SHE RAN (Book #3)
IF SHE HID (Book #4)
IF SHE FLED (Book #5)
IF SHE FEARED (Book #6)
IF SHE HEARD (Book #7)
THE MAKING OF RILEY PAIGE SERIES
WATCHING (Book #1)
WAITING (Book #2)
LURING (Book #3)
TAKING (Book #4)
STALKING (Book #5)
KILLING (Book #6)
RILEY PAIGE MYSTERY SERIES
ONCE GONE (Book #1)
ONCE TAKEN (Book #2)
ONCE CRAVED (Book #3)
ONCE LURED (Book #4)
ONCE HUNTED (Book #5)