Left to Die

by Rita Herron

  “There’s evidence in the bedroom, too,” Fletch said. “Halls kept a photo album with pictures of his victims.”

  “His souvenirs. Sick bastard,” Liam muttered.

  “Yeah, and he has to pay.” Fletch gently brushed a strand of hair from Jade’s face. “Hang on,” Fletch whispered. “Just hang on, darlin’.”

  * * *

  JADE STIRRED FROM unconsciousness and gasped. A male voice, gruff and concerned, floated to her through the darkness.

  The last thing she remembered was being knocked over the head and shoved into a freezer. She gasped again. She was suffocating. Lost in the darkness. She was going to die.

  “Jade, it’s okay, you’re in the hospital now.”

  The voice, gruff, worried, tender... Fletch.

  She opened her eyes and couldn’t believe she was looking at him. “Fletch?”

  A smile flickered onto his face. “Yeah, I’m here.”

  Confusion muddled her mind, then a shiver rippled through her as she relived the horror of seeing Halls’s dead wife in that freezer.

  “He killed his wife,” she said in a low whisper.

  Fletch stroked her hair from her forehead. “I know, I found her body just before I found you.” He lowered his head and laid it against her chest for a moment, then lifted it again. “God, Jade, I was afraid I’d find you the same way.”

  It was her turn to smile. She threaded her fingers in his hair, so grateful to see him that her chest ached. “No, not me. You know I’m tough.”

  He chuckled. “Still, you had me worried. You shouldn’t have gone off alone.”

  She licked her dry lips. “I didn’t want to cause problems between you and your brothers. I know how much they mean to you.”

  His breath rattled out, then he kissed her hand. “You mean a lot to me, too, Jade.”

  Her eyes flickered with surprise. “You know my name?”

  He nodded. She longed to tell him that she loved him. But that wouldn’t be fair, not when he didn’t know the real Jade. “I remember now. I know what happened.”

  He kissed her hand again. “I know who you are, about your undercover work.”

  Her heart fluttered. “You do?”

  He nodded, eyes searching hers. “Tell me what you remember.”

  “Everything,” she said. “When Halls took me into that house, it all came rushing back. He was the couples killer. My partner, Louie, and I were undercover in that neighborhood to catch him.”

  “And Halls made you two as detectives,” Fletch said.

  She nodded. “Louie... He took a bullet to save me.”

  Fletch gripped her hand. “Were you two...involved?”

  Tears threatened. “No, just good friends and partners. He taught me a lot about detective work.”

  Fletch nodded. “What do you remember about your personal life? Do you have someone special waiting for you?”

  “You mean, do I have a boyfriend?” she said softly.

  Fletch shrugged, but before she could answer, his brothers Liam and Jacob rapped on the door and stuck their heads in.

  Jade clenched the sheets. “Did you catch Halls?”

  * * *

  FLETCH WANTED THE answer to his question to Jade. But first, he needed to know if Halls was in custody.

  “Our agents caught up with him at the airport,” Liam said. “He was about to fly to South America.”

  “So he’s in custody?” Fletch asked.

  “Yes,” Liam said. “Thanks to you, Jade, and you, Fletch, for the evidence you collected, that bastard is going away for a long time.”

  Jacob offered Jade a sheepish smile. “I’m sorry I had to arrest you.”

  Jade’s mouth quirked. “You were just doing your job. I don’t understand where that evidence against me came from, though.”

  “Officer Clemmens, the one who contacted me, was on suspension for accepting bribes, but apparently he’d hacked back into the station’s system so he intercepted the missing persons inquiry. Halls paid him to fabricate the evidence to frame you. When he was arrested, he spilled everything.”

  “And the man on the trail, the bearded man I shot,” Jade said. “I remember him. His name was Otis Rigley. He was the man who killed my parents.”

  “Right,” Jacob said. “Halls helped him make parole and offered him money to finish you off.”

  “The man with the scar on his face,” Fletch interjected, “was a private investigator.”

  “I think I met him before. Was he working for Halls?” Jade asked.

  “No, it turns out the daughter of one of Halls’s victims hired him. He was onto Halls. Rigley killed him to get him off Halls’s scent.”

  Jade ran a hand through her hair. “So it’s really over, then?”

  Liam and Jacob nodded, and Fletch squeezed her hand. “It’s really over.”

  “One more thing,” Jacob said. “Your commanding officer called. You’re getting a commendation.”

  Jade shook her head. “I don’t want a commendation. I’m just glad Halls can’t hurt anyone else.”

  “He said to tell you to take some time off,” Jacob added. “To come back when you’re ready.”

  Fletch gritted his teeth. Jade was safe now. But her job was in Asheville. Would she return there now the case was solved?

  * * *

  JADE WAS SO relieved Halls was in jail she felt like sobbing. He had killed her partner and all those couples. And that private investigator. And his own wife...

  “Are you okay?” Fletch asked gruffly.

  She blinked back tears. “Just grateful Halls will pay for what he did.”

  “Me, too.” Fletch looked down at his hands, then back at her, his expression more closed than it was before his brothers had come in.

  “Fletch,” Liam said. “There’s more. That notebook and map you gave me. We got a hit on fingerprints.”

  “Yeah, whose were they?” Fletch asked.

  “Guy named Barry Inman,” Liam replied. “He was suing Whistler Hospital claiming negligence. According to the lawyer handling the claim for the hospital, Inman became unhinged after his wife’s death. Lawsuit was thrown out the day before the hospital fire.”

  “Apparently Inman threatened revenge,” Jacob said. “We have a BOLO out for him now to bring him in for questioning.”

  Hope flared in Fletch’s eyes. They finally had a possible lead on his father’s killer.

  “Will keep you posted,” Liam said. Then he and Jacob left the room.

  Jade tugged the sheet over her. “That’s good news.”

  Fletch shrugged. “It’s a start.”

  A heartbeat of silence fell between them. Fletch’s earlier question about her relationships taunted her.

  He cleared his throat. “Congratulations on the commendation. I guess you’re anxious to return to your job.”

  Jade twisted the sheet between her fingers. She’d thought they were on the verge of some kind of revelation about their feelings. But he seemed to be shutting down.

  Was he ready for her to leave town so he could go on with his life?

  “I think I’ll accept my boss’s offer to take some time off. It’s been a long few weeks.”

  “That’s understandable. You’ve been through a lot.” He stood. “I guess I should let you rest.”

  Jade watched him walk to the door with her heart in her throat. Was it really over between them?

  Keep running, Jade. One foot in front of the other. You have to escape him.

  That’s what she’d told herself over and over when Halls and his hired gunman had been after her.

  But she wasn’t running from them any longer.

  She’d had the courage to face her attacker. She had to have the courage to run toward what she wanted now.

  And she didn’t want her
relationship with Fletch to end.

  He opened the door and started to walk out, and she called his name. When he turned and looked at her, longing burned in his eyes.

  “You asked me a question before your brothers came in,” she said softly.

  He released the doorknob and closed the door. “I did. But you didn’t answer.”

  “Do you still want to know?”

  A tiny smile flickered in his eyes. “Yeah, I do.”

  Her heart fluttered. “I have feelings for a man,” she said quietly.

  His eyes twinkled, although uncertainty flickered there, as well. “You do?”

  “Yes, but I’m not sure he feels the same way.”

  He walked back over to the bed and looked down at her. “Tell me about him.”

  She tugged his hand in hers. “He’s brave and courageous. He rescues people in trouble,” she said. “He rescued me.”

  Fletch sank into the chair beside her bed again, then leaned toward her, his lips inches from hers. “Actually, it’s the other way around. You rescued him.”

  Hope overrode her insecurities. Maybe she wasn’t making a fool out of herself. “From what?”

  “From living a life without love.”

  Another heartbeat of silence stretched between them. “You have my love if you want it,” she said in a raw whisper.

  Fletch brushed his lips over hers. “I want it, Jade. I want you.” He kissed her tenderly, then placed his hand over his chest. “I love you with all my heart.”

  Hers burst with happiness. In the midst of a terrible blizzard, she and Fletch had found each other. They’d survived the elements and a murderer together.

  No more uncertainty or holes in the past.

  Now they could build a future based on the truth and on their love.

  And maybe...she’d use her skills to help him track down his father’s killer.

  * * *

  Look for more books in

  USA TODAY bestselling author Rita Herron’s

  Badge of Honor miniseries later in 2020.

  And don’t miss the previous book in the series:

  Mysterious Abduction

  Available now from Harlequin Intrigue!

  Keep reading for an excerpt from What She Did by Barb Han.

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  What She Did

  by Barb Han

  Chapter One

  “Skylar, it’s time to go,” Chelsea McGregor shouted up the stairs to her four-year-old daughter. She listened for the sounds of those still-small bare feet running on the creaky wood flooring of the new house in Jacobstown. Skylar’s energy never ceased to amaze Chelsea. The kid had two speeds: full-out and passed out. And she was being way too quiet for this hour of the morning.

  Chelsea called to her daughter again.

  At least they’d made it through the first night in a new house. The move to a new town in Texas, a fresh start, had been the only light of hope in Chelsea’s life since the first time she’d looked into her newborn baby’s eyes. In that moment of pure bliss, Chelsea had had no idea what was going on at home. Anything of value was being cleaned out of her house while both her personal and business accounts were also being drained by the man who’d promised to love and protect her for the rest of her life.

  Travis Zucker had robbed her blind, cost her her livelihood and, to be honest, her dignity. She’d been young and naïve in falling for a charmer. He’d charmed her right out of her life’s work.

  People talked about defining moments. That had been hers.

  When Travis hadn’t answered any of her texts while she was in labor, she’d gone from fearing her husband had gotten into a terrible car accident—because she’d thought there was no way he’d miss the birth of their daughter otherwise—to laboring for seventeen hours with her mother at her side, to shock followed by horror that she had a brand-new life to care for and no financial means to do it with. She and Skylar had moved in with Chelsea’s mother, whose health had been declining for years. Linda McGregor had high blood pressure and cholesterol, diabetes, and arthritis to name a few. Staying on top of her medications and having the money to pay for them had been a challenge.

  “Hey, Mom,” Chelsea shouted up the stairs to her mother, who was helping Skylar get dressed for preschool. “How’s it going up there?”

  Her mother appeared at the top of the wooden banister.

  “I sent her down.” Linda checked her watch. “Must’ve been at least five minutes ago.”

  “That’s odd. I didn’t hear her.” Chelsea spun around and scanned the long hallway past the boxes that had been stacked and pushed haphazardly against the wall.

  She immediately checked the hall bathroom but it was empty. Skylar might be playing a game. She loved hide-and-seek. Or she might be trying to avoid her first day at a new school.

  Skylar had to be upstairs. There was only one staircase in the house. It creaked and groaned even under the weight of a child. Chelsea had already flagged a couple of random nails sticking out that would need to be addressed soon. Her to-do list was growing considering the place hadn’t been updated or repaired in probably a good twenty years. None of the imperfections mattered. This house was a gift beyond measure.

  “Where are you, little bit?” Chelsea tried to regulate her breathing as her stress levels climbed. She reminded herself that the man who’d taken everything from her wouldn’t come back for their daughter. The fear was unrealistic. And yet it could be crippling when it struck. This was one of those moments.

  Chelsea reminded herself to breathe slowly as she checked behind boxes, shivering in the drafty hall. There was a door to a small storage space underneath the stairs. It was possible that Skylar could’ve tiptoed downstairs and slipped inside. Chelsea had been in the kitchen making Skylar’s lunch for her first day in a new school. A new month. A new house. A new lease on life.

  Her mother had agreed to come live with Chelsea in Jacobstown. Chelsea had said she needed help with Skylar to convince her mother to leave Houston but the reality was that she was worried about her mother. Her health was a concern and Chelsea needed to be able to keep an eye on her. A group of doctors in Fort Worth had a great reputation and Chelsea figured a change couldn’t hurt considering her mother’s Houston doctors seemed to be running out of ideas and inspiration. They’d played around with her mother’s medications, which had led to all kinds of side effects. Getting the balance right proved tricky.

  A cold front had blown in during the night. Seventy-five-degree temperatures had dropped into the low forties.

  Chelsea rubbed her arms to stave off the cold and called her daughter’s name again.

  Skylar didn’t so much as make a peep.

  Chelsea quickened her pace, knocking empty boxes out of her way as she locked her gaze onto the door underneath the stairs that had been made into a small coat closet.

  “Hey, sweet girl. Are you in here?” Chelsea opened the door with her heart in her throat. Her calm words belied her panic.

  There was no sign of Skylar.

  Now, Chelsea was jogging through the rooms, double-checking the small powder room near the kitchen.

  She returned to the bottom of the stairs and called up to her mother. “She’s not down here. Are you sure she isn’t upstairs with you?”

  “I’ll double-check her room.” There was worry in her mother’s voice, too.

  Chelsea ran to the kitchen.

  If Skylar was playing a joke, this wasn’t funny anymore.

  “Come on out of your hiding place.” Chelsea drummed up her I’m-not-kidding tone. He
r Serious Mom voice was nothing to mess with and maybe because she only used it as a last resort did it always work.

  She listened for sounds of movement. When none came, her heart lurched. She stormed toward the stairs, panic slamming into her with the force of a tornado, threatening to rip her apart and smack her into the ground when it was done with her.

  Chelsea broke into a run and by the time she hit the stairs her body was already trembling. She took the wooden steps two at a clip and then sprinted toward her daughter’s bedroom.

  What was it about her life that caused the walls to come tumbling down around her just when everything seemed to be clicking?

  “Skylar,” she said so loudly it startled her mother.

  “I can’t find her.” Linda squinted her eyes as her right hand went over her heart; habitual signs that she was out of options. It was also the expression she’d worn the few times Chelsea had asked about her own father.

  At a young age, Chelsea had realized the topic brought painful memories to her mother. She’d since learned not to ask.

  Once, her mother had asked twelve-year-old Chelsea to run and get muscle strain cream from her nightstand. When Chelsea had picked it up, accidentally knocking a book to the floor, a photograph had fallen out. The picture had been a younger version of her mother. Although, to be honest, Chelsea had barely recognized the woman with the carefree smile. She’d traced the beaming face with her index finger. Gone were the deep worry grooves from her forehead—a now-hardened face from years spent barely getting by on odd jobs. Her mother had had to sacrifice going to college to support Chelsea’s father, whom she later found out had been an aspiring photographer. She’d made the connection years afterward that he had taken the picture of her mother.

  Money had always been tight and Chelsea often wondered what had happened to her father. There’d been times when Chelsea and her mother had had to pick up in the middle of the night and leave all their belongings behind to avoid being forced out because her mother couldn’t pay the rent.