by Linda Ladd
“My God, Buck, what’d you think happened to this guy?”
“I’d say murder. There are better ways to commit suicide. But could be that he was on drugs, high on PCP or something like that. Had a bad trip, went crazy, stripped off his clothes and tried to fly off that cliff up there.”
Claire considered that scenario and then shook her head. “Sounds reasonable. Except there aren’t any clothes up there. No car, either. No tire tracks. No footprints. No nothing. And this place is pretty much off the beaten path. I doubt if he would’ve walked out here buck naked in freezing winter weather and then decided to jump to his death. That’s just too farfetched.”
Buck glanced at her. “Yeah, but who knows what a suicidal crazy’s gonna do?”
“True.”
After another ten minutes, Shaggy turned off the blowtorch and helped the others hack out the lower portion of the frozen corpse with a couple of axes, and then load him on a stretcher, still in a sitting position.
“I guess we can’t identify him until he warms up,” Claire said, already knowing the answer.
“Not unless he’s got ID on him, but that doesn’t seem possible, given what he’s not wearing. I’ll take him back to the morgue tonight and put him under the lamps. You and Bud might as well go home, get some rest. Nothing else you can do until we get his name and I can go to work on him. And I hear that a second front’s movin’ in later tonight.”
“That means more idiotic people travelin’ the roads tomorrow,” Bud said. “And some more dents in my SUV. Great. Can’t wait.”
“Well, at least this gives us a reason not to have to direct traffic for a few days,” Claire cried out above the rattle of sleet pellets striking the rocks. “Come on, let’s take another look around topside and then go home. My gut tells me this isn’t suicide or drug-related, but we won’t know anything until tomorrow anyway. I’m about to freeze to death, and I’m not exaggerating.”
So they switched on their flashlights and trudged through more frigid drifts, slipping and sliding all over the damn place. Oh, yeah, she should definitely have listened to Black and taken a leave of absence and stayed in New Orleans for the rest of the winter. Or better yet, they should have flown to Tahiti and some serious sun and fun on some pristine and private golden beach paradise, which had been Black’s second suggestion and quite an enticement that had been, too. Oh, yeah, at the moment, that sounded like the perfect place to be, all right. She was beginning to hate winter, almost as much as Bud did. If that was even possible.
Linda Ladd is the bestselling author of over a dozen novels, including the Claire Morgan thrillers. Linda makes her home in Poplar Bluff, Missouri, where she lives with her husband. She has two adult children and two grandsons. In addition to writing, Linda works with preschoolers, administering diagnostic developmental tests, and is an avid reader and tennis player. She is currently at work on her next novel featuring Claire Morgan.
Learn more at lindaladd.com.
Mostly Fear
She suffered a terrifying coma. She survived a serial killer’s
obsession. Now homicide detective Claire Morgan hopes to forget
the nightmare of her Missouri past in the city of New Orleans.
But when a body is discovered near her home,
her darkest fears come rushing back …
Mostly Superstition
Surrounded by candles and skulls, the victim is bound to
an altar like a human sacrifice. More disturbing to Claire is
the voodoo doll in the woman’s hands. A doll pierced with pins
and wearing a picture on its face. A picture of Claire Morgan …
Mostly Murder
Claire doesn’t believe in voodoo. But she does believe in
the power of superstition to warp a person’s mind and
feed a killer’s madness. It is here, in the muddy bayous
where it festers, that Claire must face her fear head-on—
and meet the man who’s marked her for death …
Remember the Darkness
She can’t remember why he chose her—or what he did to her.
But Detective Claire Morgan knows that something terrible
happened to her the night a deranged serial killer
escaped from the mental ward. Looking for pleasure.
Looking for pain. Looking for her …
Remember the Terror
Recovering in a lakeside resort, Claire hopes to sort through her
broken memories. But after suffering a temporary coma she can
barely remember her own lover, psychiatrist Nicholas Black.
Would she be able to recognize her abductor if she saw him again?
If he came back for more … ?
Remember Murder
If only she could remember his face or his voice …
if only she could comprehend the evil in his mind
or the depths of his cruelty … if only she knew
just how close he is—to her and everyone she loves …
When the Mind …
His doctors are the best in the world, his father one of the most
powerful men in the state. But they couldn’t stop Mikey from
succumbing to his darkest demons—the ones inside his head.
The ones who told him it was time to end it all.
Plays a Deadly Game …
It should have been an open-and-shut case, especially since
detective Claire Morgan’s lover, Dr. Nicholas Black, recognized
Mikey as a troubled former patient. Then Claire finds another
body in Mikey’s home. Curled inside an oven, charred beyond
recognition, the method of murder mind-boggling …
of Murder
Claire’s only lead is a beaded bracelet, believed to ward off
the “evil eye,” around each victim’s wrist. But by the time she
discovers what the dead were afraid of, she’s trapped in a mind
game of her own—with a brilliant sadistic killer. And this time,
there’s a method to the madness …
LYRICAL UNDERGROUND BOOKS are published by
Kensington Publishing Corp.
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New York, NY 10018
Copyright © 2015 Linda Ladd
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of the publisher, excepting brief quotes used in reviews.
To the extent that the image or images on the cover of this book depict a person or persons, such person or persons are merely models, and are not intended to portray any character or characters featured in the book.
PUBLISHER’S NOTE
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
LYRICAL UNDERGROUND and the Lyrical Underground logo are trademarks of Kensington Publishing Corp.
First electronic edition: August 2015
ISBN: 978-1-6018-3386-0
First trade paperback edition: August 2015
ISBN-13: 978-1-60183-387-7
ISBN-10: 1-60183-387-0