Forgotten Sins
Page 32
She rubbed his thick fur, careful not to touch his scars. He’d been wounded when she’d found him, and she was the only person he’d allow close. For a brief moment, she’d feared he’d been danger.
“Thank goodness you’re all right,” she crooned.
Matt locked the door and leaned against it, broad arms crossed. “I take it that’s Eugene?”
“Yes.” She smiled as Eugene purred like a diesel. “I thought maybe—” Oh. Too much information to the stranger.“Nothing.”
Matt frowned. “Maybe what?”
“Nothing.” She relaxed. “He’s fine.”
“Why wouldn’t he be?” That gray gaze narrowed on her.
She cleared her throat, feeling suddenly like a specimen on a slide. “Life isn’t always smooth, even in a small town.” Life was also too short to spend time dumping her problems on a guy who had enough of his own.
“Are you in trouble, sweetheart?” he asked softly, pushing off from the door.
Yes. Definitely. Trouble with all capital letters stood before her like every dangerous fantasy a girl had about tattooed bad boys on motorcycles. “No. By the way, there’s a room upstairs you can rent by the week while you’re here.”
Matt stepped into her space, bringing warmth and the scent of male. One knuckle tipped up her chin. “Sounds perfect. You saved me in the alley, and I owe you. So while I’m here, you’re going to let me take care of whatever put that frightened look in your eyes.”
The absolute strength and determination across his face should scare her. Yet, lava burned through her veins instead of fear. While she had issues, no doubt the biggest threat stood before her with hard muscles and bloody jeans—because against all caution, she wanted to avoid reality and jump into the heat.
That’s how a woman already in danger got burned.
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She thought she’d left the murders—and his obsession—behind…
Special Agent Jess Harris has spent more than a decade studying the many faces of evil. In her determination to stop a serial killer, she broke the rules, and it cost her everything. With her career in need of resuscitation and her love life dead and buried, Jess jumps at a chance to advise on a case that has the top detectives of Birmingham, Alabama, stumped. But the case forces her to confront all the reasons she put her hometown—and her first love—in her rearview mirror.
Four young women have gone missing, and Police Chief Dan Burnett will do anything to find them before it’s too late—even if it means asking for help from the woman who has spent a decade avoiding him. Jess agrees to lend a hand and welcomes the diversion of a new case, a new life to save to make up for the victims she’s lost. But then the unthinkable happens: the crazed serial killer from her past follows Jess to Birmingham. The situation is becoming increasingly desperate—and time is swiftly running out…
* * *
Her nightmare isn’t over yet…
The Player is a master in the art of torture and murder. No one had ever gotten close to capturing him until Special Agent Jess Harris targeted him with her relentless determination. Jess’s actions may have cost her a job with the bureau, but the Player still wants his vengeance and he’ll make Jess pay in ways she never imagined. The first victim is Jess’s friend—and the killer won’t stop there. With each new death, Jess becomes more certain that the only way to stop the Player is to give him what he really wants: her.
Chief of Police Dan Burnett is determined to give Jess her confidence and her life back. With an offer on the table, a position as deputy chief of a new division, can Jess risk staying in her hometown and putting those around her in more danger? Or will she walk away to protect everyone she loves—including Dan, who just may want her back in his arms? The stakes are high, and a single impulse will determine who survives the Player’s final, deadly game…
* * *
Agent Jess Harris is back in another thrilling installment of Debra Webb’s Faces of Evil series.
Jess is ready to start the next chapter in her life as the new deputy chief of Birmingham’s major crimes division. But with her first love, Chief of Police Dan Burnett, acting as her new boss, it looks like Jess won’t be able to put the past behind her that easily.
Jess has decided to focus all of her attention on work when a celebrated ballet instructor is found dead by one of her students. Though Jess’s instincts tell her otherwise, the death is ruled an accident, and the case is assigned to another division. Still, Jess can’t shake the feeling that there’s more to the story, and her investigation leads her into the worlds of Birmingham’s gang culture and its powerful elite.
Now Jess’s investigation has dug a little too deep, and there’s a target painted on her own forehead. Will she be able to solve the crime before her own life is in jeopardy?
* * *
When Jess Harris moved back to her Alabama hometown, she thought she’d left her past behind her. But the bloodbath the new major crimes deputy chief finds at a murder scene is beyond even the savagery of Eric Spears, the serial killer who now haunts Jess’s life with terrifying text messages. Amid eerie echoes of the Charles Manson massacre, Jess investigates the dismemberment of a cop’s wife while her baby lay sleeping down the hall.
The discovery of two more headless victims makes Jess wonder if it’s a gang-related slaying, a personal vendetta… or something else. And the sudden reappearance of her ex-husband makes her question her future with Chief of Police Dan Burnett. Now as the net widens to include a shocking suspect, Jess realizes that the identity of the killer may lie with an autistic eight-year-old boy. With inner-city tensions at an all-time high and the community calling for blood, Jess must race to save an innocent child—and prevent a final, horrifying act of rage.
* * *
The fifth novel in Debra Webb’s bestselling Faces of Evil romantic suspense series.
Twelve years ago, the “Five” were on top of the world. They were rich, popular, and about to head off to Ivy League universities. The world was theirs for the taking. It was their last weekend in Birmingham before going away and one final intense party was a must. But what was the point of being on top of the world if there was no one to look down on?
The Five invited two social outcasts in the graduating class to their final party, and set the loser games in motion. One of the two “losers” refused to play. He begged his friend to leave with him, but his friend was determined to stay. He was sick of being called a loser and a coward. The next morning he was dead. The police ruled his death a suicide. One shot to the head. Gunpowder residue on his hand.
A dozen years later all but one of the Five remains suc
cessful and frequents the Magic City’s lifestyle pages. An invitation to a very special class reunion brings the Five face-to-face with the past and the warning that they’re all going to pay, one by one. And then a new game is set in motion.
The first bizarre murder scene has Jess Harris and her team scrambling to translate the message the killer is sending. One thing is clear—he is far from finished.
* * *
The sixth novel in Debra Webb’s bestselling Faces of Evil romantic suspense series will leave you sleeping with the lights on!
The sadistic serial killer known as the Player is taunting Deputy Chief Jess Harris with pictures of his next victims. Only one thing could distract her from the Player’s latest deadly game: the discovery of a child’s remains.
For years Birmingham’s children were vanishing—one a year, always on a full moon—until the disappearances stopped and the Man in the Moon case went cold. No leads on the children were ever found—until now.
But after years of silence, has the Man in the Moon really resurfaced? Or is he just another pawn in the Player’s game?
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Contents
Cover
Title Page
Welcome
Dedication
Acknowledgments
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
About the Author
A Preview of the Next Book in the Series
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Newsletters
Copyright
Copyright
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
Copyright © 2013 by Rebecca Zanetti
Excerpt from untitled Rebecca Zanetti book copyright © 2013 by Rebecca Zanetti
Cover design by Diane Luger. Cover art by Larry Ronstant.
Cover copyright © 2013 by Hachette Book Group, Inc.
All rights reserved. In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the publisher is unlawful piracy and theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), prior written permission must be obtained by contacting the publisher at permissions@hbgusa.com. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.
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First ebook edition: July 2013
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ISBN 978-1-4555-7443-8
Table of Contents
Cover
Title Page
Welcome
Dedication
Acknowledgments
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
About the Author
A Preview of the Next Book in the Series
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Newsletters
Copyright