by Gregg Olsen
Hate felt better than regret. Better than guilt or shame.
The Berkley house was rented three days after it went up for lease—fast by anyone’s standards, especially considering what had occurred in that upstairs bathroom. A new girl named Amanda O’Neal moved into Katelyn’s bedroom and was working her way into the circle of friends at Kingston High.
Next door, a vindicated Jake Damon stood by button-pusher Mindee Larsen, though he was about the only one in town who really did. Mindee tried her best to prove that she was sorry for the cruel game that she had initiated to such a tragic outcome, and she was grateful when the Kitsap County Prosecutor’s Office gave her probation for her relentless cyberstalking of a teenage girl. She never told anyone that Starla had been involved too. Teagan was required to attend two years of counseling sessions to deal with what he’d done. It had, of course, been a terrible accident.
Starla turned her mother’s evil plot and her brother’s freak-show infatuation with Katelyn to her advantage, causing even more Kingston High teens to fall at her feet in awe. In envy.
“My dysfunctional family is part of my backstory,” she said. “A messy backstory is essential to true stardom. Ask just about anyone in Hollywood.”
Moira Windsor’s body was recovered and her death was also ruled accidental. The Jefferson County sheriff’s department reported that while her blood-alcohol level wasn’t beyond the legal limit had she been driving, it apparently was much too high to walk with sure footing. They concluded it was the booze that had caused her to tumble down the bank to her rocky death in Paradise Bay.
Neither Colton nor his mother talked about what happened that night. In fact, a week after Moira died, people in town noticed that the old Camry was gone. Shania James had donated it to a children’s charity in Tacoma.
When Kevin Ryan called the North Kitsap Herald to launch his new book, he mentioned Moira’s name to offer his condolences to the editorial staff. They’d never heard of her. If she had been working on a story, it wasn’t for their newspaper.
Or maybe any other paper at all.
Hayley and Taylor continued to talk through the outlet between their bedrooms. They knew they had to keep quiet about Shania, but everything about that night kept resurfacing in their thoughts during the weeks after the incident. They were relieved their secret was safe. But did the ends justify the means?
They continued to get the feelings and visions that had been a part of them long before that plunge off the bridge. Whenever they could, they revisited what occurred when they were five years old and fighting for air in the icy waters of Hood Canal.
Sometimes they talked about it, speculated, even made jokes. Other times, new details emerged in dreams, bits about Shania, their mother, Moira and someone else, someone sinister they couldn’t quite see. Taylor had one that came over a series of consecutive nights the week after Teagan confessed to sneaking into Katelyn’s bedroom.
That dream again. Official-looking papers. A file. One word:
REVENGE
She rubbed her eyes and leaned over to whisper to her sister on the other side of the wall.
“Going to get a drink,” she said. “Want anything?”
“What time is it?” Hayley asked. Her voice was groggy from what had to be a much sounder sleep than her twin’s.
Taylor sighed. “Late. Too late.”
“You aren’t going to guzzle some water to recall something,” Hayley said.
“No,” Taylor said. “Just thirsty.”
Hayley smiled and turned to roll back into the cozy slumber of the bed she shared with Hedda that night. “Good,” she said. “We’ve had enough drama around here for a while.”
Hayley was right, of course. And yet, as Taylor started down the stairs, she knew that the deep chill that came with that terrible December was the start of something dark and dangerous.
She could feel it.
* * *
Can’t get enough of the Ryan twins? A shocking crime is about to rock the small town of Port Gamble, and Hayley and Taylor are the key to solving the mystery. Get Dying to Be Her now!
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Dying to Be Her
Port Gamble Chronicles Book 2
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Just as the lightning bolt of memory passed, a pair of hands grabbed Olivia’s shoulders and shoved her body backwards against the wooden floor. I’m not going to die here, am I? she thought, though the answer seemed all too clear. Am I?
Port Gamble, Washington: When the body of English exchange student Olivia Grant is found at the palatial home of local schoolgirl, Brianna Connors, the town assumes that it’s a Halloween prank gone wrong. But when Brianna and her boyfriend Drew are spotted casually shopping the next day, people start to talk: how could they be so unaffected by Olivia’s death?
Twins Hayley and Taylor Ryan have received signs from beyond the grave for as long as they can remember. As the local police piece together the mystery, the girls begin to receive messages suggesting that something darker was at play that night. The killer had a target and they’re not done yet.
When the prime suspects disappear, the twins know that time is running out. But to get to the killer, they will first need to confront a close family member who harbors a long-held secret and has committed the ultimate act of betrayal.
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author comes an unputdownable thriller about two girls’ hunt to find a killer on the run, with a touch of supernatural help. Perfect for fans of Melinda Leigh, Robert Dugoni and James Patterson.
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Hear More from Gregg
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Books by Gregg Olsen
Port Gamble Chronicles
Beneath Her Skin
Dying to Be Her
Detective Megan Carpenter series
Snow Creek
Water’s Edge
Silent Ridge
Lying Next to Me
The Last Thing She Ever Did
The Sound of Rain (Nicola Foster Thriller Book 1)
The Weight of Silence (Nicola Foster Thriller Book 2)
Available in audio
Detective Megan Carpenter series
Snow Creek (Available in the UK and the US)
Water’s Edge (Available in the UK and the US)
Silent Ridge (Available in the UK and the US)
A Letter from Gregg
I want to say a huge thank you for choosing to read Beneath Her Skin. If you enjoyed it and want to keep up to date with all my latest releases, just sign up at the following link. Your email address will never be shared and you can unsubscribe at any time.
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I come from the rainy and murderous Pacific Northwest near Seattle. We know a thing or two about murder here because we’ve had some of the most notorious serial killers call our neck of the woods home. I can look across the water from my home and see the city where Ted first killed a girl. Gary Ridgway, the Green River Killer, dumped several bodies in a cluster within a mile or two of where I worked at the time. And better (or worse) yet, Robert Lee Yates, a serial killer from Spokane, dumped a body one road over from where I live today.
Here’s the thing… my characters are rooted in experiences I’ve had as a true crime writer. Hanging out with cops, talking to victims of crimes and living in a wonderfully dreary place, are the creative forces behind my novels.
I hope you loved Beneath Her Skin and if you did I would be very grateful if you could write a review. Reviews are your way of introducing other to books that have intrigued or maybe even scared you. I’d love to hear what you think, and it makes such a difference helping new readers to discover one of my books for the first time.
I love hearing from my readers—you can get in touch on my Facebook page, through Twitter, Goodreads or my website.
/> Thanks,
Gregg Olsen
www.greggolsen.com
Snow Creek
Detective Megan Carpenter Book 1
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Footprints were scattered about like fallen leaves. She looked down into the ravine, and once more her lungs filled with fear. A body, blackened and motionless lay splayed out in the bushes.
When Ruth Turner walks into the Sheriff’s office in Jefferson County’s Port Townsend claiming her sister Ida Watson has been missing for over a month, Detective Megan Carpenter’s instincts tell her that she needs to do more than just file a report.
Racing over to Ida’s secluded farmhouse in the hills above Snow Creek, Megan finds Ida’s teenage children alone and frightened. She can’t help but notice there’s no TV. No video games. Nothing of the outside world. Something about the Watson family doesn’t add up.
Then the body of a woman is discovered in an abandoned pickup truck close to the Watsons’ home and Megan’s convinced the cases are connected.
If she has any chance of catching the killer, Megan must first unravel the secrets of the isolated Snow Creek community.
But Megan has dark secrets of her own too. Hidden in the back of her closet is a box of tapes containing every single recording of her therapy sessions over thirteen years ago. Can she finally confront the past she’s spent years trying to block out? And will reliving her own painful story help her solve the complex case before another innocent life is lost?
From the Number One New York Times, Wall Street Journal, USA Today and Amazon Charts bestselling author, comes an absolutely heart-stopping and completely unputdownable crime series, introducing Detective Megan Carpenter.
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Water’s Edge
Detective Megan Carpenter Book 2
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The young woman’s body is lying with her arms stretched out to each side. Her lips slightly parted. Her face untouched by injury and her hair spread around her head like a fan. A redhead. Just like the others.
When the body of Leann Truitt is found in a secluded cove in Mystery Bay, Detective Megan Carpenter is one of the first on the scene. The victim has tell-tale marks on her wrists, ankles and neck where she has been bound. But that’s not all. Next to Leann’s body lies a puzzling clue—an unusual symbol scratched into a rock.
With rookie Deputy Ronnie Marsh under her wing and the investigation underway, Megan starts to receive disturbing messages. Someone knows about her traumatic past. They know what she did.
Determined to stay focused, Megan soon makes a chilling link between Leann’s brutal killing and the unsolved murder cases of two other women—all redheads with the same marks on their bodies, the same symbol carvings found at the crime scenes, and most shockingly, all had been pregnant.
The killer stalks his prey, kidnapping and torturing them in a very exact and methodical pattern. And he is not finished yet…
When the body of another woman is found bearing a striking resemblance to the other victims, Megan must crack the clues fast if she is to catch the twisted soul before they strike again.
Megan might be closing in on the killer, but someone is watching her every move. Can Megan hide the secrets of her past threatening to destroy her future? And can she protect herself and Ronnie before they both find themselves in terrible danger?
An addictive, gripping and completely unputdownable crime thriller from the Number One New York Times and Amazon Chart bestselling author.
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Silent Ridge
Detective Megan Carpenter Book 3
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They say your past can come back to haunt you. For Detective Megan Carpenter, her past might just come back to kill her.
Detective Megan Carpenter is no stranger to horrifying crime scenes, but when she arrives at the home of a woman whose body has been brutalized, Megan is shocked to discover that she knows the victim. Monique Delmont helped Megan when she was in danger years ago. And the killer has left a disturbing calling card… two laminated photographs of a sixteen-year-old high school girl – Megan.
Someone is taunting her in the worst way possible and Megan is convinced she knows who is responsible. She just has to find him.
With the help of her new partner, Deputy Ronnie Marsh, Megan begins to unravel the clues that will lead them to the killer including links to three female murder cases from nearly twenty years ago – one of which was Monique’s daughter.
But to protect those closest to her, Megan must continue to hide the dark truth of her past, even if that means lying to her team about her connection to Monique.
When two photographs of a teenage Megan are found at her boyfriend’s place in Snow Creek, she knows the killer is circling and ready to strike again.
Can she get to him before he finds her? And will she pay the ultimate price for trying to keep her terrifying past buried?
An addictive edge-of-your-seat crime thriller from the Number One, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, USA Today and Amazon Chart bestselling author.
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Acknowledgments
Thanks to the usual suspects: agent Susan Raihofer of the David Black Literary Agency, and readers Tina Marie Brewer, Maizey Nunn, Annette Anderson, Mary Anderson, Hannah Smith, Jessica Wolfe, Anjali Banerjee, Randall Platt, Shana Smith and Jim Thomsen.
I am grateful to the awesome Bookouture team: Claire Bord, Laura Deacon, Radhika Sonagra, Alexandra Homes, Chris Lucraft, Alex Crow, Kim Nash, Noelle Holten and Natalie Butlin. To my copyeditor Janette Currie, proofreader Maddy Newquist and, last but not least, cover designer Lisa Horton. Each of you are innovators and masters of disciplines and programs that are unrivaled anywhere in the world. Thank you all!
On a personal note, I can’t ignore the contributions of my family. We’ve traipsed through crime scenes, looked for body parts in the woods and had some killer conversations—literally—with people on either side of homicide. Thanks and love to Claudia, and our girls, Marta and Morgan, for sharing my life of crime.
We – both author and publisher – hope you enjoyed this book. We believe that you can become a reader at any time in your life, but we’d love your help to give the next generation a head start.
Did you know that 9% of children don’t have a book of their own in their home, rising to 13% in disadvantaged families*? We’d like to try to change that by asking you to consider the role you could play in helping to build readers of the future.
We’d love you to get involved by sharing, borrowing, reading, buying or talking about a book with a child in your life and spreading the love of reading. We want to make sure the next generation continues to have access to books, wherever they come from.
Click HERE for a list of brilliant books to share with a child – as voted by Goodreads readers.
Thank you.
*As reported by the National Literacy Trust
Published by Bookouture in 2021
An imprint of Storyfire Ltd.
Carmelite House
50 Victoria Embankment
London EC4Y 0DZ
www.bookouture.com
Copyright © Gregg Olsen, 2011, 2021
Gregg Olsen has asserted his right to be identified as the author of this work.
Previously published in 2011 as Envy by Sterling Publishing.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in any retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publishers.
eBook ISBN: 978-1-80019-509-7
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places and events other than those clearly in the public domain, are either 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.