by Blake Pierce
Zoe smiled, feeling her heart squeeze in her chest, and looked down at the menu. She didn’t believe in luck or curses or witchcraft or even God, but she hoped the same. And if anything out there was looking out for her, maybe this would finally be the break that she needed to get her life to where it should be.
***
Zoe stood outside the door, waiting, her heart in her mouth. She looked down for the seventeenth time at the bouquet of flowers she had brought. Wasn’t that a pointless gesture? She wasn’t sure. But she had read online that it was appropriate, and so she had brought them, as if they could be any kind of replacement for a life.
The door opened with a sharp jerk, and Zoe’s breath caught in her throat, leaving her staring up at the occupant of the house with a sensation akin to a rabbit in the headlines.
“Zoe,” Harry Rose said, with an expression of surprise. Somewhere in the house behind him, Zoe could hear his and Shelley’s daughter singing a nursery rhyme off-key.
“Harry,” Zoe said, finding her voice with some effort. “I…”
She couldn’t find anything to say. Instead, she thrust the flowers forward at him, hoping he would take both them and the meaning behind them.
“I wondered if we would see you again,” Harry said, taking the bouquet with a slower hand. “It’s been…”
“Too long,” Zoe said. She blinked, finding tears filling her eyes, and cleared her throat. “I am sorry. I should have been here sooner.”
“No,” Harry said, slowly again. For a heart-breaking moment Zoe thought he would say she shouldn’t have come at all. “No, you had a lot to deal with. I know it can’t have been easy for you, either.”
“I blamed myself,” Zoe said, her voice strangled to a whisper. “I could not face you. Knowing what you lost…”
“It wasn’t your fault,” Harry said thickly, his own voice changing shape and timbre. “It wasn’t anyone’s fault but the man who did it. Why don’t you come inside? You don’t have to stand out on the street.”
Zoe nodded, grateful beyond words as she followed Harry into his home. Despite the loss of Shelley’s presence, it was still warm inside, and still full of life, and Amelia still smiled when she saw her mother’s old partner.
“Why don’t we talk about her?” Harry suggested, showing Zoe to a seat on the sofa. “Amelia likes that, don’t you, love?”
“It’s not too painful?” Zoe asked.
“No,” Harry said, and smiled, although his eyes were wet as he took an armchair to her left. “No, we like to remember her. And all of the wonderful things about her that we miss.”
“Then I have a few stories to tell,” Zoe said, leaning back against the cushions as Amelia clambered up beside her.
***
Zoe crossed the floor in her bare feet, sipping at the coffee she had just made and wincing at the heat. She set the mug down and sat back on the chair at her tiny dining table, studying the work she had done so far.
Painting was entirely new to her, and it was entirely strange. The idea of creating something that had no basis in numbers or patterns. Well, there was some: Zoe had found she was able to measure and mix paints with a startling degree of accuracy in order to reproduce the same shade over and over again, because after all, measurements were just numbers. And she had, on her first attempts, created paintings that were very uniform and correct, like Mondrian without the variance, until Dr. Applewhite told her to try something outside of her comfort zone.
It was all outside of her comfort zone, Zoe had tried to protest, but there was no excuse for not trying. And now she was finding something else, something magical: that when she stopped painting numbers and started to simply paint, the whole world went quiet around her.
She was never going to be a famous artist. Her portrait of Euler—her cat, not the mathematician—was accurate in dimension only; the brush technique left a lot to be desired. But that wasn’t the point of the exercise. The point was only to paint.
“What do you think?” Zoe asked, sitting back as Pythagoras leaped from the floor up to her lap, spying an opportunity to curl up and sleep on her. He mewed in response, whatever that meant. Zoe chuckled and stroked his fur, feeling the heavy rumble of his purr under her hand.
No, she was never going to be a famous artist. But she could be something else. A mentor, maybe, just like Dr. Applewhite had been for her. It had been the doctor’s idea: for Zoe to join the group of individuals that Dr. Applewhite was studying, all of them gifted with a synesthesia like hers, all able to see the world in different ways. Not as another subject, but as an aide to Dr. Applewhite herself, presenting an example for them to live up to. That it was possible to be successful in work and—she hoped—in life, even when you couldn’t see things the way others could. She was going to start leading a creative class next month, and she needed all the practice she could get until then.
Zoe looked away from the painting for a moment, out her window. On this clear and bright day, she could see all the way to the skyline of Washington, D.C., in the very far distance, or she fancied she could. Somewhere out there the J. Edgar Hoover Building was waiting for her, a promise of work to come, of more lives to save.
And for the first time in a long time, Zoe couldn’t wait.
NOW AVAILABLE!
A NEW SERIES!
GIRL, ALONE
(An Ella Dark FBI Suspense Thriller—Book 1)
“A MASTERPIECE OF THRILLER AND MYSTERY. Blake Pierce did a magnificent job developing characters with a psychological side so well described that we feel inside their minds, follow their fears and cheer for their success. Full of twists, this book will keep you awake until the turn of the last page.”
--Books and Movie Reviews, Roberto Mattos (re Once Gone)
GIRL, ALONE (An Ella Dark FBI Suspense Thriller—Book 1) is the debut novel in a long-anticipated new series by #1 bestseller and USA Today bestselling author Blake Pierce, whose bestseller Once Gone (a free download) has received over 1,000 five star reviews.
FBI Agent Ella Dark, 29, is given her big chance to achieve her life’s dream: to join the Behavorial Crimes Unit. Ella has a hidden obsession: she has studied serial killers from the time she could read, devastated by the murder of her own sister. With her photographic memory, she has obtained an encyclopedic knowledge of every serial killer, every victim and every case. Singled out for her brilliant mind, Ella is invited to join the big leagues.
But when a killer strikes in the swamps of Louisiana, Ella soon comes to learn that the real thing is nothing she could expect. Face to face with a real murder, a real killer, and a real ticking clock, Ella realizes she can’t rely on her knowledge. She must learn to trust her instinct, and allow herself to enter the dark canals of a real killer’s mind. If she gets it wrong, her career is at stake.
And so is the next victim’s life.
Will Ella’s talent be an asset? Or the source of her downfall?
A page-turning and harrowing crime thriller featuring a brilliant and tortured FBI agent, the ELLA DARK series is a riveting mystery, packed with suspense, twists and turns, revelations, and driven by a breakneck pace that will keep you flipping pages late into the night.
Books #2 and #3 in the series—GIRL, TAKEN and GIRL, HUNTED—are also available.
GIRL, ALONE
(An Ella Dark FBI Suspense Thriller—Book 1)
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 suspen
se 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)
ONCE PINED (Book #6)
ONCE FORSAKEN (Book #7)
ONCE COLD (Book #8)
ONCE STALKED (Book #9)
ONCE LOST (Book #10)
ONCE BURIED (Book #11)
ONCE BOUND (Book #12)
ONCE TRAPPED (Book #13)
ONCE DORMANT (Book #14)
ONCE SHUNNED (Book #15)
ONCE MISSED (Book #16)
ONCE CHOSEN (Book #17)
MACKENZIE WHITE MYSTERY SERIES
BEFORE HE KILLS (Book #1)
BEFORE HE SEES (Book #2)
BEFORE HE COVETS (Book #3)
BEFORE HE TAKES (Book #4)
BEFORE HE NEEDS (Book #5)
BEFORE HE FEELS (Book #6)
BEFORE HE SINS (Book #7)
BEFORE HE HUNTS (Book #8)
BEFORE HE PREYS (Book #9)
BEFORE HE LONGS (Book #10)
BEFORE HE LAPSES (Book #11)
BEFORE HE ENVIES (Book #12)
BEFORE HE STALKS (Book #13)
BEFORE HE HARMS (Book #14)
AVERY BLACK MYSTERY SERIES
CAUSE TO KILL (Book #1)
CAUSE TO RUN (Book #2)
CAUSE TO HIDE (Book #3)
CAUSE TO FEAR (Book #4)
CAUSE TO SAVE (Book #5)
CAUSE TO DREAD (Book #6)
KERI LOCKE MYSTERY SERIES
A TRACE OF DEATH (Book #1)
A TRACE OF MUDER (Book #2)
A TRACE OF VICE (Book #3)
A TRACE OF CRIME (Book #4)
A TRACE OF HOPE (Book #5)