Pretty Broken Dolls: An absolutely gripping crime thriller packed with mystery and suspense (Detective Katie Scott Book 6)

by Jennifer Chase

  Katie had to move fast. The thought of that height on the Ferris wheel made her nauseous and weak in the knees. By her estimation, she could climb up to Lizzy and free her, with the other ride covering her for about a minute, maybe two. It would have to be long enough and she would have to make the climb hoping that the ride would shield her.

  Katie got to her bloodied knees, stayed low, took the moment, and ran as fast as she could. Bullets sprayed all around her, hitting the metal ride. It sounded like a massive slot machine reverberating. There was a reprieve as the bullets momentarily ceased as Dawn was taking the time to reload another magazine.

  With luck as well as strength, Katie made it to the Ferris wheel. She crept to the side of the ride. She knew that she couldn’t take both guns and climb at the same time, so she tossed Agent Campbell’s gun up to where Lizzy was helplessly waiting. She heard it clatter as it dropped inside the cab.

  “Lizzy,” she said softly.

  To her relief, Lizzy moved and nodded down toward her. “I’m okay. I can’t get loose.” Her voice was weak and Katie knew that she was hurt, but would never concede to the pain or defeat. Lizzy was one of the toughest people she knew.

  Katie could see that her wrists were tied to the metal pieces next to her head. She wouldn’t be able to free herself without Katie’s help.

  A bullet whizzed by, seeming to come from farther away from her than the previous ones. Dawn must be circling around and trying to come up from behind—in an ambush.

  Katie took the opportunity to climb. It was difficult barefoot and in a dress, but she finally got her rhythm hand over hand on the metal pieces that spread out like a spider, making it easy to get to the cab. She ordered herself not to look down. Heights were one of her fierce enemies and it invited a host of unwanted feelings to bombard her. Fighting her lightheadedness and dropping stomach, she continued with fortitude.

  When Katie reached the cab, she climbed over and sat down next to Lizzy. She knew she had only seconds, not minutes, to free Lizzy. The knots were complicated, like the nautical ones from the Darla Winchell crime scene.

  Lizzy was only wearing jeans and a bra and Katie could see that her friend’s chest was already bruising—her mind flashed back to Darla Winchell’s chest in the medical examiner’s office. She knew that they didn’t have much time and that Lizzy needed medical attention immediately. Her breathing was erratic.

  “I can’t untie these knots,” said Katie as she began to panic.

  “In my… pocket… that stupid penknife…” she said weakly.

  “You still have that?” Katie quickly retrieved it and began cutting. It was slow going and she was only able to get one of Lizzy’s wrists free.

  The gunfire began again. This time coming from the opposite direction from before. Dawn was on the move.

  Katie knew that the only way she could save Lizzy and get out alive was to leave her friend and divert Dawn away from them both in order to take control of the situation.

  “Lizzy, I’ll be back, okay?”

  She smiled weakly and nodded.

  She hated leaving Lizzy in that condition and tears welled up in her eyes, but there was no other way to defuse the situation. Climbing over the side of the ride, Katie began to climb back down—which was harder than she’d expected. Her feet were numb, making it difficult to feel the metal bars. Her arms were weakening and she could feel her heart race in her chest.

  Two more gunshots sounded—getting closer.

  Katie hurried.

  In her haste, halfway down, she took a misstep, losing her balance and dangling precariously. She made the worst mistake and looked down. The ground wavered and appeared to be more like an abyss than fifteen feet. Her hands were sweaty and her grip was weakening by the second the lower she got. As she reached out, she missed the bar and plunged. Her left wrist hit a piece of the ride on her way to the ground. She hit the pavement hard, reverting to a tuck-and-roll method she had learned in the army, her head dizzy, making it impossible to see her surroundings clearly. The ground acted like a magnet, keeping her body pinned to the asphalt. Her stomach dropped and became queasy. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t get up so she rolled over onto her stomach, attempting to push herself up. Her head was heavy and her ears still rang from the impact, but she was relieved that she was on the ground.

  “Not so fast, Detective,” said Agent Haley. “Pretty pathetic, but that’s what all you military jerks are—at least in my eyes.” She stood over Katie with her gun pointed down at her.

  Katie realized she had lost her own gun when she fell and had no idea where it was.

  “You want to know why I killed those women?” she sneered.

  Katie couldn’t turn her head to look at her, but she wasn’t going back down or give in to the enemy.

  “Huh? You know why? Because I could—that’s why.” She laughed. There was no cutesy voice and wannabe agent of law and order now; there was only hate, rage, and revenge on her mind. Agent Haley was a shell of a person and wasn’t interested in finding herself.

  “That sounds more like a coward to me,” said Katie holding her ground.

  “Oh, I know I’m not high-minded like you, but now I get to rid the world of special army princesses who always get what they want,” she crowed and managed to give a chuckle. “But I got my revenge before I killed them. Terrorizing them to remove their tattoos, to remove everything related to their K9 time. They didn’t deserve it. It wipes everything away. I know I will sleep better.”

  Katie managed to turn her body to face the agent. She was dressed in army fatigues despite not being in the military—more than likely having been expelled on a dishonorable discharge. She didn’t know for sure, but it didn’t matter at this point.

  “That’s good. You should look at the person who’s going to shoot you in the face.”

  “No matter how hard you try, you’re never going to change your past. It is what it is… you’re the daughter of a murdered drug addict.”

  “She had me when she was addicted and on the street.” She stepped closer. “When I was taken away, she never looked for me. She always told me that I would be nothing. She just left me there so that those monsters could have their way with me in foster home after foster home. Her demise was an inspiration to me. It was only fitting that those women got what they deserved in that way. Publicly.”

  “You have a chance to rise above that situation, Dawn. You can do it right now. Show the world that you are stronger and better than all the others…”

  She shook her head adamantly as if she tried to convince herself that she never got a fair shake. “I am better than the others, my mother, and I’m better than you. Goodbye, Detective Scott.”

  A shot was fired, but not from the agent’s gun; it had come from above. Lizzy had shot the junior agent with Campbell’s gun.

  Katie leaned back against the ride, relieved, tired, and glad that everything was over. She looked at the woman who could’ve had a life, but let her past overtake and corrode her. Her wide open, lifeless eyes stared upward to the stars—she was dead. The bullet had pierced her chest and blasted her heart into pieces.

  Sirens approached.

  “We’re going to be okay, Lizzy,” she said. Closing her eyes, she tried not to let the tears fall but they did.

  Katie could hear voices yelling and the sound of police-issue boots hitting the pavement and heading in their direction.

  “We’re here!” yelled Katie. “It’s okay…”

  McGaven finally appeared with John at his side followed by several deputies. They rushed to Katie and helped her up. “You okay?”

  “I think so,” she said, feeling dizzy as her surroundings whirled like the nearby merry-go-round. “Get Lizzy to the hospital… and there’s a wounded security guard near the employee area… Oh, and Agent Campbell is dead.”

  The officers and John began to rescue Lizzy from the ride, gently lowering her to safety.

  “We need a couple of ambulances
,” McGaven ordered the deputies. “Now!” He turned back to Katie. “C’mon, let’s get you out of here.”

  “I never want to go to the fair again,” she said. “Ever.”

  McGaven wrapped his arm around her, to help her walk. “Nice dress. What happened to your shoes?”

  “A funny story…”

  Chapter Fifty-Two

  Two weeks later

  Friday 1600 hours

  “I, Sean Patrick McGaven, do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of California against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of California; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties upon which I am about to enter.”

  “As sheriff of the Pine Valley Sheriff’s Department in Sequoia County, California, you have been officially promoted from deputy sheriff to detective.” He handed a detective shield to McGaven and shook his hand. “You’ve earned it.”

  “Thank you, sir,” he said.

  Cheers erupted from the audience.

  McGaven turned toward the crowd with his shield held high in the air and let out a whoop and holler.

  It was a beautiful day. Spring was near and nature beginning to bloom. It was a perfect day to celebrate McGaven’s promotion. Katie whistled along with the group from the department, and with Denise, John, and Lizzy.

  Her friend Lizzy had been convalescing and Katie had been enjoying this longer visit. Lizzy was expected to make a full recovery from her injuries and planned to return to the coast and begin her new job in another two weeks.

  McGaven said, “Hey, we’re all going to Danny’s. You coming, Katie?” He had Denise in tow with her young daughter.

  “Wouldn’t miss it. See you all there,” said Katie smiling, but feeling a bit melancholy and lonely. Her shoulder and wrist still ached causing her to recount the events at the fairgrounds. They were beginning to fade and would soon only be a distant memory. She wasn’t sure if she was up for a party but it was overdue for McGaven to be promoted to detective and she wanted to support her partner.

  Everyone left the area, laughing, along the way to their cars.

  “You okay?” asked her uncle as he caught up to her. This time he sounded like her uncle, and not the sheriff.

  “Sure, I’m fine.”

  “You take care of yourself. Understand? You’ve earned some more time off and I’m going to make sure you take it.” He squeezed her hand and then disappeared into the group.

  Katie walked to her Jeep where Cisco waited for her. His large head stuck out the window, getting some good air scents.

  “Hey, big guy,” she said and petted him. “It’s you and me.” She continued to pet him for a few moments.

  “Hey, can I get a ride?”

  Katie turned in surprise and couldn’t help herself as she ran up to Chad, hugging him tightly. “I missed you so much,” she said, kissing him. “How… I mean, why are you here?”

  “What? I can’t go to a friend’s promotion party? Besides, when were you going to tell me about everything that went on at the fairgrounds? I had to hear about it second hand.”

  “I’m fine. Everything is okay and we closed our cases.” She couldn’t look directly into his eyes as she recalled the last images of the events at the fairgrounds.

  “Can you forgive me for being so stupid?”

  Katie loosened her hug. “For what?”

  “I wasn’t thinking.”

  “You mean about your fire investigator training? But that’s your dream. I would never stand in the way of that.”

  “I’m truly sorry how I sprung it on you and then left. That’s not fair. There’s going to be a training program in Sacramento later this fall where I can go during the week and come home to Pine Valley on the weekend.”

  Katie was relieved and so happy he was home. “That sounds great.” Something was missing in her life without him—now things were back the way it was supposed to be.

  “I’m home now. I will always be with you.”

  “I like the sound of that,” she said.

  “Home or being with you?”

  “Both.”

  He kissed her. “Let’s get to that party.”

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  Books by Jennifer Chase

  Detective Katie Scott Series

  Little Girls Sleeping

  Her Last Whisper

  Flowers on Her Grave

  Last Girls Alive

  The Fragile Ones

  Pretty Broken Dolls

  Emily Stone Series

  Compulsion

  Dead Game

  Dark Mind

  Dead Burn

  Dark Pursuit

  Dead Cold

  Chip Palmer Series

  Scene of the Crime

  Body of the Crime

  Standalones

  Silent Partner

  Short Stories

  First Watch

  Never Forgotten

  Available in Audio

  Little Girls Sleeping (Available in the UK and the US)

  Her Last Whisper (Available in the UK and the US)

  Flowers on Her Grave (Available in the UK and the US)

  Last Girl Alive (Available in the UK and the US)

  The Fragile Ones (Available in the UK and the US)

  A Letter from Jennifer

  I want to say a huge thank you for choosing to read Pretty Broken Dolls. If you did enjoy 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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  The Katie Scott thriller series has continued to be a special project for me. Forensics and criminal profiling has been something that I’ve studied considerably and to be able to incorporate it into crime fiction has been a thrilling experience. This series has been one that I've wanted to write for a while.

  One of my favourite activities, outside of writing, has been dog training. I’m a dog lover, if you couldn’t tell by reading this book, and I loved creating a supporting canine character for my police detective. I hope you enjoyed Cisco’s appearances as well.

  I hope you loved Pretty Broken Dolls and if you did I would be very grateful if you could write a review. 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,

  Jennifer Chase

  www.authorjenniferchase.com

  Little Girls Sleeping

  Detective Katie Scott Book 1

  Order it now!

  She looked at the smiling, eager face of the little girl in the photograph, with dark hair, bright-green eyes, a missing front tooth, and her entire life ahead of her. Chelsea was last seen walking back from a friend’s house one summer afternoon. She never made it home…

  An eight-year-old girl, Chelsea Compton, is missing in Pine Valley, California and for Detective Katie Scott it’s a cruel reminder of the friend who disappeared from summer camp twenty years ago. Unable to shake the memories, Katie vows she won’t rest until she discovers what happened to Chelsea.

  But as Katie starts to investigate – her PTSD flashbacks kept at bay with the help of her loyal ex-military dog, Cisco – the case reveals itself to
be much bigger and more shocking than she feared. Deep in the forest, she unearths a makeshift cemetery: a row of graves, each with a brightly coloured teddy bear.

  Tracing the silk lining the coffins, Katie links the graves to a stack of missing-persons cases involving young girls – finding a pattern no one else has managed to see. Someone in Pine Valley has been taking the town’s daughters for years, and Katie is the only one who can stop them.

  And then another little girl goes missing, snatched from the park near her home…

  Compulsive and gripping crime fiction for fans of Lisa Regan, Rachel Caine, and Melinda Leigh. Katie Scott’s first case will have you on the edge of your seat and gasping with shock.

  Her Last Whisper

  Detective Katie Scott Book 2

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  Katie focuses her mind, trying to keep another anxiety attack at bay. The victim’s long brown hair is slick and wet, her body rigid in the grass. She looks more like a mannequin than the woman Katie had spoken with only yesterday, the woman she had promised to protect…

  When a cold, naked body is discovered by a couple on a jog through the lush woodlands of Pine Valley, California, new recruit Detective Katie Scott is stunned to discover the victim is Amanda Payton – a much-loved local nurse and the woman at the heart of an unsolved case she’s been investigating whilst getting a grip on her crippling PTSD.