With trembling hands, Lily Ronin holds tightly to the Smith and Wesson she swore never to touch. In the darkness she aims towards the one person she fears will kill her if she does not act. The ominous letter she found earlier that evening on her kitchen table runs through her mind. I’m watching you and I haven’t forgotten you, even though you've tried to forget me’. Is this person stumbling in the darkness towards her its writer? Tears fall freely from her eyes as she shakes her head in disbelief. With no options left, Lily closes her eyes and pulls the trigger.
Excerpt
It had been two hours since Dave had taken over the interrogation and Ben was becoming more and more agitated by the minute. There was other work to be done, other clues to find. He could not help but feel they were wasting precious time on this man.
Ben walked to the door and peered through the window. Ben’s mouth dropped and he quickly grabbed the door handle, swinging the door inward.
Dave jumped and turned to the door. His hand still held tightly to the man’s jugular. The man’s face was red and his eyes bulged out.
“Dave, God damn it. Get a grip. Let him go!” he hollered as he crossed the room and grabbed Dave’s arm. “What the hell are you doing?”
The look in his eyes was purely demonic. His pupils were large making his already dark brown eyes seem blacker and more evil.
“You said ‘no holds barred’,” he reminded him.
“Yeah, but not to the point where you jeopardize both our jobs.”
“Sheesh,” Dave mumbled as he released the grip on the man’s throat. “I almost had what we wanted.”
“What? Our only suspect dead?”
“No.”
“Then what Dave,” he hollered.
“He was just about to tell me where Mrs. Ronin is.”
Ben turned his gaze from his partner to the man who was now hunched over in his seat gasping for air.
“You know where she is?” he asked.
“No, but this asshole thinks I do.”
Ben turned from the man back to Dave.
“He doesn’t know anything Dave.”
“Yes he does,” Dave replied as he sat nonchalantly on the edge of the table. Crossing his arms across his chest, he smiled. “Ask him about the key.”
Ben turned back from his partner to the man.
“What about the key?”
“I aint telling you shit.”
Ben’s patience was wearing thin. Taking a step closer to the man, he hovered over him.
“If you don’t give me some answers then I will just have you arrested and you can sit in a small cell and get intimate with Kevin. He’s pretty lonely you know,” he added.
Ben watched as the man’s Adam’s apple moved up and down in his throat. He knew he was nervous and the thought of staying the night only made it worse.
“Okay, I’ll tell ya what ya want to know, but I want somethin’ in return.”
Ben and Dave turned to each other before meeting the man’s eyes.
“What?” Ben asked.
“I want my charges dismissed.”
“What? No way,” Dave snapped.
Standing from his position, he closed in on the man. Ben placed his arm out to stop him. Quickly he met his eyes and he stopped dead in his tracks. Ben turned back to the man.
“Start talking before I lose my patience.”
During the Christmas Season, servants Jane Meyers and Alfie Dawkins search for missing persons from opposite sides of the social spectrum: a homeless man and the Duke's son.
