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Copyright © 2018 by Blake Pierce. All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior permission of the author. This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return it and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictionally. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. Jacket image Copyright Artem Oleshko, used under license from Shutterstock.com.
NEXT DOOR (Book #1)
A NEIGHBOR’S LIE (Book #2)
IF SHE KNEW (Book #1)
WATCHING (Book #1)
WAITING (Book #2)
LURING (Book #3)
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)
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)
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)
A TRACE OF DEATH (Book #1)
A TRACE OF MURDER (Book #2)
A TRACE OF VICE (Book #3)
A TRACE OF CRIME (Book #4)
A TRACE OF HOPE (Book #5)
PROLOGUE
At first, Janet Davis was aware of nothing except the terrible pain that rattled through her skull like a thousand castanets playing out of time.
Her eyes were closed. When she tried to open them, she was blinded by glaring white light, and she had to shut them again.
The light felt hot on her face.
Where am I? she wondered.
Where was I before … before this happened?
Then it began to come back to her …
She’d been out taking pictures in the marshes near Lady Bird Johnson Park. It was too late in the summer for the millions of daffodils there to be blooming, but the dogwood leaves were a beautiful deep green, especially around sunset.
She’d been standing in the marina photographing the shadowy boats and the beautiful play of the sunset on the water when she’d heard footsteps swiftly approaching her from behind. Before she could even turn to look, she’d felt a sharp crack on the back of her head, and the camera had flown out of her hands, and …
I lost consciousness, I guess.
But where was she now?
She was too dazed to feel really afraid yet. But she knew that fear would kick in soon.
Slowly she became aware that she was lying flat on her back on some hard surface.
She couldn’t move her arms or legs. Her hands and feet felt numb from tight restraints around her wrists and ankles.
But the weirdest sensation was of fingers all over her face, smearing something soft and moist on her hot skin.
She managed to croak out a few words.
“Where am I? What are you doing?”
When no reply came, she twisted her head, trying to escape the annoying movement of the gooey fingertips.
She heard a male voice whisper …
“Hold still.”
She had no intention of holding still. She kept twisting until the fingers moved away.
She heard a noisy, disapproving sigh. Then the light shifted so it wasn’t shining directly on her face anymore.
“Open your eyes,” the voice said.
She did so.
Gleaming in front of her was the sharp blade of a butcher knife. The tip of the knife came nearer and nearer to her face, making her eyes cross so that she saw the blade double.
Janet gasped, and the voice whispered again …
“Hold still.”
She froze, facing directly upward, but a spasm of terror surged through her body.
The voice hissed a command again.
“Still, I said.”
She willed her body to be still. Her eyes were open, but the light was painfully bright and hot, and she couldn’t see anything clearly.
The knife went away, and the fingers resumed smearing, this time around her lips. She gritted her teeth, and she could actually hear them grinding together with terrible pressure.
“Almost through,” the voice said.
Despite the heat, Janet was starting to shiver all over from fear.
The fingers began pressing around her eyes now, and she had to shut them again to keep whatever the man was smearing from getting into them.
Then the fingers moved away from her face, and she could open her eyes again. Now she could make out the silhouette of a grotesquely shaped head moving around in the blazing light.
She felt a terrified sob burst out of her throat.
“Let me go,” she said. “Please let me go.”
The