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Logline
Josie Stevens hunts serial killers for a living. When bodies turn up in her hometown, she's Fenelon's best chance, even if she has to partner up with the Police chief, the first love she's never forgotten and the only man to break her heart.
Blurb
When Josie Stevens left home, she left with her heart in tatters and a desire to escape the pain. Now she's rebuilt herself, as the leader of an elusive task force that hunts Serial Killers. She's strong, independent and ready for anything... or so she thought. When she gets the call that her hometown is being hunted by a monster, she realizes she's definitely not ready to confront her past or the first love that haunts her.
First 1,000 Words
Prologue
(June 2020)
(Killers POV)
From the edge of the cliff, the people below me fluttered like drunken flies. Directionless. Except I finally gave them a direction. My heart had been racing non-stop, ever since I had phoned in the tip.
This was happening, I was coming out of the shadows, and it would be glorious.
Maybe now the town of Fenelon would notice me. Lord knows I was tired of being invisible. A smile lit up my face as a shout sounded from below and I shivered with delight. They found one!
Immediately after hanging up, I had holed up here with a six-pack of Canadian and all my favourite snacks hoping that someone would come tonight. I hadn't been disappointed when Fenelon's own Chief of Police, Lincoln Sawyer had driven up on an ATV, with his deputy Sam right beside.
The flavours of the popcorn and the beer mingled as I considered whether it was possible to get a closer look. The show was in full swing, and I was tempted to take center stage. Not worth it. Too risky. I didn't want to get caught, I just needed to up the thrill factor. The last couple of girls hadn't scratched my itch the way they used to.
The increased sounds from below jolted me out of my thoughts and shot fire through my veins. I had always assumed that someone would find their bodies but after waiting weeks for them to find my last, it had become apparent that I needed to help these buffoons along.
It had been easier than expected. I had driven three towns over to buy, use and then dispose of a burner phone. Downloading a voice disguiser app had been simple and helped me to cover my tracks, in case they decided to play my tip back.
I was hiking down by the Victoria Rail Trail, and I found what looks like a fresh grave.
What they didn't know was only one of these graves was fresh.
My smile lit up the night as I grabbed another handful of popcorn, whispering into the darkness, "Let the games begin Lincoln, let the games begin!"
Chapter 1
(Lincoln's POV)
There are bad days and then there are days that feel like a raging dumpster fire. As I stood over top of the seven corpses all in various states of decay, I wondered if this one was ever going to end.
It felt like I had aged in the last few hours and I knew that I wasn't alone. Every face around me carried the same wide-eyed concern. The fact that each of these women was naked, the fact that we had seven buried bodies in the middle of nowhere and the suspicious phone tip all spun a tangled web of worry in my mind.
Who were these women and what horrors had they experienced?
Since becoming Chief of Police a year ago, I spent very little time actively policing. The bulk of my time was spent navigating political hell and battling through the paperwork that always decorated my desk of doom. Regardless of my lack of action, my instincts were still intact and currently, they were shouting at me that this was just the beginning.
Our coroner, Gary, and his team swarmed around us. Everyone was trying to preserve as much of the scene as possible. It wasn't easy. No one in this group of people had experienced anything like this and no matter how good I thought my people were, we were out of our depth. Things like this didn't happen in my town.
I shuddered at the bodies laid out around us. The saliva pooled in my mouth as the bile gathered. My stomach was rioting against the stench that permeated the air. It reeked of rotting flesh, desperation and despair.
Gary was squatting down and scanning the only body that had fully decomposed. The difference between its skeletal remains and the other six bodies was jarring. It was apparent that the others had not been there as long. He looked up as he explained, "I can confirm that they are all females but I can't give you the exact timing yet. We know that this skeleton can be dated back to about ten years ago. I can have the time of death for each to you by tomorrow. Dear God, these poor women, Lincoln."
I took notes as I listened and underlined the information that I would need to send off. There was no way we were going to work this on our own, I was requesting help as soon as possible. The possibility that it would be Josie's team that they sent in teased my brain and sent a familiar ache through my heart.
If that's what happened, I would figure it out, but my priority had to be my town and right now, Fenelon needed help.
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