Before he Kills (A Mackenzie White Mystery—Book 1) (20 page)

It hadn’t taken her long to pack. She
managed to fit about half of her clothes into two suitcases and put the other
half in a cardboard box which she labelled PLEASE DONATE using a Sharpie.
Another box contained assorted items such as several paperback books, an old
iPad, and a record player she’d once wanted to repair but never got around to.
It was labelled the same way.

She had called Zack, fully aware that he
was at work and would not be able to take her call. She left him a message that
she now regretted as she wheeled her suitcases to the front door. It had been
brief and even now, as she looked around at the house, unnaturally empty and
cleaned, she wondered if she’d owed him more of an explanation.

That was ridiculous, though. If she owed
anyone an explanation, it was herself, for staying stuck in this lifestyle as
long as she’d had.

“I’m heading out of town for good,”
she’d said. “The house is paid for up until the end of next month. It’s yours
if you want it. If not, the lease will expire and become available. All of your
stuff is still here, so come get it whenever you want. You can have the
furniture, TV, and anything else we went halves on. I’m starting a new chapter
in my life and it’s clear that you aren’t in it. Please respect my wishes and
don’t bother calling. Take care, Zack.”

The bit about a new chapter was clichéd,
but true. It was why she could so easily leave behind thousands of dollar worth
of furniture and appliances. It simply wasn’t worth the arguments she’d have
with Zack over them. It was also why she was leaving half of her clothes. She
could buy new clothes—clothes that she’d always wanted to wear but had
hesitated to because of what Zack might think, or how Porter or Nelson might
react.

This new life she was walking towards
offered a new vision of herself that she had only dared to dream of before now.
What was the alternative? Was she supposed to stay here and suck up her
suspension, then return to work with one more mark against her in a sea of
aging men that saw her as an empty threat?

No thanks.

The house had never been so quiet. It
was nearly as serene and still as murder scenes she’d seen—almost as stoic as
that first cornfield where they’d discovered the first victim. Anything of hers
that remained in this house was dead. She felt that with certainty as she
reached for the doorknob.

When Mackenzie opened the door and
stepped outside, she felt an unseen weight dissolve from her. It only increased
as she rolled her suitcases across the small yard and to her car. She put the
suitcases in the trunk, slammed it closed, and got behind the wheel.

When she backed out towards the street,
she didn’t give the house a second look. Her future was in the other direction.
All the house represented was a past that she could already feel sliding from
her shoulders, a burden she had carried for far longer than she should have.

*

The papers had finally gotten tired of
the story. Mackenzie had read it five different ways and no matter how it was
told, she still felt as if she were reading about someone else. She had not granted
interviews, allowing lazy reporters to assume things. She’d even gone online to
the
Oblong Journal
to see if Ellis Pope had written anything about it.

He did not disappoint. He told a story
about a violent young woman who thought she was the Punisher, going against her
chief’s wishes and nabbing the bad guy anyway. While the article had been
scathing and hateful, the comments section tore Pope down, heralding Mackenzie
as a bad-ass and, according to a few posters, a hottie.

She was reading that particular story on
her iPad in the airport when her flight was announced. She grabbed her bags and
thought about the call she’d had earlier in the morning with Ellington. It
still felt like she had dreamed it all, even as she started towards the gate.

“I wanted to call to let you know that
they’ve asked me to be a part of your initial meeting,” he’d said. “Is that
going to be okay with you?”

“Yes, that’s fine.”

“You excited?”

“I am. But I’m nervous more than
anything else.”

“No need to be. Everyone here is psyched
that you’re coming. And now it’s more than just my praises. The news has been
exceptionally kind to you lately. And the fact that you’ve been humble about it—that
speaks volumes.”

“Thanks again, by the way,” Mackenzie
said.

He’d chuckled then and said: “Special
Agent White. That sound good to you yet?”

She began to board the ramp to her
flight, and stopped to look back at the airport one last time. She expected to
take it all in, one last look at her home—but instead, to her horror, she saw
the moment she had slammed the killer’s head into the floor again and again.
She recalled how savage it had made her feel—how absolutely untamed and
unpredictable. It had scared her in the days that had followed, but she also
knew that it was a part of her now—a part she’d known existed ever since she’d
found her father’s body.

Now that she had let that part of her
out and accepted it as her own, how would that alter the way she worked from
now on?

She supposed there was no better way to
tell than with a new job where no one knew her. While she wasn’t naïve enough
to think that it could be a true fresh start, she did, for the first time,
believe that she was capable.

She shook away the image and walked down
the concourse. A plane was waiting for her.

And so was a new future.

NOW AVAILABLE!

BEFORE HE SEES

(A Mackenzie White Mystery—Book 2)

From
Blake Pierce, bestselling author of ONCE GONE (a #1 bestseller with over 600
five star reviews), comes book #2 in a heart-pounding new mystery series.

In
BEFORE HE SEES (A Mackenzie White Mystery—Book 2), FBI agent-in-training
Mackenzie White struggles to make her mark in the FBI Academy in Quantico,
trying to prove herself as a woman and as a transplant from Nebraska. Hoping
she has what it takes to become an FBI agent and leave her life in the Midwest
behind for good, Mackenzie just wants to keep a low profile and impress her
superiors.

But
all that changes when the body of a woman is found in a garbage dump. The
murder bears shocking similarities to the Scarecrow Killer—the case that made
Mackenzie famous in Nebraska—and in the frantic race against time to stop a new
serial killer, the FBI decides to break protocol and give Mackenzie a chance on
the case.

It
is Mackenzie’s big break, her chance to impress the FBI—but the stakes have
never been higher. Not everyone wants her on the case, and everything she
touches seems to go wrong. As the pressure mounts and the killer strikes again,
Mackenzie finds herself as a lone voice in a sea of experienced agents, and she
soon realizes she is in way over heard. Her entire future with the FBI is in
jeopardy.

As
tough and determined as Mackenzie is, as brilliant as she is in hunting down killers,
this new case proves an impossible riddle, something just beyond her reach. She
may not even have time to crack it as her own life falls apart around her.

A
dark psychological thriller with heart-pounding suspense, BEFORE HE SEES is
book #2 in a riveting new series—with a beloved new character—that will leave
you turning pages late into the night.

Book
#3 in the Mackenzie White Mystery series will be available soon.

BEFORE HE SEES

(A Mackenzie White Mystery—Book 2)

Blake
Pierce

Blake Pierce is author of the
bestselling RILEY PAGE mystery series, which include the mystery suspense
thrillers ONCE GONE (book #1), ONCE TAKEN (book #2), ONCE CRAVED (#3), and ONCE
LURED (#4).  Blake Pierce is also the author of the MACKENZIE WHITE mystery
series and the AVERY BLACK mystery series.

ONCE GONE (book #1),
which has over 100 five star reviews, is 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

RILEY PAIGE MYSTERY SERIES

ONCE GONE (Book #1)

ONCE TAKEN (Book #2)

ONCE CRAVED (Book #3)

ONCE LURED (Book #4)

MACKENZIE WHITE MYSTERY SERIES

BEFORE HE KILLS (Book #1)

BEFORE HE SEES (Book #2)

AVERY BLACK MYSTERY SERIES

CAUSE TO KILL (Book #1)

CAUSE TO RUN (Book #2)