Her Dying Breath (48 page)

With Brenda by his side, he would never go to bed alone again.

A buzzing sound drew Nick from sleep. He rolled over, disoriented, then felt a warm body snuggled next to him and realized he was in bed with Brenda. A smile curved his mouth. He never wanted to be without her again.

But the buzzing continued, and his phone vibrated on the nightstand. Deciding to silence the thing and go back to sleep, he grabbed it. But Jake’s number flashed on the screen.

It could be about their father or…sister. What if Seven had tried to kill herself? Or maybe she’d escaped and killed their father?

A man could hope.

Exhaling in frustration, he punched connect. “Jake?”

“Sorry to bother you, Nick, but I just received a call.”

“About Dad? Seven?”

“No, they’re locked up tight. But a couple of teenagers just called in a crime.”

Couldn’t Jake handle it? “Why call me? Was the MO the same as Seven’s kills?”

“No. In fact they didn’t find a body.”

“I don’t understand.”

“They found a severed hand floating in Slaughter Creek.”

Look for book three in the Slaughter Creek series, when Special Agent Rafe Hood is called in to track down Six—a serial killer with a shocking MO, who is severing body parts to keep as his trophy—in
WORTH DYING FOR
.

Photo by Marie Williams, 2008

A
ward-winning novelist Rita Herron’s lifelong love of books began at the tender age of eight, when she read her first Trixie Belden mystery. A former kindergarten teacher, professional storyteller, and children’s magazine contributor, she wrote nine books for Francine Pascal’s Sweet Valley Kids series before shifting her focus to the adult market. Since then she has written over sixty romance novels and loves penning dark romantic suspense tales, sexy romantic comedies, and family-friendly romances, especially those set in small Southern towns. A native of Milledgeville, Georgia, and a proud mother and grandmother, she lives just outside of Atlanta.