In Too Deep

When undercover work requires working under the covers, danger is an uninvited bedfellow… Erin McKenzie, a newly promoted homicide detective, lands the assignment of her career when she is chosen to investigate Elizabeth Adams, the number one suspect in a slew of serial murders. Adams, elusive and devastatingly beautiful, is not only an accomplished seductress but also a lesbian. Erin, straight and married, needs a crash course in more than just undercover detecting. With Patricia Henderson, a fellow homicide cop and Adam’s former lover as a mentor, Erin embarks on the journey of her life…with love and danger hot on her heels.

In Too Deep

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In Too Deep

© 2005 By Ronica Black. All Rights Reserved.

ISBN 13: 978-1-60282-299-3

This electronic book is published by

Bold Strokes Books, Inc.,

New York, USA

First Printing: September 2005

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form without permission.

Credits

Editors: Jennifer Knight and Stacia Seaman

Production Design: Stacia Seaman

Cover design by Sheri ([email protected])

In Too Deep

My sincere thanks to everyone online who read the first draft and encouraged me to continue. Without your e-mails and support, this story would not be what it is today.

Also my thanks to the ladies at The Sandbox. Nancy and Wizzy, fellow authors and readers, thanks so much for your unrelenting support and for creating an environment in which to thrive.

To the entire team at Bold Strokes Books for all the invaluable hard work you've done to produce the best book possible. To Jennifer Knight, my editor, thanks for holding my hand and guiding me through the entire process with humor and grace. To Sheri for designing such an incredible cover. And most especially to Radclyffe, for taking a chance on me.

Thank you to my two sisters, Robin and Rebecca, for their unconditional love and support. A sister's love knows no bounds.

And to C.W.—without you, this dream would not have come true. I will forever be grateful for the feedback, advice, and heartfelt encouragement you've given me.

Thank you.

For C.W....for everything.

Te quiero, siempre.

Arcane, Alabama

“Come on, Lizzie, hurry!” Jay yelled as they ran through the woods. “We gotta get to Papaw’s house by suppertime!”

“I’m comin’, I’m comin’.” Lizzie ran as hard as she could, but she never could keep up with her older sister.

The shortcut to their grandpa’s house was always an adventure Lizzie enjoyed. It led them deep in the woods, a good ways from their aunt Dayne’s house. The house they had been living in ever since their mother left them as babies.

Jay stopped to wait for her, hands on her hips. “You better hurry up. I got better things to do than to wait for your ass.” She kicked a pebble at Lizzie with her worn sneakers. Her tanned and sockless legs were covered with tiny scratches and scrapes from her rough play outdoors.

“Oh yeah, well at least I ain’t getting boobs!” Lizzie taunted, earning herself a rough shove.

“Shut up, you little shit! I ain’t getting no boobs.” Jay clasped her hands quickly over her tank top, hiding the budding mosquito bites on her eleven-and-a-half-year-old chest.

“Are too. And if you ain’t nicer to me, I’m gonna tell Bobbie Hollaway that you got hair on your twat.” Lizzie scampered ahead of her sister, knowing she was about to get pummeled.

She ran hard and fast, glancing back over her shoulder to measure Jay’s advance. A ledge loomed ahead and Lizzie slammed to a halt, Jay gaining on her rapidly. She peered down the embankment, trying to decide whether or not she should risk the steep descent. As her eyes skimmed over the heavily overgrown area below, something caught her attention, something so out of the ordinary that she completely forgot about Jay and the impending ass-kicking.

“You’re dead, dickhead!” Jay shouted victoriously as she slammed into her from behind.

Lizzie almost toppled, but turned and threw her arms around her sister to steady herself. Her eyes never left the strange sight at the bottom of the embankment.

“Git your hands off me, you freak.” Jay shoved her away. “What’s your problem?”

Lizzie pointed and said with a gasp, “Look.”

“What?” Jay peered into the ravine.

They stood in silence for a moment, trying to see an object partly hidden by a rotting log. Lizzie walked a few yards along the ledge to get a better look. But on her final step, the soft red earth gave way and she fell with a shriek, rolling over and over until she slammed into something that stopped her momentum.

She lay there, eyes clenched shut, her brain spinning. She could hear Jay calling and coming after her and she tried to get up, not knowing which limb to move first. Pain seeped through her body and a terrible smell filled her nostrils, almost burning them.

“Lizzie!” Jay came to a running stop behind her. “Oh my God. Lizzie, git up.” Her voice was a strangled whisper.

“I cain’t.” She opened her eyes for the first time.

“I said git up!” Jay yanked her up and away by the waistband of her jean shorts.

Lizzie cried out as her left arm fell limply to her side. She studied it in silence, too shocked to say a word. Adrenaline surged through her as pain registered. She looked up to speak to Jay but then, with a hoarse cry, focused on what it was that had stopped her fall.

There, amidst the dead leaves and the rotting log, lay the nude body of a young woman. Lifeless eyes bulged unnaturally from the woman’s head, along with her tongue, which fell to rest outside of her mouth. Angry red and purple marks streaked across her neck where someone had squeezed the life out of her. One leg was tucked beneath her at an impossible angle and an arm cast back over her head as if she had tried to fend off a blow.

Flies swarmed all over the body as it lay exposed in the Alabama heat.

“Come on.” Jay nudged Lizzie from her trance. “Let’s git outta here.”

“But what about her?” Lizzie couldn’t tear her gaze away from the dead girl’s eyes.

“She’s dead! She ain’t going nowhere.” Jay had started to make her way back up the embankment and she turned to make sure her sister was following. “Come on,” she urged. “We gotta go tell.”

Lizzie gave the dead girl one last look, and dragged herself out of the ravine. Fear rocked through her along with the pain from her arm. She struggled to keep up with Jay, afraid if she fell behind, the body would rise and come for her. As she hurriedly made it to the top, a figure startled them, stepping out from behind a large tree.

“Well, looky what we have here,” the man said with a sly grin, a worn toothpick stuck between his teeth.

Jay eased Lizzie behind her with one arm. “Look, mister, we don’t want no trouble.” Lizzie could hear the uncertainty in her tone.

The stranger looked Jay up and down, jangling the keys on his belt loop with one hand. He had on worn jeans, stained with grease and dirt. His T-shirt was tattered and full of holes; sweat stains marked the armpits. He stank of raw onions, a smell almost as strong as the rotting flesh of the dead girl.

“Well, it looks like you’ve done found it.” He laughed out loud and pulled the toothpick from his mouth to toss it on the ground. He glanced down beyond them at the body in the ravine and snickered. “I see you girls met Mary. See, she didn’t play nice with me. But you will, won’t you.”

He took a step toward them, knowing they couldn’t back up much more. “Ain’t you a purdy little thing.” He reached out and tried to stroke Jay’s cheek, but she ducked away from him and came back up quickly, hitting him square in the balls. The man bent over and grabbed himself, moaning in pain. “You little bitch.”

Pulled hard by her sister, Lizzie ran as best she could, but the man gained on them fast, fueled by his anger and pain. He grabbed at Lizzie’s hair and Jay turned, clawing and pounding at him, causing him to lose his grip.

“Run, Lizzie, run!” she screamed.

The man laughed as Jay continued to try and fight him. Bear-hugging her from behind, he carried her off back into the woods, kicking and screaming.

For a split second, Lizzie stared after them, torn, legs shaking. Pain and nausea tried to make itself known. She glanced down. An unnatural bulge swelled beneath her flesh, and she knew she couldn’t fight the man with one arm. Terrified for Jay, she forced herself to run and not look back.

Twenty Years Later

July

Corona County Desert, Valle Luna, Arizona.

The victim was male and appeared to be middle aged, gray hair at his temples. He was on his back, the bottom half of his body nude. His genitalia were bloodstained and a single bullet hole marked his forehead. His hands were already bagged in brown paper bags to preserve any forensic evidence under the fingernails. The bags were sealed just below wrists purple with ligature marks. He had been bound very tightly by his killer.

Newly appointed homicide detective Erin McKenzie pulled off her silver-framed Revo sunglasses and tucked them into the collar of her sleeveless silk blouse. She wiped the sweat from her brow and didn’t know whether to blame the desert heat or her nerves for the flush of perspiration she was feeling. It was her first week in Homicide and she hadn’t expected to get assigned to such an important case so soon. She could tell by the silent, wary glances her way that the two male detectives at the scene were in the dark as to what she was doing there.

She had only been briefed a short time ago herself and didn’t know the full details of the case yet. Martin Stewart, the older of the men, was staring her down. She knew of the overweight detective by reputation but had never been properly introduced. Taking the bull by the horns, she walked over.