Fire Storm (Kaely Quinn Profiler Book #2) , livre ebook

Baker Publishing Group - Nancy Mehl

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163 pages

English

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When FBI profiler Kaely Quinn's mother is diagnosed with cancer, Kaely takes time off work to go to Dark Water, Nebraska, to help her brother care for their mother. Upon her arrival, she learns of a series of fires in the small town, attributed by the fire chief to misuse of space heaters in the frigid winter. But Kaely is skeptical, and a search for a pattern in the locations of the fires bolsters her suspicions.After yet another blaze devastates a local family, Kaely is certain a serial arsonist is on the loose. Calling upon her partner from St. Louis, Noah Hunter, and her brother's firefighter neighbor who backs Kaely's suspicions, Kaely and her team begin an investigation that swiftly leads them down a twisted path. When the truth is finally revealed, Kaely finds herself confronting a madman who is determined his last heinous act will be her death.

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Christianity

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Publié par	Baker Publishing Group
Date de parution	06 août 2019
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781493418671
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	3 Mo

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0461€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

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Cover
Half Title Page
Books by Nancy Mehl
F INDING S ANCTUARY
Gathering Shadows
Deadly Echoes
Rising Darkness
R OAD TO K INGDOM
Inescapable
Unbreakable
Unforeseeable
D EFENDERS OF J USTICE
Fatal Frost
Dark Deception
Blind Betrayal
K AELY Q UINN P ROFILER
Mind Games
Fire Storm
Title Page
Copyright Page
© 2019 by Nancy Mehl
Published by Bethany House Publishers
11400 Hampshire Avenue South
Bloomington, Minnesota 55438
www.bethanyhouse.com
Bethany House Publishers is a division of
Baker Publishing Group, Grand Rapids, Michigan
www.bakerpublishinggroup.com
Ebook edition created 2019
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—for example, electronic, photocopy, recording—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
ISBN 978-1-4934-1867-1
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, incidents, and dialogues are products of the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Cover design by Faceout Studio
Cover photography by Ebru Sidar/Arcangel
Author is represented by The Steve Laube Agency.
Dedication
To my brother, Danny. When we were kids, I usually walked ahead of you, but this time you took the lead. I love you so much. See you soon.
Contents
Cover
Half Title Page
Books by Nancy Mehl
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Prologue
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Acknowledgments
About the Author
Back Ads
Back Cover
Prologue
H e waits, hidden in the shadows of the tall, stately trees that line the street. He is the only one who knows that hell has just opened its door. Houses stand as monuments to the families sleeping peacefully inside, unaware that this day will be like no other. A day that will be seared into their psyches for the rest of their lives.
First comes the smoke, the deadly stench overcoming the scent of flowers from gardens dotting the neighborhood. A thick plume of black slips up into the early morning air.
Suddenly there is a whoosh that seems to suck all the air out of the world. Like a silent storm. Grasping fingers of flames reach out, clutching hungrily for anything they can utterly destroy.
The sleepy neighborhood begins to wake up. People run outside to stare at the monstrosity rising to life down the street, horrified by what they see and ashamed to be grateful it isn’t happening to them.
The silence of the morning explodes with the high wail of fire trucks, confirming that the façade of safety residents had trusted to keep them from this moment has literally gone up in smoke.
This is judgment. This is righteousness.
A familiar old verse slips from his lips. “‘Jack be nimble, Jack be quick, Jack jump over the candlestick. Jack jump high, Jack jump low, Jack jumped over and burned his toe.’”
He laughs and slowly walks away, not garnering any attention. All eyes are on the great red-and-yellow beast devouring 319 Harbor Lane.
one
Eighteen years later
Kaely turned the heat up in her recently purchased SUV. She spent most of her time in government-owned cars. Having her own vehicle gave her a sense of control. Helped her feel a little more independent.
She checked her GPS. It was set for Darkwater, Nebraska, a small, nondescript Midwestern town in flyover country.
Kaely hadn’t planned to visit her mother, but a call from her brother, Jason, changed everything. “Jessie,” he’d said, using her given name. “Mom is sick. Really sick. The doctors thought they got all the cancer, but it seems to have surged back with a vengeance. It’s stage three. She’s on some kind of experimental treatment, but the doctor says there’s no guarantee it’ll work. I think you need to see her before . . . well, just come, sis. Please.”
Finding out about her mother’s condition at this late stage irritated Kaely, but that’s the way communicating with Marcie had been for years. After Kaely’s dad was revealed as the notorious Raggedy Man, a serial killer who terrorized Des Moines, the relationship between Marcie and her children shattered. Although Marcie took care of their physical needs, she closed off emotionally. It seemed that every time she looked at Kaely and Jason, all she could see was the husband she hated.
After their lives completely imploded, her mother moved Kaely and her brother to Lincoln, Nebraska. They had no friends left in Des Moines, and it was clear the entire city wanted them gone, hoping that if the monster’s family left, the stench of evil might fade away too.
Several years after Kaely and Jason moved out, their mother married again and relocated to Grand Island. It seemed life had given her a second chance. Then, about six months ago, her second marriage fell apart. Marcie promptly packed up and moved to Darkwater. Kaely had no idea why, but she suspected her mother wanted a place where she could disappear. Darkwater sounded like the perfect place to achieve that goal.
Although Kaely called Marcie occasionally, the length of time between calls had begun to stretch out further and further. Complicating the situation was Marcie’s revulsion toward Kaely’s work with the FBI, where she sought to put away people just like her father. Kaely couldn’t really blame her mother for how she felt. She had observed a psychopathic serial killer firsthand. That was enough for any human being in one lifetime.
Kaely had taken two weeks off work—packed on Saturday, left on Sunday, and was arriving on Monday. She still wasn’t sure just what she could do for her mother. “Just let her know you care about her,” Jason had said. “Mom has a lot of regrets. If she doesn’t get better . . . I mean, are you happy with the way things are now?”
Of course she wasn’t. She knew she had to try to fix things with her mother. Give God a chance to heal their broken relationship.
She was looking forward to seeing Jason again. He owned a successful vintage auto body shop in Colorado. He’d left it in the hands of his staff and traveled to Darkwater to care for their mother. He’d even put off his upcoming wedding. He’d given up everything to be at his mother’s side during her illness. There was no way Kaely could turn down his request. So now, here she was, driving through Nebraska, trying to find Darkwater.
“Don’t let her manipulate you. She’ll try, you know.”
Kaely sighed at Georgie’s admonishment. “Maybe she’s changed.” She glanced over at her friend, whose direct stare made Kaely uncomfortable.
“If she’d changed, she would have called you herself to let you know she was sick. Not have Jason do it.”
“Look, I’m going in there with a good attitude. My expectations are . . . low. But God can fix what people aren’t able to. I can’t shut the door entirely, can I?” She arched her eyebrow at Georgie, who smiled, her brown curls bouncing as she shook her head.
“You want me to tell you to have hope.” Georgie sighed. “Just be careful. I don’t want to see you hurt.”
Kaely laughed lightly. “You mean I don’t want to see myself get hurt.”
“Well, I am you, right?”
“You keep showing up out of the blue. You’re not supposed to come unless I call you.”
“And yet I’m here.”
“And yet you’re here . . .” Kaely repeated slowly.
The real Georgie had been her best friend in junior high. When her dad was arrested, Georgie’s parents refused to let the girls get together. Losing that friendship had been devastating. This version of Georgie was someone Kaely created a few years ago when she needed someone to talk to about feelings she couldn’t share with anyone else. Now Georgie was a debate device, a way to balance her emotions against her common sense. Maybe she’d become a crutch, but Kaely needed her.
“You don’t want me to leave,” Georgie stated firmly.
“No, I don’t. I just . . . well, I’d rather you stop popping up on your own. I feel like . . .” Kaely took a deep breath. “I feel like I’m losing control.”
Georgie was silent for a moment. “You haven’t recovered from what happened in St. Louis, you know.”
“I don’t want to talk about that,” Kaely snapped.
“It’s been three months. You’ll have to face it sooner or later. You’re aware of it. If you weren’t, I wouldn’t be warning you.”
Kaely waved her free hand toward Georgie. “Go. Right now.” When she glanced over at the passenger seat, it was empty.
Kaely couldn’t think about what had happened in St. Louis and her mother at the same time. Once she was home, when she was ready, she’d try to make sense of it. Her boss, Special Agent in Charge Solomon Slattery, had insisted she talk to a therapist the Bureau used from time to time. She’d tried to open up to him, but she just couldn’t. She’d prayed about it. Asked God for help. So far there had been only silence, but she was confident He was listening. That He was there for her. He’d healed her from so much already. Unfortunately, she still had a long way to go.
Trusting anyone was tough for Kaely. Her father’s betrayal still haunted her. Until she could banish his ghost, she couldn’t risk getting too close to anyone. She kept men at arm’s length, and the past had proven she was right to do so.
She was beginning to depend on Noah Hunter, an agent she’d worked with several times, but she didn’t trust him enough to tell him about Georgie—or a lot of other things. Still, she had a feeling about him. That they would end up being close friends. But for now, she liked their relationship as it was.
She smiled to herself as she remembered there was someone else she could talk to. Someone real. Of course, he didn’t act