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PROLOGUE
FRANKLIN
Water dripsfrom a faucet in the room and it’s the only sound I hear. I don’t really want to see what I know I have to see. I answered the call and I came but damn do I wish I hadn’t.
I can’t take this one. Hell! I can’t be near it. But for some damn reason I just had to see. Like an onlooker who can’t look away from a wreck. Except this wreck affects me personally.
A low moan hits my throat when I see her, startling me. Her bright blue eyes are staring, sightless, up at the ceiling and there’s a trickle of dried blood on her pale lips. Bruises darken her throat and her body in various places where her pale skin is exposed. She’s still dressed from work but her clothes are torn like she put up a helluva fight.
A fight that she never should have had to have. If she’d told me, I would have helped her. I would have done anything for her. She was my best friend, my partner.
“Hey, Frank, man. Come on. You can’t help her now.” I shake my head, realizing that tears are dripping down my face and I subtly put my hand up to wipe them away.
All the guys look away and pretend that I’m not crying. Some of them are too. She was practically every guy on the force’s little sister. A bundle of energy and a smile so wide it lit up every room. Even when we were working the worst cases of human indecency.
“Frank. You should go home.” The captain walks up to me and slaps me on the shoulder lightly. “You know you can’t work this case. Trust me, we’ll make sure that she’s taken care of and we’ll make sure that the asshole gets exactly what he deserves.”
That’s not possible. He deserves to die. Just like she did. Only his should be slow and painful.
I close my eyes and try to will the nausea back down. To forget what I’ve seen. What happened. It will be there tomorrow and the day after that. I just want to wait. To push it away for a little bit because that will make it better.
Only it won’t. I’m not going to get away from this.
My eyes open and I groan, my stomach churning.
“Frank, come on. Don’t contaminate the scene, man.” Hands drag me out and I retch and struggle not to lose every bit of food that I’ve touched in the last day. Tears crowd my eyes and cloud my vision.
Outside the cool night air washes over me, cooling my feverish skin as I lose control, retching into the bushes by the house. A tidy little cottage that she was so proud of when she finally saved up the money for the down payment. Her dream house in the suburbs. A house with a nightmare inside of it that nobody knew about.
One of the newbies, a guy I barely know, grimaces at me when I stand up and wipe my mouth on my sleeve.
“Sorry about your partner, man.”
I nod my head and walk away. Back to my car and then back to my apartment to try and will away all the memories and the pain, knowing that it’s not going to work.
I’m never going to be able to forget what I saw tonight. Not until the day I die.
CHAPTER1
FRANKLIN
I pushmy cart around the tiny grocery store, picking up an apple and taking a look at it before dropping it. Another one and I put it in a bag along with the one next to it that looks better. My attention stays focused on the fruit until a little hand pops up next to me. My eyes slide over when a tiny voice asks, “Hey, mister. Can you hand me that bag?”
Big blue eyes stare up at me and my heart races, sweat popping up on my forehead. But without even thinking about it, I reach over and hand her a bag for the fruit.
“Thanks,” she says, smiling a gap-toothed smile. I can’t help but smile back.
“You’re welcome,” I say weakly. I’m not used to talking to people around here. Wildwood’s nice and all but I’ve always lived in big cities.
But I needed a change and I made it a big one.
She scuttles away from me before I even think to ask her name. Not that I probably would but you never know.
“That was really nice of you, Franklin.” I jerk when she says my name, surprised. Nobody ever calls me by name anymore.
I turn and stare, wondering what the hell is going on today. Such a weird day. I usually don’t talk to anybody and now two in one day.
“Cassidy! Your next-door neighbor at the shop …remember?”
