Left to Vanish (An Adele Sharp Mystery—Book Eight) by Blake Pierce (books to read for 13 year olds .txt) 📗

He smiled again, despite thetears, despite the pain, despite the warm trickle down his back, streaking him,baptizing him. Soon, so deliciously soon.

A whistle. A snap.

A scream.

CHAPTER NINE

Exiting the airport taxi, Adelestepped out into the evening, beneath gloomy skies. Again, she found herselffacing a mansion. Her feet crunched against gravel, and her eyes traced thestone and pillar facade of the old, looming manor.

Adele heard the car doors slambehind her as Paige and the two accompanying officers also exited the vehicle.Ahead, a row of yellow and black caution tape cut access to a courtyarddriveway across from a three-car garage. The garage itself was larger than mosthouses.

Few trees surrounded them. Rather,this estate, in contrast to the Italian one, seemed a combination of trimmedhedges in strange shapes and a large lake behind the house itself, the swishingblue reflecting off the large parlor windows.

“Just this way, Agents,” said oneof the police officers, dipping her head politely and waving a hand. Adele halfexpected her to click her shiny black shoes.

She fell into step behind theofficers, gravel crunching beneath her feet as she followed along with Paige towardthe old mansion.

“And she was found outside here,yes?” Adele asked, grateful to be speaking in English once again, now havinghopped the pond to London.

The second officer glanced back,tipping a black-billed hat. “Just in the private nursery,” he said, nodding. “Overhere—this way.”

He led them toward a small glassnursery, with more caution tape out front. An officer was standing by theglass, playing on his phone. He looked up and quickly coughed, stowing thedevice and standing to attention, suggesting, perhaps, he was low on the localtotem pole.

Adele nodded politely, thenfollowed their guides beneath the caution tape into a small, humid nursery.Rows of potted plants in orange ceramic bowls lined wooden shelves. Twoparticularly large garden beds centered twin plastic sheets beneath an array ofsprinklers jutting from a thick black pipe that spanned the entirety of thenursery.

For a moment, standing in theglass nursery, as if beneath some large magnifying lens, Adele felt a shiver upher spine. She swallowed, glancing back toward where Agent Paige was wiping afinger along one of the shelves, leaving a trail of dark in dust.

“She was found just over here,”murmured the female officer, pointing toward a couple of scattered ceramic potsand some shattered orange clay. Twin piles of dirt and wilted greenerysuggested some of the nursery denizens hadn’t fared much better than their latecaretaker.

Adele approached the disheveledarea, frowning as she did.

“He attacked her late at night,”said the officer, quietly. “Best we can guess—right after she got home.”

“Husband?” Adele asked.

“Deceased. A few years earlier.Her fortune was inherited.”

“I see.” Adele frowned, her eyesmoving from the scattered and broken pots toward a dark alcove beneath two rowsof wooden shelves. She bent over, hands on her knees, frowning into the corner.

Just large enough for a person.

A hiding place, perhaps?

“Security systems?” she asked,straightening up again.

“Only on the main house, not inthe nursery, unfortunately. We checked.”

Adele nibbled her lip, glancing towardAgent Paige. “Another blind spot.”

The older agent grunted once,brushing a hand through silver hair. “Looks like our killer does his homework.”

“When was the body found?” Adeleasked.

The officer cleared her throat. “Thenext morning, by one of the victims’ bible study partners.”

“Bible study?” Adele asked,frowning and feeling a flicker of excitement. She thought back to the beadmarks on the victim’s neck. A rosary after all? She swallowed, avoiding Paige,who seemed to be watching her suspiciously. Adele asked, “Was the victimreligious?”

“A staunch Catholic. She donatedtime and money to the church—a lot of money.” The officer didn’t bat an eye,but by the emphasis of the words, it seemed she thought this part important.

“Where there’s money, there’soften murder,” Adele said softly. She glanced toward Paige, then back. “Anyknown connection with the victim in Italy?”

The officer frowned, nibbling herlip, but shook her head quickly. “Something about that was mentioned, but noconnection we know of on our end. Did you find something?”

Adele shook her head, crossing herarms and feeling her suit’s sleeves crinkle.

Both wealthy, both in their fifties,both living somewhat alone in old houses. Both strangled to death with oddligature marks. But that was where the similarities ended. The murderer didn’tseem to be stealing anything. So while wealth was a connection, money wasn’tthe motive. At least not at first blush. As for the first victim’s religion—adevoted Catholic. But the second victim had no church affiliation. Onereligious, one not. Both wealthy.

Adele shook her head, trying tomake sense of it. “I… I need whatever you have on Mrs. Churchville,” she said,glancing toward the officer. “Even details that might seem unsubstantial. Nostone unturned.”

Paige frowned from where she stoodin the glass doorway. “What are you hoping to find?”

“A connection,” Adele murmured. “Betweenthis victim and the other. Some reason the killer chose them in particular.”

“We have what you need back at theprecinct,” the officer volunteered. “It isn’t far from here.”

Adele weathered Paige’s stormygaze and instead nodded at the officer. “Appreciated. And I do mean anythingrelated to the victim. No matter how inconsequential you might think it.”

Adele turned, brushing past Paigeand exiting the nursery. Her head was beginning to pound, a slow headachecoming on. There had to be a tie between the two victims. Unless… maybe it wasn’ta serial murderer? Maybe just a coincidence?

Adele paused in the drive, facingthe car, but then turning to glance back up at the old, looming stone mansionoutlined against the lake.

She thought of the crime scenephotos. The strange, beaded ligature marks…

No. Not a coincidence. Now, she’dsimply have to prove it.

CHAPTER TEN

Adele’seyes fluttered beneath the flickering light above the borrowed interrogationroom’s table. She winced as the two long cylindrical bulbs sputtered once more,eliciting a sound like popping bubble wrap. She glanced up and then looked awayagain, feeling another stab of a now familiar headache.

Now back in the precinct, she tried to find a comfortableposition in the cold metal chair the locals had provided. Across from her, onthe opposite side of a table scattered with folders and two borrowed laptops,Agent Paige had yet to sit.

She stalked from one side of the room to the other, takinga moment every so often