All Fall Down
(Lucy Kendall Series, #4)
by Stacy Green
Blurb:
A killer rises…
Determined to start over, Lucy Kendall moves to Washington, D.C., and takes a position with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
But the past doesn’t want to let her go.
When a police officer walks into her office and tells her the unthinkable, she knows she has to go back. But it’s too late. The gauntlet has been dropped, and Lucy has no choice but to play a sadistic killer’s game.
Unable to trust anyone, Lucy scrambles to find the truth. But time runs out, and she must do the one thing she swore she’d never do: tell the truth about the people she’s killed.
Will Lucy’s ultimate sacrifice be enough?
Available for purchase at
Excerpts
The front door stood ten feet ahead and to my left. I
dropped lower, damned near crawling. My knees skimmed the cement as I hit the
entrance. I leaned back against the recessed area, catching my breath. Even
with his private entrance, Tesla must depend on his parents’ security system
for protection.
His time had come. Daddy’s boy was going to give me
answers.
I slipped the pick into the lock and twisted.
A sound behind me. A twig snapping?
Frozen from the inside out, I forced myself to turn my head
and checked the vast expanse of property. Nothing to see. I couldn’t even make
out the mailbox.
Something above me buzzed. My head jerked up, eyes
watering.
A security camera.
My desperation had made me careless.
That was probably why I didn’t sense the blow coming.
A heavy fist connected to the tender spot at the base of
my neck, propelling me forward. I slammed against the door hard enough pain
shot across my forehead.
I reached back for the gun, but he was too quick,
snatching my arm and twisting it tightly enough I thought it would break free
of the socket.
“I knew you’d come back.” Tesla’s breath stank of pot and
whiskey. “I just didn’t think it would be tonight. But I’m happy to see you.”
He shoved his pelvis against my back. “What’s this?”
Tesla pulled the gun from my belt. “Were you going to
shoot me?”
“Not until you told me where my friend is.”
He pulled my right arm harder. It would break soon if I
didn’t do something. I summoned all my strength and drove my left elbow backwards,
but he’d anticipated it, dancing out of the way. He caught that arm too,
trapping both of them behind my back and pressing me against the front door. “I
don’t have your friend. But I’ll take you.”
“No you won’t. You’re not interested.” Any excitement from
this came from his need for revenge, not to have me.
He laughed, his hot breath teasing my ear. “I’ll work
something out.”
Where had he put the gun? He must have it on him.
“I’ll kill you first.”
I finally made myself look at Shannon.
She stared toward her right, her eyes wide open–a blue
that had faded to the color of pond water. Her skin had already gone ashen, and
she’d bit her lip as she died. Bruises in various stages of healing dotted her
once-beautiful face. Her blond hair, fixed in finger curls, cascaded around her
as if she’d lain down in the grass to watch the clouds.
The urge to weep and scream rose. Somehow, I had to keep
it together. I needed to look at the photo and glean everything I possibly
could to help King find the bastard who’d done this.
My heart rate still doubled, my pulse beating my temples
so hard my head ached. Apprehension flooded my thoughts, my subconscious
picking up on something I hadn’t yet identified. “Why is her hair dyed blond?
Is that something she’d done before she was taken?”
“That’s new,” King said. “She was still a brunette when
she was taken.”
I kept staring at the picture, trying to see past the
eyes that used to be so filled with life and compassion. Finally I whispered
for King to show me the next one.
It was a full profile this time. My empty stomach
flipped, my mouth tasted like I’d been chewing sand. The blood surrounded her,
staining the concrete floor around her as it had flowed from her arteries. Both
of her arms were outstretched, and her right fist was closed. I assume it held
the silver dollar. I kept looking at the picture, trying to figure out what it
was King wanted me to see.
Her wrists. Both of them. Vertical slash marks from the
top of her wrists down her forearms.
“Why’d he slit her wrists and then do nothing else to
make this look like a suicide?”
“Good question,” King said. “I’d hoped you might be able
to tell me.”
I shook my head “no” even as the feeling that I was
missing something crawled over me. I felt like I’d just walked into a massive
spider web and couldn’t see the way to rid myself of it.
Put it together. A woman with blond hair and blue eyes
lying outstretched, looking toward her right hand. Her right knee inched toward
her hip, as if she’d tried to curl up. Her wrists cut, but most likely not a
suicide.
But the scene was clearly staged. For me. But why?
I studied the
picture again, trying to drag the answer out of the dark recesses of my memory.
Déjà vu struck first, and then the answer hit me with enough force I
staggered into the wall, away from King and from the images of the woman. I
gasped for breath, tears brimming in my eyes.
He remained calm, watching me. “What is it?”
“Lily.”
Lucy Kendall Series
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About The Author
Stacy Green is the author of the Lucy Kendall thriller series and the Delta Crossroads mystery trilogy. ALL GOOD DEEDS (Lucy Kendall #1) won a bronze medal for mystery and thriller at the 2015 IPPY Awards. TIN GOD (Delta Crossroads #1) was runner-up for best mystery/thriller at the 2013 Kindle Book Awards. Stacy has a love of thrillers and crime fiction, and she is always looking for the next dark and twisted novel to enjoy. She started her career in journalism before becoming a stay at home mother and rediscovering her love of writing. She lives in Iowa with her husband and daughter and their three spoiled fur babies. Stacy loves to hear from readers!
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You can find Stacy at
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