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Blake Pierce

      Blake Pierce is author of the bestselling RILEY PAGE mystery series, which includes seven books (and counting). Blake Pierce is also the author of the MACKENZIE WHITE mystery series, comprising five books (and counting); of the AVERY BLACK mystery series, comprising four books (and counting); and of the new KERI LOCKE mystery series.

      An avid reader and lifelong fan of the mystery and thriller genres, Blake loves to hear from you, so please feel free to visit www.blakepierceauthor.com to learn more and stay in touch.

      Copyright © 2017 by Blake Pierce. All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior permission of the author. This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return it and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictionally. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. Jacket image Copyright Pholon, used under license from Shutterstock.com.

BOOKS BY BLAKE PIERCE

      RILEY PAIGE MYSTERY SERIES

      ONCE GONE (Book #1)

      ONCE TAKEN (Book #2)

      ONCE CRAVED (Book #3)

      ONCE LURED (Book #4)

      ONCE HUNTED (Book #5)

      ONCE PINED (Book #6)

      ONCE FORSAKEN (Book #7)

      ONCE COLD (Book #8)

      MACKENZIE WHITE MYSTERY SERIES

      BEFORE HE KILLS (Book #1)

      BEFORE HE SEES (Book #2)

      BEFORE HE COVETS (Book #3)

      BEFORE HE TAKES (Book #4)

      BEFORE HE NEEDS (Book #5)

      AVERY BLACK MYSTERY SERIES

      CAUSE TO KILL (Book #1)

      CAUSE TO RUN (Book #2)

      CAUSE TO HIDE (Book #3)

      CAUSE TO FEAR (Book #4)

      KERI LOCKE MYSTERY SERIES

      A TRACE OF DEATH (Book #1)

      A TRACE OF MURDER (Book #2)

      A TRACE OF VICE (Book #3)

      PROLOGUE

      Tiffany was all dressed when her mother called out from downstairs.

      “Tiffany! Are you ready for church?”

      “Almost, Mom,” Tiffany yelled back. “Just a few minutes.”

      “Well, hurry up. We’ve got to leave here in five minutes.”

      “OK.”

      The truth was, Tiffany had finished dressing several minutes ago, right after eating a delicious waffle breakfast downstairs with Mom and Dad. She just wasn’t ready to go anywhere yet. She was really enjoying a bunch of funny animal videos on her cell phone.

      So far she’d watched a skateboarding Pekingese, a bulldog climbing a ladder, a cat trying to play a guitar, a big dog that chased its tail whenever someone sang “Pop Goes the Weasel,” and a herd of hundreds of stampeding bunnies.

      Right now she was watching one that really made her laugh. A squirrel kept trying to get into a squirrel-proof birdfeeder. No matter how he approached the feeder, it would spin around and send him flying. But the squirrel was determined and wouldn’t give up.

      The video kept her giggling until her mother called out again.

      “Tiffany! Is your sister coming with us?”

      “I don’t think so, Mom.”

      “Well, go ask her, please.”

      Tiffany sighed. She more than half wanted to yell back …

      “Go ask her yourself.”

      Instead, she called back, “OK.”

      Tiffany’s nineteen-year-old sister, Lois, hadn’t come down to breakfast. Tiffany was pretty sure she had no intention of going to church. She’d told Tiffany yesterday that she didn’t want to go.

      Lois had been doing less and less with the family ever since she’d started college in the fall. She came home most weekends and on holidays and breaks, but either kept to herself or went out with friends, and almost always slept late in the mornings.

      Tiffany couldn’t blame her.

      Life in the Pennington household was enough to bore a teenager to death. And church bored Tiffany more than almost anything.

      With a sigh, she stopped the video and stepped out into the hallway. Lois’s bedroom was upstairs from hers—a luxurious room that took up most of the attic. She even had her own private bathroom up there and a huge closet. Tiffany was still stuck in the smaller second-floor bedroom that had been hers for as long as she could remember.

      It didn’t seem fair. She’d hoped that she would inherit her sister’s bedroom when she went to college. Why did Lois need all that space now that she was only home on weekends? Couldn’t they trade bedrooms at long last?

      She complained about it often and loudly, but nobody seemed to care.

      She stood at the bottom of the stairs that led up to the attic and called out.

      “Hey, Lois! Are you coming with us?”

      She got no reply. She rolled her eyes. This often happened whenever she had to fetch Lois for one thing or another.

      She climbed up the stairs and knocked on the door to her sister’s room.

      “Hey, Lois,” she yelled again. “We’re going to church. Are you coming?”

      Again, she got no reply.

      Tiffany shuffled her feet impatiently, then knocked again.

      “Are you awake?” she asked.

      There was still no reply.

      Tiffany groaned aloud. Lois might be fast asleep or listening to music on headphones. More likely, though, she was just ignoring her.

      “OK,” she yelled. “I’ll tell Mom you’re not coming.”

      As Tiffany made her way back down the stairs, she worried a little. Lois had been a bit down during her most recent visits—not exactly depressed, but not as cheerful as usual. She’d told Tiffany that college was harder than she’d expected, and the pressure was getting to her.

      At the bottom of the stairs, Dad was standing in the foyer checking his watch impatiently. He looked ready to go, warmly clad in an overcoat, a fur cap, a scarf, and gloves. Mom was putting on her own coat.

      “So is Lois coming?” Dad asked.

      “She says no,” Tiffany said, lying a little. Dad might get mad if Tiffany said that Lois wouldn’t even answer her knock on the door.

      “Well, I’m not surprised,” Mom said, putting on her gloves. “I heard her car pull in late last night. I’m not sure what time it was.”

      Tiffany felt another pang of envy at the mention of her sister’s car. Lois had so much freedom now that she was in college! Best of all, nobody cared very much what time she came home at night. Tiffany hadn’t even heard her come in at all last night.

      I guess I was fast asleep, she thought.

      As Tiffany started putting on her own coat, Dad grumbled, “The two of you are taking forever. We’re going to be late for the service.”

      “We’ll

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