Adele thoughtback to the last meeting at the café outside the airport in Germany. She sighed.“Dad, I shouldn’t have rushed off. I’m sorry.”
“I can’t stopyou,” he said. “I can’t. I want to. I do. I want to. But I can’t.” He giggledagain and nodded rapidly, causing his head to bounce up and down.
Adele leanedeven further back in the red leather chair. “You said it devastated you,” shesaid, trying to settle her own emotions. “What did?” She spoke gently, tryingto channel her inner Dr. Tyra.
Her fathersighed. “When Elise died, I thought I lost everything. I know we wereseparated. I know. Still, it nearly ended me.”
Adele stared atthe screen. She felt a lump forming in her throat. She’d never heard her fathertalk like this before. She cleared her throat, trying to keep a grip on heremotions. “I’m sorry, but that’s the same for me. It’s why I want justice. I’mgoing to bring him in. For both of us.”
But her dadshook his head. His eyes were rimmed red, and it looked as if he hadn’t sleptin a while either. “Sharp, I’m scared. I’m so scared. If I lose you too…”
The lump inAdele’s throat had nearly blocked off her breathing for a moment. But shemanaged to swallow the blockage, and despite the wetness in her eyes, she said,“It’s going to be fine. Look, I know it’s scary. I know. But Mother deservesjustice. You have to see that.”
Her dad hiccuppedagain. “I didn’t tell you everything,” he said. He shook his head. “Honey,there’s more about the case. Something, something I know I should’ve told you.I know. I just couldn’t come—I couldn’t bring myself…”
Adele stiffened,staring at the camera. The prickle across the backs of her arms and up the napeof her neck became more intense.
“Dad, what doyou mean?”
Her father wavedhis hand, and the camera angled off again toward his lap.
“Dad, are youokay? What do you mean you didn’t tell me everything?”
But herquestions went unanswered. After a moment, Adele heard the quiet groaning soundof snoring. She sat like that in the red leather chair, facing the fire inRobert’s mansion, listening to the sound of her father snoring, and alsoheeding the flow of the thoughts swishing through her mind, twisting one afterthe other.
She wasn’t surewhat her father meant by that last part. Had he withheld evidence? That didn’tsound like him at all. Still, her father sounded scared. He didn’t want to loseher. It had been a moment of vulnerability, and it touched her. But, though itmattered, though she cared for him, it didn’t change anything.
Adele kept hergrip tight on the phone, still angling it toward her face, still listening tothe snoring, but as she stared into the fire crackling in the hearth andlistened to Robert whistling in the kitchen, she knew without a doubt that shewould hunt her mother’s killer—and find him. Nothing was going to stop that.
But she wouldn’tbring him in. No. Not this one. Her hand tightened around the phone. He had cuther mother to ribbons, enjoying her bleeding out at his feet. Whoever it was,wherever he was, when she found him, the DGSI, the FBI, Interpol—none of itwould matter.
Adele’s eyesnarrowed, staring unblinking into the fire.
The killerwouldn’t be brought to justice. Not if she was honest with herself. He would bebrought to her. He would suffer. Of that, she was certain. And then—only then—wouldshe end it.
NOW AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER!
LEFT TO HIDE
(An Adele Sharp Mystery—Book 3)
“When you think that life cannot get better, Blake Piercecomes up with another masterpiece of thriller and mystery! This book is full oftwists and the end brings a surprising revelation. I strongly recommend thisbook to the permanent library of any reader that enjoys a very well writtenthriller.”
--Booksand Movie Reviews, Roberto Mattos (re Almost Gone)
LEFTTO HIDE is book #3 in a new FBI thriller series by USA Today bestselling authorBlake Pierce, whose #1 bestseller Once Gone (Book #1) (a free download) hasreceived over 1,000 five star reviews.
AnItalian couple vacationing in Germany are found brutally murdered, causingan international outcry. FBI special agent Adele Sharp is the only one with theinternational expertise to cross borders and stop the killer—and she findsherself working alongside her estranged father, who knows far more about hermother’s unsolved murder than he lets on.
Thoughstill shaken from the recent events in Paris, Adele must embark on a wild chaseacross Germany, uncovering lies and deception at every turn.
CanAdele and her father heal the rift between them?
Andcan she track down the killer before tragedy strikes again?
Anaction-packed mystery series of international intrigue and riveting suspense,LEFT TO HIDE will have you turning pages late into the night.
Book#4 in the ADELE SHARP MYSTERY series will be available soon.
LEFT TO HIDE
(An Adele Sharp Mystery—Book 3)
Blake Pierce
BlakePierce is the USA Today bestselling author of the RILEY PAGE mystery series,which includes seventeen books. Blake Pierce is also the author of the MACKENZIEWHITE mystery series, comprising fourteen books; of the AVERY BLACK mysteryseries, comprising six books; of the KERI LOCKE mystery series, comprising fivebooks; of the MAKING OF RILEY PAIGE mystery series, comprising six books; ofthe KATE WISE mystery series, comprising seven books; of the CHLOE FINEpsychological suspense mystery, comprising six books; of the JESSE HUNTpsychological suspense thriller series, comprising seven books (and counting);of the AU PAIR psychological suspense thriller series, comprising two books(and counting); of the ZOE PRIME mystery series, comprising three books (andcounting); of the new ADELE SHARP mystery series; and of the new EUROPEANVOYAGE cozy mystery series.
ONCEGONE(a Riley Paige Mystery--Book #1), BEFOREHE KILLS (A Mackenzie White Mystery—Book 1), CAUSE TO KILL(An Avery Black Mystery—Book 1), ATRACE OF DEATH (A Keri Locke Mystery—Book 1),
