The former head of Finley Creek TSP had taken early medical retirement to help his wife battle breast cancer and spend time with their teenage children.
Gabby had always liked working for him and hadn’t bothered to ask who the emergency appointment to the position was going to be. It wasn’t like her position came in contact with the chief that often. Most of her direct work was under Bennett Russell, chief of the entire Computer Forensics division of the TSP, not just Finley Creek. Most anything extraordinary that they dealt with had Benny’s name on it.
She and Brynna liked it that way. Gabby lived for anonymity, but Brynna just didn’t like people all that much.
In the four years since she’d been promoted from the IT department to the computer forensics department of the TSP, the chief had entered her office exactly three times. Gabby liked it like that.
People in authority made her nervous. People made her nervous. When she got nervous, she rambled. When she rambled, she said something royally stupid. When she said something stupid, she got embarrassed. When she got embarrassed, her skin turned beet red and her blue eyes watered. When she turned red and her eyes watered, she looked ridiculous. Not exactly how she wanted her career to go. Gabby would rather hide in the computer lab most days. Her supervisor could handle anything with people in authority that came her way, right? It had worked this long.
“I said, the new chief starts today.” Brynna was still looking at her with her pale brown eyes so serious. No surprise there, Brynna was serious most of the time. Brynna serious, Gabby freaked. Both of them a little bit more than weird.
“So? You’re going to have to elaborate, Bryn.”
“You know who he is, right?”
“No. I missed the memo…and the meeting.” Gabby tried not to feel too guilty. She wasn’t good when shoved into a small room with a bunch of people. She was better when they left her alone with her computer. Brynna was the same way. One of the reasons why the two of them got along so well. “I covered Benny’s calls. You were with Major Crimes that day.”
If people just left them alone to do their jobs, there pretty much wasn’t anything they couldn’t accomplish together—with the computers, that was.
The former chief and the rest of the officers and detectives they worked with understood that.
Hopefully, the new chief would be the same way.
“You know who it is, right? Gabby!”
“No. Who?”
“It’s Sara’s oldest brother, Elliot Marshall. Junior.”
Gabby just stared.
“Maybe he can help you.”
That was definitely something she never would have expected. Elliot Marshall was back in Finley Creek. Back. Wow. “Uh-uh. No way. Elliot Marshall wouldn’t have anything to do with the Texas State Police. Especially here in Finley Creek. I heard he quit almost five years ago to go to the FBI. And he definitely wouldn’t believe me. He always thought I was nuts. That I didn’t see anything that night. And he wasn’t all that nice to me before that.” Sara’s two oldest brothers, Chance and Elliot, had already been adults with their own careers at the time Sara and the rest of her family had been murdered. They’d both had sudden other plans the night their family was killed. It had saved their lives; Gabby didn’t doubt that at all. Chance was around eight years older than her, and Elliot was a few years older than him. She hadn’t known them well. They’d scared the timid kid she was back then.
“Well, a lot has changed in ten years. You have, right? Maybe he has, too.”
Somehow, Gabby doubted it. “I don’t know, Bryn. I guess I just need to think about what I want to do before I say anything to anyone else. Besides, Oregon, where this latest case was, is a really long way away. It was probably not related. I hope.”
“I understand. Just…keep your doors locked, ok? Statistically, these probably aren’t the same killers. But why play the odds? Why don’t you come home with me tonight?”
“No. I’m ok. If I start hiding with friends instead of facing things head on, I’ll never be able to live my life without the fear, right?” A hard lesson she’d had to learn over the past ten years.
“Sometimes I just don’t understand your reasoning. You’d be safer with us. Dad and Mel both have guns.”
“I know. But thank you for offering. It means a lot.”
If someone was coming for her, there was no way she’d want Brynna and Mel—or their younger sisters and father—in the line of fire. No way. She’d stick it out in her own apartment, with Bug the Cat and her panic attacks for company.
If someone was coming for her, she would never want her best friends standing between them. Ever…
Also by Calle J. Brookes
ROMANTIC SUSPENSE
PAVAD: FBI ROMANTIC SUSPENSE
Beginning (Prequel 1)
Waiting (Prequel 2)
Watching
Wanting
Second Chances
Hunting
Running
Redeeming
Revealing
Stalking
Ghosting
Burning
Gathering
Falling
Hiding
Seeking
FINLEY CREEK SERIES
TRILOGY ONE (TEXAS STATE POLICE)
Her Best Friend’s Keeper
Shelter from the Storm
The Price of Silence
TRILOGY TWO (FINLEY CREEK GENERAL)
If the Dark Wins
Wounds That Won’t Heal
Hope for Finley Creek (bonus novella)
As the Night Ends
TRILOGY THREE (FINLEY CREEK DISASTER)
Before the Rain Breaks
Lost in the Wind
Walk Through the Fire
MASTERSON COUNTY NOVELLA SERIES
Seeking the Sheriff
Discovering the Doctor
Ruining the Rancher
Denying the Devil
SMALL-TOWN SHERIFFS
Holding the Truth
SUSPENSE/THRILLER
PAVAD: FBI CASE FILES
PAVAD: FBI Case Files #0001
“Knocked Out”
PAVAD: FBI Case Files #0002
“Knocked Down”
PAVAD: FBI Case Files #0003
“Knocked Around”
PAVAD: FBI Case Files #0004
“White Out”
PAVAD: FBI Case Files #0005
“Buried Secrets”
Calle has several free reads available at
www.CalleJBrookesReads.com
For my grandfather, the best man I have ever known.
You will be missed.
Oct. 2015
For my grandmother, who gave me the courage to try.
