Cassie tucked her phone in her pocket and pushed open the car door, despite the heaviness of her limbs. It felt as though weights had been tied around her ankles, but she dragged herself through the gate and down the left path. She had visited Sarah’s grave when she was younger, and even though it had been years, she knew right where to find it.
The gravestone was made of pink granite. Despite the clouds in the sky, it still sparkled with the kind of joy Sarah had brought into her life. How different would everything have been if Sarah were still alive? Would Cassie be the person she was? Would she have been attacked by Novak? Would she have ever lost her abilities? Would she be helping people the way she was today?
Questions like that did her no good, but they were hard to ignore.
Cassie bent down and pressed a hand against Sarah’s engraved name. The graves around Sarah’s sang to her like a symphony of bones, but Sarah’s voice wasn’t amongst them. Until they found her body, she’d remain silent forever.
When Cassie stood, she saw Sebastian standing a few feet away. The other spirits made a wide berth around them, as though they knew the significance of this moment. Part of her wished Sarah could’ve been there, but Sebastian held a special place in her heart, too. She would never forget him, and she hoped he would never forget her.
“Thank you.” Her voice was a whisper, but they didn’t need words to communicate. “For your help. For Sarah. You can rest now.”
For the first time since she had met him, Sebastian smiled. It was just a quirk of his lips, but it was unmistakable. As he faded, the image was burned into her mind. She would remember his smile for the rest of her life, and it would bring her comfort and hope.
Cassie’s phone vibrated in her pocket. She wanted to live in the moment for a few minutes longer, but when she saw it was Harris, something deep in the pit of her stomach told her to answer.
“Hey.” Her throat was raw from crying. “What’s up?”
“Cassie.” Harris’ voice was low. Quiet. “Am I interrupting?
“No.” She was on high alert now. “What’s wrong?”
“I don’t really know how to say this. It doesn’t feel real.”
“Adelaide.” Cassie’s heart sank right into the ground next to Sarah’s empty grave. “What happened?”
“It’s David.”
Cassie felt the bile rising in her throat. She didn’t know what to say. Didn’t know if she could speak anymore. Didn’t remember how to breathe.
“He’s dead.”
###
Cassie Quinn returns in Etched in Shadow on September 14th, 2021! Pre-order your copy now, or read on for a sneak peek:
Etched in Shadow (Cassie Quinn Book 4)
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Etched in Shadow
A Cassie Quinn Mystery (Book Four)
by L.T. Ryan & K.M. Rought
Copyright © 2021 by L.T. Ryan, K.M. Rought, and Liquid Mind Media, LLC. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be copied, reproduced in any format, by any means, electronic or otherwise, without prior consent from the copyright owner and publisher of this book. This is a work of fiction. All characters, names, places and events are the product of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously.
Etched in Shadow Chapter 1
Detective Adelaide Harris missed the chill of Montana’s mountain air. There was something invigorating about the biting cold. Most people would bury themselves deeper into the comfort of their warm bed, but not her. She lived for the way it sharpened her senses and lit up her nerve endings.
Savannah’s mornings were never cold enough for her. Even now, in the middle of December, the nightly temperatures rarely dipped below forty. Every morning, the soft heat of the day coaxed her back to sleep. Coffee overheated her body, and she was forced to take cold showers to remind her of those longed-for chilly mornings back home.
But today was different.
This morning, she had been awake the moment her feet hit the living room carpet. The only sound she heard was Chief Clementine’s voice echoing in her head. Harris had fallen asleep on the couch again, and the peal of her phone’s ringtone woke her from an uneasy rest. The sun had risen hours ago, and as she fumbled for her phone, she wondered how she could’ve overslept. When she finally raised the phone to her ear, Clementine sounded surprised, like she had almost gotten away with not having to pass along the news.
Harris had always respected Chief Clementine’s strength and dedication, her innate inability not to mince words. So, when Harris heard the hesitation in Clementine’s voice, something shifted inside her. Her body prepared for the worst, and when it came, she absorbed the shock to her system.
“I need you to come in.” Clementine weighed her words. “Something’s happened.”
That’s all the Chief had told her. Something’s happened. But Harris knew what it was, even if she couldn’t put it into words. The dread pooling in her stomach sent a cold chill up her spine. It worked its way into the base of her neck, where it caused the hair on the back of her head to stand on end.
Still, she took the time to shower. Get dressed. Eat breakfast. She didn’t dawdle, but she didn’t rush. It wouldn’t have changed the outcome of the situation, and she’d need her strength for the day.
Clementine had brought her into the station to break the
