Kill and Run (A Thorny Rose Mystery Book 1) Read online

  Kill and Run

  A Thorny Rose Mystery

  By

  Lauren Carr

  Kill and Run: Book Information

  All Rights Reserved © 2015 by Lauren Carr

  Published by Acorn Book Services

  No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping, or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author.

  For information call: 304-995-1295

  or Email: [email protected]

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Designed by Acorn Book Services

  Publication Managed by Acorn Book Services

  www.acornbookservices.com

  [email protected]

  304-995-1295

  Cover designed by Todd Aune

  Spokane, Washington

  www.projetoonline.com

  Cover Photo: [email protected]

  Published in the United States of America

  Table of Contents

  Kill and Run: Book Information

  Dedication

  Cast of Characters

  Epigraph

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Epilogue

  About the Author

  Check Out Lauren Carr’s Mysteries!

  Cancelled Vows

  Dedication

  To Beagle Bailey, Ziggy, and (last but not least, by any means) Gnarly!

  My inspirations for the forty-five pound couch potato.

  Cast of Characters

  (in order of appearance)

  Officer Nicholas (Nick) Gates: Pennsylvania State Trooper. Recently married.

  Officer Reese Phillips: Pennsylvania State Trooper. Officer Nicholas Gates’ training officer.

  Cameron Gates: Homicide detective with the Pennsylvania State Police. Recently married Joshua Thornton. Her first husband was Nicholas Gates. She doesn’t do weddings or funerals.

  Joshua Thornton: Hancock County, West Virginia, Prosecuting Attorney. Commander in the United States Navy (retired). Father of five. Recently married to Cameron Gates.

  Irving: Cameron’s Main Coon cat. All black with a white stripe from the top of his head to the very tip of his tail, he has the identical markings of a skunk. He doesn’t spray, but he will give you plenty of attitude.

  Murphy Thornton: Lieutenant in the United States Navy. Naval Academy graduate. Hand-picked by the Joint Chiefs of Staff to serve as a member of their elite team of Phantoms—Murphy is not your average navy officer. Joshua Thornton’s son. Newly wed to Jessica Faraday.

  Major Marshall Ford: Member of the Phantom team. Officer in the United States Marines.

  Major Seth Monroe: Murphy’s training officer in the Phantoms. Officer in the United States Marines.

  Tawkeel Said: Member of the Phantom team. With help from American soldiers, his family escaped out of Iraq. He now works for the CIA.

  CO: Stands for Commanding Officer. Top Secret/Need to Know classification of the Phantoms prevents Murphy from knowing the actual name of his commanding officer. For this reason, he calls her CO (see-o).

  Jessica Faraday: Murphy Thornton’s lovely bride. Her inheritance from her late grandmother Robin Spencer thrust her into high society.

  Spencer/Candi: Jessica Faraday’s Shetland sheepdog. With her blue eyes and long bluish fur, she is a blue merle. She has a long way to go in training. Jessica calls her Spencer. Murphy calls her Candi. She answers to Candi.

  Newman: Murphy’s mixed breed dog. A forty-five pound couch potato, Newman won’t bite—unless you try to change the channel on his television.

  Tracy Thornton: Joshua Thornton’s grown daughter. Her wedding is in one month.

  Donny Thornton: Joshua Thornton’s seventeen year old son.

  Admiral: The Thornton’s huge dog—Great Dane-Irish Wolfhound mix.

  Special Agent Peter Sanders: An FBI agent who delivers surprising news about Nick’s death.

  Special Agent Dylan Horrigan: FBI agent. Agent Sander’s partner.

  Sal Bertonelli: A professional hit man. Has done a lot of work for the Russian mob and the drug cartels.

  Special Agent Boris Hamilton: Deputy Chief of the Naval Criminal Investigation Staff, where Murphy serves as military liaison between the civilian staff and the military.

  Hillary Koch: Chief of the Naval Criminal Investigation Staff, stationed at the Pentagon. Murphy calls her ‘Crotch” due to her unpleasant personality.

  Special Agent Susan Archer: Agent with the Naval Criminal Investigation Staff.

  Wendy: Hillary Koch’s administrative assistant.

  Special Agent Perry Latimore: Agent with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service. Susan Archer’s partner.

  Admiral Clarence Patterson: Deputy Chairman for the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Navy’s Chief of Staff.

  Lieutenant Bernard Wu: Homicide detective with the Loudon County Sheriff’s Department.

  Donna Crenshaw: Murder victim. Petty officer with United States Navy. Single mother to Isadora (Izzy) Crenshaw.

  Francine Baxter: Murder victim. Professor at George Mason University. Former army officer. Homeowner of townhouse where crime took place.

  Colleen Davis: Murder victim. Unmarried. Elementary school teacher and an authorized Cozy Cook dealer.

  Maureen Clark: Murder victim. Housewife with young son (Tommy Clark).

  Hannah Price: Murder victim. Engineer. She and her husband own an engineering firm.

  Colonel Lincoln Clark: Maureen Clark’s husband. Colonel in the United States Army.

  Isadora (Izzy) Crenshaw: Donna Crenshaw’s thirteen year old daughter. After her mother’s death, she has no one.

  Tristan Faraday: Jessica Faraday’s brother. In his third year of college at George Washington University, he’s studying natural science. He’s an intellectual and proud of it.

  Monique: Tristan Faraday’s pet tarantula. She’s approximately the size of a luncheon plate—which is big.

  Sarah Thornton: Murphy’s sister and Joshua Thornton�
��s younger daughter. She’s a second year cadet at the Naval Academy.

  Natalie Patterson: Admiral Patterson’s wife. She is the president of the Naval Officers’ Spouses Club.

  General Sebastian Graham: Four-star general—hero during the Gulf War. Third generation West Point graduate. He is on a very short list for Chief of Staff of the United States Army.

  Paige Graham: General Sebastian Graham’s devoted wife. President of the Army Officers’ Spouses Club and chair of dozens of clubs and organizations.

  Bernie: CO’s body guard and chauffeur.

  Cecilia Crenshaw: Donna Crenshaw’s sister. Specialist in the United States Army. Murder victim.

  Dolly Scanlon: General Sebastian Graham’s personal assistant—in more ways than one.

  General Maxine Raleigh, USAF: Five-star general in the United States Air Force. Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

  Epigraph

  Our character is what we do when we think no one is looking.

  H. Jackson Brown, Jr., American Author

  Prologue

  Friday, January 24: 10:25 pm: Thirteen Years Ago Pennsylvania Turnpike-Roadside Stop West of Pittsburgh

  “Man, it’s colder than a witch’s tit.” Pennsylvania trooper Reese Phillips shivered while bringing the steaming hot, freshly-brewed coffee to his lips.

  With a grin that stretched across his face, Officer Nicholas Gates asked, “Where do you come up with phrases like that, Phillips? Do you make them up?”

  The middle-aged officer looked the young trooper up and down. With the fresh face of a college heart-throb, Nick Gates was little more than a rookie.

  “Don’t tell me you never heard that one, Gates,” Officer Phillips grumbled. “You’re killing me.”

  Chuckling, the two men made their way to the cashier to pay for their coffees.

  “Half hour more and I’ll be checking out to go home and climb into bed with Rufus.” Officer Phillips shot a wicked glance over his shoulder at his trainee. “Wipe that grin off your face, Gates. My hound dog may not be as pretty as your sweet bride, but he doesn’t complain when I snore either.”

  “Neither does Cameron,” Officer Gates replied.

  “She’s never heard my snoring.”

  “I’m referring to mine,” the young officer laughed.

  “She will. They all do.” Officer Phillips handed the cashier a five dollar bill. “This one’s on me, Gates. Next will be your turn.”

  Officer Gates slipped his money back into his wallet and picked up the coffee he had set down on the counter in order to pay. “Hey, Phillips, do you still have that contact with the FBI?”

  Officer Phillips had to think a moment while they strolled toward the door that led out into the sub-zero temperature. “Do you mean Hatfield? He used to be with the Pennsylvania state police and then joined the FBI.”

  “He works in Quantico now, right?”

  Bracing themselves for the blast of icy air, they pushed open the doors and stepped outside.

  “Yes,” Officer Phillips said, “Why? You looking to move on already?”

  “I was wondering if he’d be able to look through their national database for a missing person.”

  Too cold to continue talking, the two men ran in opposite directions for their cruisers.

  “I’ll have his number for you tomorrow,” Phillips yelled above the howling wind.

  With a wave of his hand to acknowledge that he heard him, Officer Gates climbed into his cruiser. On the other side of the parking lot, Officer Phillips spotted a sedan speeding past the rest stop at top speed. Before the older man could react, Officer Gates turned on his flashing lights and gave chase.

  “Yeah,” Officer Phillips sighed while enjoying the warmth of his hot coffee in the comfort of his patrol car. “Leave it to the young ones.”

  A pair of headlights bathed the compartment of his patrol car with its high beams. A black truck followed Gates’ cruiser out onto the turnpike.

  Officer Nicholas Gates checked the time on the dashboard clock while calling in to dispatch the description and tag numbers of the speeding sedan. Ten twenty-eight in the evening. Another half hour and he’d be heading home to curl up in a warm bed with the love of his life.

  A recent graduate of the police academy, Cameron was on her way to joining the state police. They were the perfect pair. Life was grand.

  Bracing himself against the cold wind and the speeding cars on the turnpike, Nick opened the door and stepped out of the cruiser. Keeping a close eye on the sedan, he approached the driver’s side window. The young woman behind the steering wheel had the window down and was waiting for him. As he approached, he could hear muffled sobs.

  He shone his flashlight into the darkened car. “Your license and registration please.” The flashlight beam caught the tears in her eyes. “Are you okay, ma’am?”

  “No.” She handed her driver’s license and registration to him. “My father is going to kill me.”

  “I’m sure it’s not that bad.” Nick checked over the documentation. She was sixteen years old. “I clocked you at thirteen miles over the speed limit.”

  “Because my curfew is eleven o’clock. I was out at the mall by the airport with my friends. Now, not only am I going to miss curfew, but I’m going to have my first speeding ticket, too.” She hiccupped.

  She could have been faking. She could have been using her pretty face to charm him out of a speeding ticket. She probably was. Nick considered how long it would take to write up the ticket. It was freezing and he really wanted to get home.

  Nick handed the documentation to her. “Tonight’s your lucky night.”

  Her mouth dropped open. “Really?”

  “I’m letting you off with a warning. You need to slow down. Better to get home late and safe than to not get home at all,” he said. “Do you understand?”

  She nodded her head vigorously. “Oh,” she gushed, “you are the sweetest cop I ever met. I could kiss you!”

  The last thing she saw was his brilliant smile filling his handsome face seconds before the black truck speeding down the turnpike swerved off the road to plow down Officer Nicholas Gates.

  Chapter One

  Present Day

  Rock Springs Boulevard, Chester, West Virginia

  His hands felt warm on her flesh. His breath was hot and heavy on her neck. Arching her back to press her body against his, Cameron prayed that this moment, this instant, the euphoria of being so connected to the man she loved could be frozen in time so that it would last forever.

  Her breathing quickened and deepened. Her head spinning with ecstasy, she dug her fingers into his flesh. Tightening his grip around her waist, he pulled her hips ever closer into him. “Come with me, babe!” he breathed in a husky voice into her hair.

  Breathless, all she could do was hold on tight. Their bodies rose and fell in sync. Lovingly rubbing his back—still hot with passion—Cameron recalled how they had been in sync since the first instant they met.

  Exhausted, he collapsed onto her.

  “I love you,” she whispered into his ear.

  Rising up, he gazed into her face. “Love you, too, babe.”

  The moonlight shining through the glass doors leading out onto the verandah shone on his blond hair. A wide grin filled his boyish face.

  Cameron felt as if the breath had been sucked out of her body with one glance into his brown eyes.

  Nick! No! But you’re dead! Unable to form the words—her mouth hung open.

  Fear filling every fiber of her being, she glanced across the bed to where Joshua, her husband was sound asleep.

  No, this isn’t happening! Unable to speak, she tried to push him away.

  He grasped her by the arms and held her still. His eyes met hers. Even in the dark, she could see them clearly. They weren’t filled with malevolence or hurt or eve
n betrayal at her moving on to a new life with another man.

  Insistence. Conviction. That was what she saw.

  “You’re not finished with me yet, babe.”

  “No!” Cameron sprang up straight in the bed.

  With a screech, Irving, her twenty-five pound Maine Coon cat leapt from the bed where he had been curled up against his mistress’s legs to the dresser where he growled at the sudden interruption to his sleep.

  Joshua Thornton sat up an instant after her. “Cam!” He grabbed her arm.

  Thinking she was still trapped in the nightmare with her late husband, she swung around to fight off the ghost with a slap to the face.

  Seeing her hysteria, Joshua ducked in time so the slap flew over his head. “Cam! It’s me! Josh!” He tried to reach for her but she was out of the bed. “Wake up!”

  His voice broke through her terror.

  Heaving deep breaths, she gazed at her husband of a year, reaching out for her. The dim light of the bedroom caught on his silver hair falling in layered waves to this neck and his closely trimmed auburn beard and mustache. She could see the blue hue of his eyes pleading for her to wake up.

  “Josh,” she said in a hushed voice.

  With a sigh of relief, he held out his hand to her. “That’s right, darling. Come back to bed.”

  She welcomed the warmth of his touch when he grasped her fingers. When she climbed back into the bed, he enveloped her against his firm chest and caressed her head. She welcomed the sound of his heart beating against her ear.

  “Want to tell me about your dream?” he asked into her hair.

  “No.” She rubbed her face against his bare chest. “Promise me that nothing bad will ever happen to you—that things will always be like they are now—at this moment.”

  Joshua tightened his arms around her. He took a whiff of her cinnamon colored hair. “You know I can’t promise that.”

  “Lie to me.” She brushed his chest with her fingertips. “Isn’t that the first thing they teach you in law school?”

  “You’re rotten.”

  They chuckled together in the darkness, then fell back into silence.