Skye Cree 03: The Bones Will Tell
| Skye Cree 03: The Bones Will Tell | |
| Vickie McKeehan | |
| Beachdevils Press (2013) | |
| Rating: | **** |
| Tags: | Romance |
One cunning serial killer has met his match.
A serial killer has the city of Seattle gripped in fear. As his bloody total continues to mount, Skye Cree gets dragged into the mix by her longtime friend, homicide detective Harry Drummond. Desperate for leads Harry hopes Skye's special gift for locating missing children might be the answer. When Skye brings in Josh Ander, together they'll face the most cunning adversary they have yet to hunt. As weeks turn into months, as the number of victims continues to climb, Josh's vivid dreams of the crime scenes are the only key to unlocking the mind of a killer. But can Skye and Josh turn the tables fast enough when the unstoppable killer decides to come after them? Especially when the best clue they have is the revelation that--the bones will tell.
Praise for Vickie McKeehan’s books
“Powerful, moving story of a survivor. A must read!”
The Bones of Others
Skye Doggett
“…well written, fast paced, exciting read…”
The Bones of Others
Paulette Mahurin, author of
The Persecution of Mildred Dunlap
“Strong, distinctive characters.
I cannot wait to get my hands on the next book.”
Just Evil
Coffee Time Romance and More
“Queen of suspense…”
Just Evil
Jill D. Hidy, author of The Old World Series
“…an excellent storyteller…”
Deeper Evil
Toye Lawson Brown, author of When the Music Stops
“A must read trilogy.
”
Ending Evil
Rosalie A. Pope, author of Puppies For Sale $25.00
“For an entertaining adventure and love story,
I highly recommend.”
Hidden Moon Bay
Marilyn Holdsworth, author of Pegasus
“
…the Pelican Pointe Novels are not to be put down ’til the last page
…
”
Dancing Tides
Sheryl Dickson
, reader
“This is a wonderful series…”
Starlight Dunes
Steve Ashley
, reader
“Dark and edgy—romantic suspense with a pulse-pounding pace.”
The Bones of Others
David C. Cassidy, author of
Velvet Rain
“An outstanding book series…”
The Bones Will Tell
Brian J. Hodson, reader
also
by Vickie McKeehan
The Evil Secrets Trilogy
JUST EVIL - Book One
DEEPER EVIL - Book Two
ENDING EVIL - Book Three
The Pelican Pointe Series
PROMISE COVE
HIDDEN MOON BAY
DANCING TIDES
LIGHTHOUSE REEF
STARLIGHT DUNES
LAST CHANCE HARBOR (Coming)
Skye Cree Novels
THE BONES OF OTHERS
THE BONES WILL TELL
THE BOX OF BONES
Exclusively at Amazon in print and Kindle format
The Box of Bones
A Skye Cree Novel
Published by Beachdevils Press
Copyright © 201
4 Vickie McKeehan
All rights reserved
.
The Box of Bones
A Skye Cree Novel
Copyright © 2014 Vickie McKeehan
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 prior written permission of the publisher.
This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogue are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead is entirely coincidental.
ISBN-10:
0692207279
ISBN-13:
978-0692207277
Published by
Printed in the USA
Original cover artwork designed by Jess Johnson
Visit Vickie at:
http://vickiemckeehan.wordpress.com/
The Box of Bones
A Skye Cree Novel
VICKIE McKEEHAN
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
To Rich, for all things cop.
To Jess, for graphics that really pop.
To Kristi, for all the social media
help.
To Dana, for all the corrections and catches.
As always, any mistakes belong to me.
For my family and friends.
It’s you guys who keep me going.
“We serial killers are your sons,
we
are your husbands,
we
are everywhere.”
Ted Bundy
Table of C
ontents
The Box of Bones
A Skye Cree Novel
VICKIE McKEEHAN
Twenty years earlier
Fort Lewis, Washington
“Y
ou made soup for dinner? What kind of an idiot woman thinks a man can make a meal outta soup?”
Black-haired beauty, Trisha Danes, barely out of her teens, had only
been married to the twenty-two-year-old army corporal for six months. But Trisha had already decided it had been the worst time of her life. How was she supposed to know that Milo got pissed off about everything
before
he’d slipped a twenty-dollar ring on her finger? That’s what she got for marrying somebody she’d only known a short two months.
She trembled a little at the sound of Milo’s angry tone. Lately he always seemed to be mad about something. And tonight was no exception.
In her best Carolina drawl, she tried to pacify him. “It’s…not…soup, honey. It’s stew. And dontcha know, it has lots of meat and veggies like potatoes and carrots and onions, just like you like,” Trisha went on to point out.
“Well, whatever it is, you made it too damn watery that it looks like soup to me. I can see the bottom of the damn pan,” Milo g
rumbled.
That was because she’d tried to stretch all the ingredients. But she didn’t say this to Milo. Instead she did her best to appease him again and offered, “Okay, okay, no need to get upset. How about I fix you a nice grilled cheese instead? You like those. You can eat it with the…soup.”
“I’m not eating a damned sandwich. A man wants a real meal when he gets home from working a ten-hour shift not a bunch of cheese on toast.”
Trisha sucked in a nervous breath. It might be different if Milo had an exhausting job loading trucks for the army from six in the morning until four in the afternoon. But he didn’t. What Milo did was sit on his ass at a desk inputting data into a computer all day, keeping track of shipments coming onto and going off the base.
Not exactly grueling work in Trisha’s mind. But she didn’t dare mention that at the moment. She didn’t want to fight. And because of that she went to the refrigerator and dug out the carton of eggs. “How about I scramble you up some of these?”
“Damn it, woman!
That’s breakfast food. I want you to fix me supper. What about that don’t you understand?”
Now was probably not a good time to remind Milo that they still had another week to go till payday. He could eat a cheese sandwich, or the two scrambled eggs or the watery stew. Honestly though, Trisha was getting mighty tired of Milo’s temper flaring like a volcano over the least little thing like what he had for dinner. Trisha backed away from the fridge as Milo stormed over to the same appliance and yanked the door open to see for himself what was inside.
Trisha wasn’t taking any chances. She moved three feet away to the counter.
“There’s nothing in here but some ketchup, mustard and mayo. We don’t even have a hotdog to throw on the stove. Where the hell is the food?”
It wasn’t like she’d eaten it up herself. Beginning to shake now with fear that he might take it up a notch, which she’d seen him do lately, she did her best to remind him of their situation. “We have seven dollars in our checking account, Milo. It’s gotta last at least another six days before I can go to the PX. We’ve used up our allotment for food. Look, I’ve got a can of beans in the pantry I can throw in and add it to the stew. That’ll make it a lot thicker.”
But when Milo slammed the ice-box door shut and wheeled around with fire in his eyes, Trisha knew she was in trouble. “Don’t you dare hit me
again! I didn’t move three thousand miles all the way across the country to a place where all it does is rain all the damned time for you to use me as a punching bag every single time you get mad about something! I’m not putting up with you hitting me anymore, Milo.”
“Oh yeah?
Then leave. Get out of my face
and
my house. What good are you anyway? Can’t even fix a damn meal the right way,” he groused.
But when she reached for the keys on the counter to the only vehicle they owned, Milo’s truck, he slapped her hand away. “You ain’t takin’ my pickup. You wanna get out of here? Fine, you walk. You leave with what’s on your back.”
“That’s not right.”
“Yeah, well neither is me coming home and finding a crappy meal on the stove.” With that, he shoved her through the back door. “Now get your ass out of my sight before I decide to smack you.”
“Where am I supposed to go, Milo?”
“Hey, you wanna leave? What the hell do I care where you go?” He pushed her onto the narrow porch and then slammed the door shut in her face.
The minute she heard the lock turn on the other side, Trisha’s shoulders slumped. What was she supposed to do now? She took two steps and started pounding on the door. “At least give me my purse. Come on, Milo. I need my wallet! It has my ID in it.”
When the door cracked open slightly, she had hope. But then Milo tossed her handbag over her head and it landed on the wet patch of dirt and weedy grass behind her.
“There. Satisfied now? By the way, I took the checkbook out of it, too. I don’t want you writing hot paper all over town that I’ll have to cover. Now get out of my sight! You knock on this door again and I’ll bash your face in.”
Knowing he would do it, Trisha backed down the steps and ran over to retrieve her pocketbook. She brushed off the tan faux leather grain hoping all the grime came off.
It was beginning to get dark and already chilly for October. The sun dipped in the west over the tips of the evergreens as she made her way through the complex heading to the nearest pay phone, a good half mile away.
She didn’t even have her jacket. Asshole Milo, she thought, as she tromped off in the direction of the PX. What she had ever seen in the piece of shit, she could only wonder now?
It was time to call her stepmom, Brandy Sue Grainger, collect back in Charlotte. Trisha hoped the woman accepted the charges. After all, it had been her stepmother who had tried to warn her about marrying Milo. She wished now she’d listened to Brandy. Not only that, Trisha hoped she could talk Brandy Sue into sending her bus fare to get back home. If that didn’t happen, she’d have to hitchhike her way clear across the country. But first, she’d have to wait for Milo to go to work in the morning to go back to the apartment to get her clothes.
As Trisha contemplated where she
planned to sleep that night, a Jeep pulled alongside her with the windows rolled down. That seemed odd to Trisha because she’d been here two months and not a single soul had gone out of their way to be friendly to her.
When the man behind the wheel brought the car to the side of the road and came to a stop, Trisha stopped walking.
“You need a ride, honey? It’s awful cold out here and you don’t even have a coat on.”
He seemed nice enough and wow was he ever cute, all that dark hair and all. Maybe her luck in the man department had turned.
As she opened the passenger door and hopped into the front seat, Trisha had no way of knowing it was the last ride she would ever take.