Eva Rae Thomas Mystery Box Set

by Willow Rose

  A large woman stepped inside my room, gliding comfortably in her high heels and tight skirt.

  “Oh, Detective Carter,” I said. “Meet my former boss, FBI-director, Isabella Horne. She was in here earlier, and I had the chance to tell her the entire story. I told her I was certain I could get you to admit your guilt on tape, but she wasn’t sure I could. You owe me five bucks, Isabella.”

  “I sure do,” she said, then reached over and removed my phone from the table next to me.

  “It’s so simple these days,” I said. “Can you believe how easy it is? Back in the day, we’d have to wear a wire and everything. It was a lot of trouble. But today, it’s different. You can simply use your phone to record sensitive material without anyone knowing it.”

  “But… but…”

  Matt came in behind Isabella, flanked by Chief Annie and a local officer from Miami. The officer removed my cuffs and placed them on Carter instead.

  “See, the thing is,” Chief Annie said, “it was actually the FBI who sent out Eva Rae on a mission, in cooperation with our department, to find the Iron Fist. He had long been under suspicion for the trafficking of girls in south Florida, and we saw no one better to do the job of finding him than Eva Rae.”

  “So, she was actually working for us all this time,” Isabella said. “Undercover and top-secret, naturally, so we couldn’t tell anyone — not even when you started to chase her. All we could do was to send Matt in to keep an eye on your investigation and make sure she wasn’t harmed. But then we caught ourselves a corrupt cop along the way too, which isn’t half bad. Helen Wellington and her sister have been taken into our custody now, and will not see daylight for a very, very long time. Lots of trials will follow in the coming years when the sisters and their helpers will have to answer for their actions. Finding the girls at the farm helped us a lot in putting the pieces together, and they will serve as excellent witnesses after they have been reunited with their families. We have even set up a group of investigators to look into NYX to see if there are others who will need to be prosecuted for what happened there before the leader was killed. So, all in all, a very successful mission. Meanwhile, you should probably prepare yourself to spend some time in the darkness as well. Nothing worse than a criminal cop, in my opinion, taking the law into his own hands.”

  Isabella nodded at the officer, who grabbed Carter and took him away. Chief Annie and Director Isabella Horne left as well, and Matt and I were alone. I asked Matt to come closer to me and wrapped my arms around him, then held him very tight.

  “How are you feeling today?” he asked.

  I smiled, relieved. “Better. Slowly getting there day by day. Now that we got Carter in custody, I have to say I feel a little like dancing. But not yet, though. My lungs aren’t ready for that kind of activity. At least not yet.”

  “But are you maybe ready for a visit?” Matt asked.

  Olivia stepped inside, and I couldn’t help smiling through my tears. “Oh, my baby girl. Come here.”

  She walked up to me and threw her arms around my neck. I kissed her frantically and eventually she told me to stop.

  “Never,” I said. “I am never letting you out of my sight again; do you hear me?”

  She leaned over and kissed my forehead. The doctors had told me she had been very lucky and that her lungs seemed fine. Her eyes were still bothered by the gas they had been exposed to, but it would get better in time.

  As I looked at my beautiful daughter, I suddenly heard a set of voices coming up behind her. The sound made my heart run amok.

  “Christine? Alex?”

  “Mo-o-om! Alex won’t stop talking about bunnies. It’s all he ever talks about, and it is driving me nuts!” Christine exclaimed. “He’s been reading everything on the Internet about them.”

  “Dad promised me we could get bunnies,” Alex said with that glint in his eyes.

  My mom and Chad came in with them. Chad held Alex by the shoulders. He shrugged while I hugged my mom.

  “You look awful, dear,” she said and corrected my hair like that would help. I chose to ignore her.

  “You did what?” I asked Chad, suddenly thrown back to reality. “You promised them bunnies? And just who is supposed to take care of them?”

  “I will,” Alex said. “I love bunnies; they’re so CUTE!”

  “What can I say?” Chad said. “I felt bad for the kids. We didn’t know when you’d be home, and I gave in. I was weak; forgive me.”

  I took in a deep breath of oxygen through the mask.

  “I guess we’re getting bunnies then.”

  “YEAH!” Alex exclaimed, then gave me a warm hug. I coughed again and had to take another couple of deep breaths with the oxygen when I realized someone else had arrived in the room too.

  She was standing a little behind the others, looking shy. She was wearing a hat and sunglasses, even though we were indoors. Not to be recognized, I guessed, but someone had to tell her that wearing a hat and sunglasses only made people look at her even more.

  “Sydney,” I said with a sigh. I reached out my hands and grabbed hers in mine. “Thank you. For all your help. I couldn’t have done this without you.”

  She shrugged. “What are sisters for, right? You could have told me you were on an FBI mission, though. Would have made me feel a whole lot better.”

  “It had to seem real,” I said. “From now on, I’ll tell you everything. I promise.”

  Sydney hugged me and held me tight, then whispered. “There was no mission, was there? It’s something you have all come up with afterward, isn’t it?”

  I chuckled, then smiled. “On second thought, you don’t need to know everything. There should be room for a little mystery between sisters.”

  I shared a glance with Matt, and he smiled. I then saw him look nervously at Chad. He was surrounded by our children, who seemed to be exhilarated to have their father back in their lives. I couldn’t blame them, but I couldn’t blame Matt either for feeling a little threatened by the presence of my ex.

  I reached out my hand and grabbed Matt’s in mine, then took a deep breath from the oxygen mask before I removed it and looked deeply into his eyes.

  “Matt?”

  “Yeah?”

  “I love you,” I said and touched his lips gently. “Gosh, how I love you.”

  THE END

  Want do know what happens next?

  Get Book 4 in the Eva Rae Thomas Mystery Series,

  SAY YOU LOVE ME here:

  https://readerlinks.com/l/704695

  Afterword

  Dear Reader,

  Thank you for purchasing The Eva Rae Thomas Mystery Series Box Set. It was a thrill to write these books, and I hope you had just as much fun reading them as I had writing them.

  Now, you might be thinking ‘what a crazy ride; I’m glad these things didn’t happen in real life.’ But a lot of it actually has happened, I am afraid. When writing these books, I have picked things from real life, amazing as it sounds.

  Book 1, DON’T LIE TO ME:

  The idea for this book came to me when I spoke to a good friend of mine who is going through a tough divorce right now. Her husband is alienating the children against her, so they refuse to see her. He is telling them lies about her, and they believe him, mostly because they are afraid of him. It's an awful thing and happens a lot more than you'd think. When I researched it, I found so many stories like my friend's, you wouldn't believe it. Some children don't realize this has happened to them before they are grown up and they have lost contact with one parent. It devastated my heart to think that some parents won't get to see their own children and, not only that, their young hearts are turned against them. It's tough.

  Book 2, WHAT YOU DID:

  Now, the backstory for this book is based on a true event that took place back in 1956, when a young infant named Peter Weinberger was kidnapped from his baby carriage while he was sleeping outside. The kidnapper then asked for a ransom but was spooked by the press and police
and left the child in a bush where he wasn’t found until it was too late. It is such a devastating story, and, of course, I knew I needed to write about it. Here is a link in case you want to read more.

  https://www.fbi.gov/history/famous-cases/weinberger-kidnapping

  Book 3, NEVER EVER:

  A little while ago, a story broke down here in Florida about a health inspector. The inspector had been to several massage parlors and spas during routine checks and discovered that they were harboring trafficked girls. The story became very big and ended up involving celebrities who had been to these places.

  The shocking part — to me at least — was that we see these places in strip malls everywhere. To think that they are keeping young girls as sex slaves in places like that, in areas I pass by every day, right under our noses, is so scary to me.

  If you haven’t heard about it, then you can read more here:

  https://www.tcpalm.com/story/news/crime/2019/03/15/trafficking-spa-inspection-records-show-red-flags/3079435002/

  https://www.bostonherald.com/2019/04/30/health-inspector-testified-she-felt-uneasy-in-florida-spa/

  In the book, we meet a young woman who joins a cult called NYX, encouraged by a friend who thinks it will be good for her. What happens to her was highly inspired by the current real-life drama of the cult NXIVM. This story has so much fascination; I knew I had to write about it. How the celebrities and billionaires fell into this leader’s claws - and how he preyed on their vulnerabilities. The things he got away with doing to them, like branding them and having sex with them. It is truly gripping.

  If interested, you can read more here:

  https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/nxivm-what-we-know-about-alleged-sex-trafficking-forced-labor-204958/

  The book begins with a nerve gas attack on the Metrorail in Miami. This was inspired by the gas attacks in Japan in 1995, where a cult brought in bags of nerve gas and released it. None of the passengers knew or suspected that anything was going on, till it was too late and they had trouble breathing. Here’s a link if you want to know more:

  https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-35975069

  Thanks again for all your support. Don’t forget to grab the next book in the series, called Say You Love Me, and don’t forget to leave a review if you can. It means so much to me.

  Take care,

  Willow

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  Hit The Road Jack (Jack Ryder Series Book 1)

  Excerpt

  For a special sneak peak of Willow Rose's Bestselling Mystery Novel Hit the road Jack turn to the next page.

  Prologue

  DON’T COME BACK NO MORE

  Prologue

  May 2012

  She has no idea who she is or where she is and cares to know neither. For some time, for what seems like forever, she has been in this daze. This haze, in complete darkness with nothing but the sounds. Sounds coming from outside her body, from outside her head. Sometimes, the sounds fade and there is only the darkness.

  As time passes, she becomes aware that there are two realities. The one in her mind, filled with darkness and pain and then the one outside of her, where something or someone else is living, acting, smelling and…singing.

  Yes, that’s it. Someone is singing. Does she know the song?

  …What you say?

  The darkness is soon replaced by light. Still, her eyes are too heavy to open. Her consciousness returns slowly. Enough to start asking questions. Where is she? How did she end up here? A series of pictures of her at home come to her mind. She is waiting. What is she waiting for?

  …I guess if you said so.

  Him. She is waiting for him. She is checking her hair in the mirror every five minutes or so. Then correcting the make-up, looking at the clock again. Where is he? She looks out through the window and at the street and the many staring neighboring windows. A feeling of guilt hits her. Somehow, it seems wrong for this kind of thing to take place in broad daylight.

  …That’s right!

  A car drives up. The anticipation. The butterflies in her stomach. The sound of the doorbell. She is straightening her dress and taking a last glance in the mirror. The next second, she is in his embrace. He is holding her so tight she closes her eyes and breathes him in until his lips cover hers and she swims away.

  …Whoa, Woman, oh woman, don't treat me so mean.

  His breath is pumping against her skin. She feels his hands on her breasts, under her skirt, coming closer, while he presses her up against the wall. She feels him in his hand. He is hard now, moaning in her ear.

  “Where’s your husband?” he whispers.

  “Work,” she moans back, feeling self-conscious. Why did he have to bring up her husband? The guilt is killing her. “The kids are in school.”

  “Good,” he moans. “No one can ever know. Remember that. No one.”

  …You're the meanest old woman that I've ever seen.

  He pushes himself inside of her and pumps. She lets herself get into the moment, but as soon as it is over, she finds herself regretting it…while he zips up the pants of his suit and kisses her gently on the lips, whispering, same time next week? She regrets having started it all. They are both married with children, and this is only an affair. Could never be anything else, even if she dreamt about it. The sex is great, but she wants more than just seeing him on her lunch break. But she can never tell him. She can never explain to him how much she hates this awkward moment that follows the sex.

  “They’re expecting me at the office…I have a meeting,” he says, and puts his tie back on. “I’d better…”

  …Hit the road, Jack!

  She finally opens her eyes with a loud gasp. The bright light hurts her. Water is being splashed in her face. She can’t breathe. The bathtub is slippery when she tries to get up. Her eyes lock with another set of eyes. The eyes of a man. He is staring at her with a twisted smile. She gasps again, suddenly remembering those dark chili eyes.

  “I guess if you said so…I'd have to pack my things and go,” he sings.

  “You,” she gasps. Breathing is hard for her. She feels like she is still choking. She is hyperventilating. Panicking.

  The man smiles. On his neck crawls a snake. How does that old saying go again? Red, black, yellow kills a fellow? This one is all of that, all those colors. It stares at her while moving its tongue back and forth. The man is holding a washcloth in his hand. She looks down at her naked body. The smell of chlorine is strong and makes her eyes water.

  “You tried to kill me,” she says, while panting with anxiety.

  I have to get home. Help me. I have to get home to my children! Oh, God. I can hear their voices! Am I going mad? I think I can hear them!

  “I guess I didn’t do a very good job, then,” he answers. His chillingly calm voice is piercing through every bone in her body.

  “I’ll try again. That’s right!”

  Prologue

  May 2012

  She had never been more beautiful than in this exact moment. No woman
ever had. So fragile, her skin so pale it almost looked bluish. The man who called himself the Snakecharmer stared at her body. It was still in the bathtub. He was still panting from the exertion, his hands shaking and hurting from strangling the girl. He felt so aroused in this moment, staring at the dead body. It was the most fascinating thing in the world. How the body simply ceased to function. And almost as fascinating was what followed next. The human decaying process. It wasn’t something new. Fascination with death had occurred all throughout human history, characterized by obsessions with death and all things related to death. The Egyptians mummified their dead. He had always wished he could do the same. Keep his dead forever and ever. He remembered as a child how he would sometimes lie down in front of the mirror and try to lie completely still and look at himself, imagining he was looking at a dead body. He would capture cats and kill them and keep them in his room, just to watch what would happen to them. He wanted so badly to stop the decaying process, he wanted them to remain the same always and never leave.

  The Snakecharmer stared at the girl with fascination in his eyes. He caught his breath and calmed down again. He still felt the adrenalin rushing through his veins while he finished washing the girl. He washed away all the dirt, all the smells on her body. He reached down and cleaned her thoroughly between her legs. Scrubbed her to make sure he got all the dirt away, all the filth and impurities.

  Then, he dried her with a towel before he pulled her onto the bathroom floor. His companions, his two pet Coral snakes, were sliding across her dead body. He grabbed one and let it slide across his arm while petting it. Then he knelt next to the girl and stroked her gently across her hair, making sure it wasn’t in her face. Her blue eyes stared into the ceiling.