Dead Woman Crossing

by J. R. Adler

  Dead Woman Crossing

  A totally heart-stopping crime thriller

  J.R. Adler

  Books By J.R. Adler

  Detective Kimberley King series

  Dead Woman Crossing

  Last Day Alive

  AVAILABLE IN AUDIO

  Detective Kimberley King Series

  Dead Woman Crossing (Available in the UK and the US)

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Last Day Alive

  Hear More from J.R. Adler

  Books By J.R. Adler

  A Letter from J.R. Adler

  Acknowledgments

  *

  To my husband, Andrew.

  You believed in me when I didn’t believe in myself.

  This one’s for you, because of you.

  1

  As the tires slammed onto the hot asphalt, Detective Kimberley King instinctively positioned her arm in front of her sixteen-month-old daughter, bracing her. Her sleeping child did not wake. Having been born and raised, thus far, in New York City with its constant squealing sirens and blaring car horns, it would take more than a rough plane landing to wake her resting cherub.

  A few of the passengers toward the back of the plane clapped when the tires were firmly planted on the runway. Kimberley couldn’t help rolling her eyes and shaking her head. Simpletons, she thought, but she quickly had to remind herself… simple was her life now. These were no longer the plain inhabitants of the flyover states, but rather they were now her neighbors, her new people. She would no longer be Detective Kimberley King, NYPD, but something quite different. In New York, she worked homicide, the worst of the worst cases, the things nightmares were made of, but where she was going, murders would be few and far between she presumed given the size of the town. As soon as she stepped foot off the plane, it would be official; she would now be the newest chief deputy of Custer County, residing in Dead Woman Crossing—a town named for its grizzly history of an unsolved brutal homicide. Perhaps Kimberley would feel more at home there than she thought she would. She believed she’d always be a New Yorker at heart and would cling to that as long as she could, but that wasn’t her identity anymore. She was now an Oklahoman.

  “Please be careful when opening the overhead bins as items may have shifted during flight. We hope you enjoyed your flight, and we thank you for flying American Airlines,” the flight attendant announced via the intercom. Immediately, most passengers rose from their seats as if the stewardess had given a powerful sermon rather than simple disembarkation instructions.

  Kimberley turned toward her daughter and unbuckled her. Jessica stirred awake, rubbing her sleepy eyes. Her face began to crumple as she adjusted to the unfamiliar surroundings, but Kimberley acted quickly. She knew that look, the look that signaled Jessica was about to throw a tantrum. Her daughter had seemed to learn in recent weeks that crying could be used as psychological warfare against her mother. Kimberley planted several kisses on the top of her soft head and pulled Jessica into her lap with a hug, quickly soothing her, before she erupted like a volcano full of tears. She had woken her daughter earlier than usual and opted not to put her down for a nap, all to ensure the plane ride had gone smoothly and it had.

  “Jessica, baby, we’re here,” Kimberley said, bouncing her little girl.

  Looking at her daughter was like looking in the mirror; she was the spitting image of Kimberley. Rich dark brown hair, vivid blue eyes, and pouty lips. Kimberley was thankful her daughter had taken after her and not her ex, Aaron, who looked like the poster boy for the Aryan race; blond hair, light eyes, fair skin. He was no longer in the picture. If she was being honest, he was never really in the picture, so she was happy Jessica didn’t serve as a constant reminder of him. She hoped she’d get her strong personality as well, instead of her father’s, who was more concerned about working out in the gym than taking care of his own child. When she told him she was moving out of state and that he could see Jessica as much as he wanted but would have to travel, he had responded with a shrug as if she had asked him something as simple as do you want bacon or sausage with your eggs?

  Motherhood had changed her, but fatherhood hadn’t changed Aaron. When she first had Jessica, Kimberley developed almost a sixth sense. It provided more than any police training had ever done for her. The instinct, many called maternal, translated well into her detective work. It made her notice everything, sense danger. Every situation, she could look at it and find a hundred different ways something could go wrong. Jessica changed Kimberley for the better. But with Aaron, fatherhood shone a light on his true colors: selfish, childish, and narcissistic. Kimberley quickly brushed the memory from her mind before it affected her mood, the roots of her life left behind trying one last time to pull her back into despair.

  She tied her long hair into a ponytail, readying herself to trek off the plane with half of everything she owned. Kimberley stood from her seat and lifted Jessica, her little legs wrapping around Kimberley’s petite, yet strong body. She was used to handling everything by herself, so grabbing her luggage from the overhead bin, Jessica’s diaper bag, and her tote bag all the while holding her daughter looked like a magic act to the untrained eye, but to her it was easy. Jessica tightened her arms around her mother’s neck and laid her head against her shoulder, letting out a soft coo. Kimberley smiled and kissed the top of her head while edging her way into the aisle.

  A middle-aged man with a bald spot the size of a grapefruit on the back of his head stood in front of her. He turned around and gave Kimberley and her juggling act a once-over. “Do you need help with any of that?” he asked, pointing to her bags.

  Kimberley’s eyes widened and her brow creased. She wasn’t used to others offering their help, especially coming from Manhattan. In New York City, people are just too busy to stop and help. They’ve got places to be, traffic to get through, subway rides to make, lines to stand in. Everything there is go, go, go. They’re not mean. They just don’t have the time to be nice.

  “Oh, no. I’ve got it,” she said, because she also wasn’t used to accepting help either. Kimberley was the type of person that handled everything herself. It was why she didn’t really have anyone to say her goodbyes to when she left New York. She lived by the cynical idea that the fewer people that were in your life, the less you had to lose.

  She remembered where she was though and figured she’d have to change that mindset sooner or later as this gentleman likely meant well.

  “Actually, yes. Please,” she said, her own words sounding like a foreign tongue as they left her mouth.

  The man smiled and grabbed the small wheeled bag from her. “You from around here?”

  “No, but I will be soon, I guess.” She shrugged her shoulders.

  “I was born and raised here, but I didn’t realize folks willingly
moved to this part of the world,” he said with a chuckle.

  “They don’t,” Kimberley snorted, but quickly stopped, and looked up to read the man’s face, unsure whether she had offended him.

  The man let out a belly laugh. “Quick wit,” he said. “Well, welcome. You’ll like it here just fine after a time. Oklahoma is like the heels of a loaf of bread. It’s not anyone’s first choice, nor is it as enjoyable or as soft as the rest of the loaf, but it does the job it was meant to do, protects the rest of it from going stale, and hell… it’s still bread.”

  Kimberley nodded. “I like that. By the way, I’m Kimberley, and this is Jessica.” She motioned to her daughter with a tilt of her head.

  “Nice to meet you both. I’m Frank.” Shuffling bodies in front of him got his attention and he turned his head. “Line’s moving,” he called over his shoulder as he lumbered forward.

  Outside the plane, Frank handed over the luggage to Kimberley on the jet bridge, while she grabbed her stroller that the flight crew had already set aside. She placed Jessica in the seat and stuffed her purse and the diaper bag underneath.

  “Well, you enjoy yourself, ma’am, and perhaps I’ll see you around,” Frank said with a smile and a wave of his hand.

  “Thanks for your help.” Kimberley gave him a nod as he took a couple of steps back and turned around, walking away into the bowels of the terminal.

  She bent down to make sure Jessica was secure and that she had everything she had brought with her on the plane. Grabbing her luggage and pulling it behind her with one hand, she pushed the stroller with the other down the jet bridge. This was it… a new start for her and her daughter.

  Out in the baggage claim area, Kimberley spotted David, leaning one of his broad shoulders against a concrete pillar near the baggage carousel. She had never met him in person, but had seen and talked to him many times on FaceTime calls with her mom, Nicole, and he had seemed nice enough. Nicole and David had married at the courthouse a few years ago, just the two of them, so he was technically her stepfather and Jessica’s grandfather. Despite being sixty, he was large and barrel-chested, the result of a lifetime of wheat farming. His skin was weathered and clean-shaven, and his hair was a mix of salt and pepper. His eyes were dark, a complete contrast to the soft facial features that gave him a kind-looking face.

  David stood up straight and smiled wide when he spotted Kimberley. He made his way to her. His footsteps were heavy, and his great stature towered over hers when he gave her a half hug with a pat on the back. She didn’t know him well, but hoped she’d get to know him better as he was the man her mother loved. Kimberley was grateful for him for providing her mother with a life her father had never done and for graciously opening his home to Jessica and herself.

  “Where’s Mom?” Kimberley asked, scanning the surrounding area of passengers hurrying to their baggage carousels. Each unfamiliar face she laid eyes on in the crowd of moving people caused her more and more disappointment.

  “Nicole had one of her migraines. So, she’s at home resting, and by resting I mean prepping dinner, as we both know she is incapable of slowing down.” David arched an eyebrow.

  “Oh… yeah, that’s Mom for ya.” Kimberley tried to hide her disappointment with a small smile.

  She hadn’t seen her mother since Jessica was born as Nicole had only come to the city once in all the time Kimberley had lived there. Kimberley didn’t fault her for that, because she knew her mother didn’t have the money to be traveling back and forth. And she couldn’t be mad at her mother for that either, because Kimberley had never traveled to Oklahoma to visit. She had always been too busy with work.

  “How was the flight?” he asked, his eyes never fully making contact with Kimberley’s, always half looking, half scanning his surroundings. A carryover trait from his military days as an artillery officer in the Oklahoma Guard doing security and stability operations in Iraq.

  She looked down at her daughter to check on her again. Her blue eyes were wide open, staring up at David, almost as though she was mesmerized by the giant.

  David leaned down, putting out his pointer finger. Jessica wrapped her tiny hand around it, her fingers too short to reach her palm. She giggled and smiled widely.

  “Hi, sweetie,” David said. “I’m your Grandpa Turner. But you can call me Papa,” David said, smiling back at Jessica.

  Jessica opened her mouth wide almost as though she was going to say “Papa” but instead gave the biggest, goofiest grin her sweet little face could conjure up.

  “She’s adorable,” David said, his face mimicking hers to get her to laugh and smile more.

  The two of them had never met before, and Kimberley was unsure as to how warm his welcoming would be to Jessica as he had grandchildren of his own. But this interaction was a pleasant surprise and made her more confident in her decision to move to Oklahoma.

  David gently pulled his finger out of Jessica’s grasp. He straightened up slowly into a standing position. “She’s my first granddaughter,” he said proudly.

  Kimberley gave a small smile. “She is, isn’t she?”

  David nodded. “Your mother mentioned she was a good baby.”

  It wasn’t like she’d know firsthand, Kimberley thought to herself. “She is.”

  “Expecting any bags?” David looked around again.

  A couple of the baggage carousels had started up.

  “Just a few. We packed light.” Kimberley had only brought along what she and Jessica needed. Her apartment in the city was small, so they didn’t have much to begin with—and with how demanding her job at the NYPD was, she barely had any street clothes because she was almost always in uniform. Detectives were allowed to wear business casual attire, as opposed to the full blues, but Kimberley liked the immediate authority the uniform signaled. A bitter taste rose in the back of her throat as she thought about her former job and the well-deserved promotion she was passed over for. There was no good reason for her to have not gotten the job, but she was sure it had to do with Jessica. Her career had been soaring up like a helium balloon released from a child’s grasp… until she got pregnant. Then the balloon popped. Her male counterparts treated her differently, like she was fragile, like she’d break at any moment. It was understandable in a way, but Kimberley thought that after she gave birth and returned from maternity leave, things would go back to the way they were before her uterus was occupied. It hadn’t. They viewed motherhood as a weak spot, but for her, it had become her source of strength. She swallowed the resentment hard, following behind David toward her designated baggage carousel.

  Kimberley finished buckling the car seat and ensured Jessica was safe and secure. She double-checked everything once more before closing the back door of the Chevy Impala sedan. She knew it was her mother’s car because her mom had told her about it when she purchased the used vehicle a year before. Kimberley sat down in the passenger seat.

  “We got that car seat from my daughter, Emily,” David noted. “It’s yours to keep. Her boys are too big for car seats.”

  “Thanks. That was nice of her.” Kimberley looked over at David.

  She turned back to check on Jessica once more. Jessica’s blue eyes were still wide, bouncing around the vehicle that sat idle in the parking structure. Kimberley thought for sure her daughter would cry now that she was wide awake and taking in unfamiliar surroundings, but she didn’t. The concrete structure surrounding them must have comforted her. It was after all what she was used to in the city.

  “Ready?” David asked, turning on the engine.

  Kimberley took a small breath and nodded.

  “Let’s hit the road. It’s about a seventy-mile drive—should take a little over an hour,” he said confidently, backing the vehicle out of the parking spot.

  “Takes me an hour to travel two miles in the city sometimes,” Kimberley noted.

  David arched an eyebrow. “Well, you’ll feel like a time traveler in Oklahoma.” He let out a chuckle and Kimberley gave him a c
ourteous smile.

  One hour separated Kimberley from Dead Woman Crossing, her new home. She was looking forward to a fresh start and bringing Jessica up close to her mother, surrounded by wheat fields and flowing creeks, what she gathered Oklahoma looked like from the photos she had received from her mom over the years. No more soaring skyscrapers and endless concrete.

  “Your mother tells me you and your boyfriend broke up,” David said coolly, as if he were talking about the weather and not the ruination of her love life.

  “Yep. We did a while ago.”

  “Why’s that?”

  “He didn’t want to be a father.”

  David shook his head and quickly glanced over at Kimberley with a somber look. “That’s a damn shame.” He returned his focus to the traffic in front of him as they weren’t out of Oklahoma City yet.

  Kimberley could tell he wasn’t used to driving on roads with more than a few vehicles as his shoulders were high and tense, his large hands wrapped around the steering wheel at ten and two and he leaned forward a little. He looked rather uncomfortable. A white sedan in front of them slammed on its brakes.

  David pounded his fist against the horn. “Damnit!” he yelled.

  A blood-curdling wail came from the backseat as Jessica erupted into tears. Kimberley turned around, reaching back, she tried to comfort her.