by Gregg Olsen
Highest Praise for Gregg Olsen
The Girl in the Woods
“Frightening . . . A goose-bump read by a very talented author. The characters are incredibly real, causing each page to become a nail-biter, as readers wonder who the killer could possibly be. And as the last pages come to pass, the final revelation is truly unforgettable.”
—Suspense Magazine
“Olsen weaves an intricate thriller that begins with a missing girl and ends up in unexpected territory. The characters of forensic pathologist Birdy Waterman and her colleague Detective Kendall Stark are both intriguing and compelling. The whodunit might be a big obvious, but the journey is still terrifying and the writing is stellar. Readers will clamor for more stories featuring Waterman and Stark.”
—RT Book Reviews, 4 stars
Fear Collector
“Thrills, chills, and absolute fear erupt in a story that focuses on the evil Ted Bundy brought to society. Readers will not see the twists and turns coming and, even better, they’ll get the shock of a lifetime. This author has gone out of his way to make sure this is a novel of true and utter fear!”
—Suspense Magazine
“Excellent, well written, fascinating . . . an engaging story that will captivate from the very start. Olsen has combined the power of fiction with the stark reality of fact. It’s a book you’ll not easily forget.” —Kevin M. Sullivan, author of
The Bundy Murders: A Comprehensive History
Closer Than Blood
“Olsen, a skilled true-crime writer and novelist, brings back Kitsap County sheriff’s detective Kendall Stark in his fleet-footed novel Closer Than Blood.”
—The Seattle Times
“A cat-and-mouse hunt for an individual who is motivated in equal parts by bloodlust and greed.... Olsen keeps his readers Velcroed to the edge of their seats from first page to last.... By far Olsen’s best work to date.”
—Bookreporter.com
Victim Six
“A rapid-fire page-turner.”
—The Seattle Times
“Olsen knows how to write a terrifying story.”
—The Daily Vanguard
“Victim Six is a bloody thriller with a nonstop, page-turning pace.”
—The Oregonian
“Olsen is a master of writing about crime—both real and imagined.”
—Kitsap Sun
“Thrilling suspense.”
—Peninsula Gateway
“Well written and exciting from start to finish, with a slick final twist.... a super serial-killer thriller.”
—The Mystery Gazette
“Gregg Olsen is as good as any writer of serial-killer thrillers writing now—this includes James Patterson’s Alex Cross, Jeffery Deaver’s Lincoln Rhymes, and Thomas Harris’s Hannibal Lecter. . . . Victim Six hooks the reader . . . finely written and edge-of-seat suspense from start to finish . . . fast-paced . . . a super serial-killer thriller.”
—The News Guard
Heart of Ice
“Gregg Olsen will scare you—and you’ll love every moment of it.”
—Lee Child
“Olsen deftly juggles multiple plot lines.”
—Publishers Weekly
“Fiercely entertaining, fascinating . . . Olsen offers a unique background view into the very real world of crime . . . and that makes his novels ring true and accurate.” —Dark Scribe
A Cold Dark Place
“A great thriller that grabs you by the throat and takes you into the dark, scary places of the heart and soul.”
—Kay Hooper
“You’ll sleep with the lights on after reading Gregg Olsen’s dark, atmospheric, page-turning suspense . . . if you can sleep at all.”
—Allison Brennan
“A stunning thriller—a brutally dark story with a compelling, intricate plot.”
—Alex Kava
“This stunning thriller is the love child of Thomas Harris and Laura Lippman, with all the thrills and the sheer glued-to-the-page artistry of both.”
—Ken Bruen
“Olsen keeps the tension taut and pages turning.”
—Publishers Weekly
A Wicked Snow
“Real narrative drive, a great setup, a gruesome crime, fine characters.”
—Lee Child
“A taut thriller.”
—Seattle Post-Intelligencer
“Wickedly clever! A finely crafted, genuinely twisted tale of one mother’s capacity for murder and one daughter’s search for the truth.”
—Lisa Gardner
“An irresistible page-turner.”
—Kevin O’Brien
“Complex mystery, crackling authenticity . . . will keep fans of crime fiction hooked.”
—Publishers Weekly
“Vivid, powerful, action-packed . . . a terrific, tense thriller that grips the reader.”
—Midwest Book Review
“Tight plotting, nerve-wracking suspense, and a wonderful climax make this debut a winner.”
—Crimespree magazine
“A Wicked Snow’s plot—about a CSI investigator who’s repressed a horrific crime from her childhood until it comes back to haunt her—moves at a satisfyingly fast clip.”
—Seattle Times
ALSO BY GREGG OLSEN
THRILLERS
The Girl in the Woods*
Fear Collector*
Closer Than Blood*
The Bone Box (e-novella)*
Victim Six*
Heart of Ice*
A Cold Dark Place*
A Wicked Snow*
Shocking True Story
YOUNG ADULT FICTION
Run (The Girl on the Run)
Envy
Betrayal
NONFICTION
A Twisted Faith
The Deep Dark
If Loving You Is Wrong
Abandoned Prayers
Bitter Almonds
Mockingbird (Cruel Deception)
Starvation Heights
Bitch on Wheels (Black Widow)
WITH REBECCA MORRIS
If I Can’t Have You
Bodies of Evidence
Overkill
*Available from Kensington Publishing Corp.
NOW THAT SHE’S GONE
A WATERMAN AND STARK THRILLER
GREGG OLSEN
PINNACLE BOOKS
Kensington Publishing Corp.
www.kensingtonbooks.com
All copyrighted material within is Attributor Protected.
Table of Contents
Praise
ALSO BY GREGG OLSEN
Title Page
Dedication
PROLOGUE
BOOK ONE - TAMI
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
BOOK TWO - PANDORA
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
CHAPTER THIRTY
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
CHAPTER THI
RTY-TWO
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
CHAPTER FORTY
BOOK THREE - KATY
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT
CHAPTER FORTY-NINE
CHAPTER FIFTY
CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE
CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO
CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE
CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR
CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE
CHAPTER FIFTY-SIX
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
JUST TRY TO STOP ME
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Copyright Page
For Logan Jones
PROLOGUE
Janie Thomas studied the blue betta fish that her son had given her for Christmas the year before. In many ways she was surprised that the creature was still alive. She never changed the water, though it would have been so simple to do with the water dispenser ten feet outside her office. She’d forgotten to feed him for days at a time. Especially lately. Her mind was not on things like a pet. Her eyes darted to the scene outside her office doorway as workers collected their things for the night and departed one by one.
All were going home. All but her.
She observed the fish as it swam under the desk lamp next to her office computer. It had dark, iridescent fins and a penchant for hovering just below the surface.
Tears puddled in her eyes.
It struck her how that fish she unoriginally dubbed Sam was trapped in a tiny water prison. A small glass. It was no larger than the vessel that contained orange juice at the pricy Los Angeles Hilton where she and her husband had celebrated their wedding anniversary.
She wondered who would feed the fish when she was gone.
The irony of it all was that Janie was the superintendent of the only women’s prison in Washington State. The boss. The warden. The keeper of the keys. She was all of those things, but like her neglected little fish, she was also trapped. There was nothing new about that. Not really. She had felt that way all her life. Every single second she’d lived had been a web of lies wrapped around her keeping her from really being able to breathe.
The fish puffed another bubble to the surface.
Janie refused to allow any tears to fall. She took a tissue from the box on her desk and dried her eyes. Her heart rate had quickened with the realization that she was about to change not only her own life, but her husband’s, her son’s. They might never fully understand why she was about to do what she had given herself over to. That would be a problem for them, a nasty gift that she was giving.
And yet, she felt she owed them something.
With no cell phones allowed inside the prison for security reasons, there was no way she could text a private message. She looked at her computer screen. Email was a possibility, but it would leave a trail on the institution’s secure network.
Janie didn’t want to leave any breadcrumbs. With all the uncertainty looming over her, she was at least steadfast in her conviction that she didn’t want to be found. A fresh start would mean no loose ends. A fresh start would mean no more contact with her family.
To be truly free meant to accept that the beginning could start only with an ending.
She looked up from the fish, who was blowing bubbles to the surface of its prison.
“Good night, Karen,” she called over to the last of the support staff as the woman who worked in the records department left for the night.
“Any big plans?” asked Karen, a tall woman with soft eyes and a smile that never knew when to quit. Even on the worst days ever.
“Same old, same old,” Janie said, swallowing her lie in a big gulp.
Karen shrugged. “See you on Monday, Janie,” she said.
“Right,” Janie said, again another lie. “Monday.”
Completely alone, Janie reached for a pen. Old school was the answer. She’d write a note and deal with the dilemma of having to deliver it later. Surely there would be time for that, right? The world would settle down and forget about her and what she was about to do.
She didn’t use her husband’s or son’s name in her salutation. While the sentiment would be true, it just seemed too personal to lay those letters on the paper.
Just a teeny bit removed from things is how she used to live her life.
There is no way that you will really understand the reasons that I’m doing what I must do, but there are times in your life when you have a do-or-die moment.
She thought for a beat that those words might come off overly dramatic, but they were true. She was being dramatic because, well, what she was about to do was completely out of left field.
This is mine. I’m sorry that I’m leaving you with so many unanswered questions, but it is better that way. I’m sorry that the moment doesn’t allow for time to pick up the phone and call you. To tell you that I love you. I do.
Just then another woman entered the office and Janie stopped what she was doing. The woman’s long dark hair hung around her face like a curtain as she kept her head down. She spoke in a quiet, sweet tone. And yet, her words commanded genuine urgency.
“It’s time now,” she said.
“I’m ready,” Janie said. “Just writing a note.”
“A note?” the woman asked, her head still down.
Janie looked up. “To my family.”
The woman let out a sigh. It was the sound of a tire slowly leaking air. It was the sound of a parent disappointed in the words of a child. It was the sound of judgment and disappointment all in one.
“Not a good idea, Janie.”
Janie felt her heart rate pulse again. “I know,” she said, trying to find the part of her that could stand up to anyone—the part of her that got her to the top of her criminal justice profession. It was gone. Long gone. “I just felt that I owed them an explanation.”
“Let me see it,” the other said.
Janie handed over the little slip of paper and the woman scanned the paper, then trained her gaze on Janie’s now dry, but on-the-brink-of-tears again, eyes.
“Forget it. Forget everything.” Her tone was icy and final. Her words were so brittle that if they shattered they’d be sharp splinters. Lethal.
Janie winced. “Don’t be like that.”
The woman dismissed her with a flick of an outstretched hand. “You don’t get it at all. You’d make apologies to God for breathing. Such a pathetic thing. I don’t know why I even bothered with you.”
“Stop it, please. That’s not fair. That’s not who I am.”
“Really, Janie? You’re going to try that out on me? I know who you are to the last shred of tissue on your bones. You can never fool me. I see you for the weak creature you are.”
Janie stood and reached out to the woman. “You can’t mean that. You can’t mean that at all. You and I. We’ve been through so much. Not together. Not at the same time. But we share a history.” She stopped herself, thinking, before adding, “Not the same history, but elements of it all.”
The woman rolled her shoulder and shook her head. Disgust turned her pretty mouth into an angry gash.
“There you go again,” she said. “Trying to make yourself seem like you are better than me. Judging me for what I did. Hiding behind what was done to you. What made you the shell of a human being that you are.”
The woman spun around to leave.
Janie stood. “Don’t. Don’t do this to me!”
The other kept going, letting Janie twist in the wind for just the right amount of time. Ten seconds that felt like ten minutes. Suddenly she stopped and turned around.
Janie went to her, dropping the note
in the shredder. The blades whirled to turn her goodbye letter into confetti.
For the celebration that was about to begin. The new. The future. The chance to breathe it all in.
She put her arms around the woman and kissed her.
“I’m stronger now because of you,” she said. “I’m not going to hide anymore. I’m not going to run from what I’ve been through. From what we’ve been through.”
The woman embraced her and held Janie tight. She no longer kept the curtain of hair around her face. This was the moment she wanted to be seen. She looked up at the camera recording every second of the encounter.
Then she puckered her lips and sent a kiss in the direction of the lens.
BOOK ONE
TAMI
CHAPTER ONE
It had been eight days since his wife went missing. Erwin Thomas took down all of Janie’s photos and loaded her things in large plastic totes that he’d purchased en masse from the Gig Harbor Target store three days after she vanished. The first day, he could barely breathe, and he certainly didn’t believe anything that the authorities had told him. Janie would never, ever do that. Janie, he told himself over and over, loved him.
