As his rusted-out 1986 Ford Ranger slowed, Timothy knew it wasn’t lack of sleep causing hallucinations—there was something crawling on the side of the road, dragging across the pine needles.
Something bloody.
He slammed on the brakes, skidding to a stop.
A pale arm rose from the pile of flesh.
Timothy leapt out of his Ford and was nearly on top of the small form when he drew up short. He yanked off his John Deere tractor hat, tore at his hair, and bellowed into the dark. “Jesus Christ. It’s a goddamn little kid.”
He knelt down. It was a girl, maybe his niece Jeannie’s age, stuck somewhere between a child and a teenager. Other than that, he couldn’t tell anything about her except she had long hair matted with blood. Her head was turned toward him, resting on her arm. His fingers trembled as he lifted a sticky clump of bloody hair away from her face, revealing a large brown eye. His body heaved with relief when a small sound, barely a sigh, emerged from her tiny mouth.
He fumbled for his cell phone before he realized he’d left it in the truck.
“Hang in there. I’m gonna get help.”
Panic flashed across the brown eye and a small sound bubbled out of her mouth. He squeezed her hand softly.
“I won’t leave you. I promise. I’ll be right back.” He tried to sound reassuring.
He raced to the truck. It took three tries for his fingers to stab the right numbers.
“Holy Christ, this is so bad,” he said when 911 answered. “Got a little girl up here on Old Coutelanc Road by Whiskey Flats, just come crawling out of the woods and she’s hurt bad, real bad.”
“What's the nature of her injuries?” The dispatcher sounded bored.
Timothy glanced over at the girl lit up in the halo of his headlights. She hadn’t moved.
“She’s bleeding something fierce. Everywhere. Like a goddamned horror movie. Get someone up here fast. Please. Goddammit, quit asking me questions and get someone up here now.”
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ALSO BY KRISTI BELCAMINO
The Gia Santella Crime Thriller Series
Gia in the City of the Dead (Book One)
Gia and the Forgotten Island (Book Two)
Gia and the Dark Night of the Soul (Book Three)
Gia and the Lone Raven (Book Four) Jan. 19, 2018
Gia Santella Crime Thrillers Books 1-3
Shadow Man (Feb. 19, 2018)
Tommy St. James Mystery Series
Death Under the Stone Arch Bridge (Book One)
Death on Sunset Hill (Book Two)
Death on the Big Muddy (Book Three)
Tommy St. James Books 1-3
The Gabriella Giovanni Mystery Series
Blessed are the Peacemakers
Blessed are the Merciful (March 2018)
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
KRISTI BELCAMINO IS a Macavity, Barry, and Anthony Award-nominated author, a newspaper cops reporter, and an Italian mama who makes a tasty biscotti. As an award-winning crime reporter at newspapers in California, she flew over Big Sur in an FA-18 jet with the Blue Angels, raced a Dodge Viper at Laguna Seca and watched autopsies.
Her books feature strong, fierce, and independent women facing unspeakable evil in order to seek justice for those unable to do so themselves.
Belcamino has written and reported about many high-profile cases including the Laci Peterson murder and Chandra Levy’s disappearance. She has appeared on Inside Edition and her work has appeared in the New York Times, Writer’s Digest, Miami Herald, San Jose Mercury News, and Chicago Tribune. Kristi now works part-time as a police reporter at the St. Paul Pioneer Press. She lives in Minneapolis with her husband and her two fierce daughters.
Find out more at http://www.kristibelcamino.com. Find her on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/kristibelcaminowriter/ or on Twitter @KristiBelcamino. Sign up for her Reader Group here and get a free novella.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Huge thanks to my early readers who always make sure I put out a book as free of errors as possible. I am incredibly grateful to them—and could not do this without them. Thank you Sharon Long, Darlene Brown, Emmy McCabe, Mimi Ryan, Doug Cronk, Liz Cronk, Erin Alford, Steve Avery, MaryAnn Forbes, and Kari Isaacson.
Editor and fellow crime fiction writer DJ Schuette made me look smarter than I really am and showed me once again I am dismal at comma use.
And giant thanks to Sarah Hanley, who is not only a breathtaking writer, but makes my covers magic!
Gia and the Lone Raven Page 7
