Fourth Victim (Writers Retreat Southern Seashore Mystery Book 4)

by Kathi Daley

  “Go for Sarge,” answered the retired army officer who now worked for Neverland, the bar Jake owned.

  “Sarge, it’s Harmony. Dani and I are on our way, but we won’t get there in time to make a difference. I need you to get a message to Jake.”

  “The reception is sketchy, but don’t you worry your pretty head; Sarge will find a way.”

  “The boys are beginning to panic. I can feel their absolute horror as the storm strengthens. The one who isn’t injured is seriously thinking of leaving his friend and going for help. If he does neither of them will make it. Jake needs to get there and he needs to get there fast.”

  “Don’t worry. I’ll find a way to let Jake know. Can you communicate with the boys?”

  I paused and closed my eyes. I tried to connect but wasn’t getting through. “I’m trying, but so far I just have a one-way line. Is Jordan there?” Jordan Fairchild was not only a member of the team but she was also a doctor who worked for the local hospital.

  “She was on duty at the hospital, but she’s on her way.”

  “Tell her she’ll need to treat hypothermia.” I paused and closed my eyes once again. My instinct was to block the pain and horror I knew I needed to channel. “And anemia. The break to the femur of the injured teen is severe. He’s been bleeding for a while.” I used the back of my hand to wipe away the steady stream of tears that were streaking down my face. God, it hurt. The pain. The fear. “I’m honestly not sure he’ll make it. I can feel his strength fading, but we have to try.”

  “Okay, Harm, I’ll tell her.”

  “Is Moose there?”

  “He will be by the time you get here.”

  I put down the radio and tried to slow my pounding heart. I wasn’t sure why I’d been cursed with the ability to connect psychically with those who were injured or dying. It isn’t that I could feel the pain of everyone who was suffering; it seemed only to be those we were meant to help who found their way into my radar. I wasn’t entirely sure where the ability came from, but I knew when I’d acquired it.

  I grew up in a warm and caring family, with two parents and a sister who loved me. When I was thirteen my parents died in an auto accident a week before Christmas. My sister Val, who had just turned nineteen, had dropped out of college, returned to Rescue Alaska, and taken over as my legal guardian. I remember feeling scared and so very alone. I retreated into my mind, cutting ties to most people except for Val, who became my only anchor to the world. When I was fifteen Val married local bar owner Jake Cartwright. Jake loved Val and treated me like a sister, and after a period of adjustment, we became a family and I began to emerge from my shell. When I was seventeen Val went out on a rescue. She got lost in a storm, and although the team had tried to find her, they’d come up with nothing but dead ends. I remember sitting at the command post praying harder than I ever had before. I wanted so much to have the chance to tell Val how much I loved her. She’d sacrificed so much for me and I wasn’t sure she knew how much it meant to me.

  Things hadn’t looked good, even though the entire team had searched around the clock. I could hear them whispering that the odds of finding her alive were decreasing with each hour. I remember wanting to give my life for hers, and suddenly, there she was, in my head. I could feel her pain, but I also knew the prayer in her heart. I knew she was dying, but I could feel her love for me and I could feel her fighting to live. I could also feel the life draining from her body with each minute that passed.

  I tried to tell the others that I knew where she was, but they thought they were only the ramblings of an emotionally distraught teenager dealing with the fallout of shock and despair. When the team eventually found Val’s body exactly where and how I’d told them they would, they began to believe that I really had made a connection with the only family I’d had left in the world.

  Of course, the experience of knowing your sister was dying, of feeling her physical and emotional pain as well has her fear as she passed into the next life, was more than a seventeen-year-old could really process. I’m afraid I went just a bit off the deep end. Jake, who had taken over as my guardian, had tried to help me, as did everyone else in my life at the time, but there was no comfort in the world that would undo the horror I’d experienced.

  And then I met Moose. Moose is a large Maine Coon who wandered into the bar Jake owned and I worked and lived in at the time. The minute I picked up the cantankerous cat and held him to my heart, the trauma I’d been experiencing somehow melted away. I won’t go so far as to say that Moose has magical powers—at least not any more than I do—but channeling people in life-and-death situations is more draining than I can tolerate, and the only one who can keep me grounded is a fuzzy Coon with a cranky disposition.

  “Are you okay?” Dani asked as she glanced at me out of the corner of her eye. Her concern for my mental health was evident on her face.

  “I’m okay. I’m trying to connect with the boys, but they’re too terrified to let me in. It’s so hard to feel their pain when you can’t offer comfort.”

  “Can’t you shut if off? I can’t imagine allowing myself to actually feel and experience what those boys are.”

  “If I block it I’ll lose them. I have to hang on. Maybe I can get through to one of them. They don’t have long.”

  “Do you really think you have the ability to do that? To establish a two-way communication?”

  I put my hand over my heart. It felt like it was breaking. “I think so. I hope so. The elderly man who was buried in the avalanche last spring told me that he knew he was in his final moments and all he could feel was terror. Then I connected and he felt at peace. It was that peace that allowed him to slow his breathing. Jordan said the only reason he was still alive when we found him was because he’d managed to conserve his oxygen.”

  “That’s amazing.”

  I shrugged. I supposed I did feel good about that rescue, but I’d been involved in rescues, such as Val’s, in which the victim I connected with didn’t make it. I don’t know why it’s my lot to experience death over and over again, but it seems to be my calling, so I try to embrace it so I’m available for the victims I can save like that old man.

  “The injured one is almost gone,” I whispered. “They need to get to him now.”

  I knew tears were streaming down my face as I gripped the seat next to me. The pain was excruciating, but needed to hang on.

  Dani reached over and grabbed my hand. “We’re almost there. I’m preparing to land. Sarge is waiting with Moose.”

  She guided the helicopter to the ground despite the storm raging around us. As soon as she landed, I opened the door, hopped out, and ran to the car, where Sarge was waiting with Moose. I pulled him into my arms and wept into his thick fur. Several minutes later I felt a sense of calm wash over me. I couldn’t know for certain, but I felt as if the boy I was channeling had experienced that same calm. I looked at Sarge. “He’s gone.”

  “I’m so sorry, Harm.”

  “The other one is still alive. He’s on the verge of panicking and running out into the storm. Jake and the others have to get to him.”

  Sarge helped me into the car and we headed toward Neverland, where I knew the fate of the second boy would be revealed before the night came to an end.

  Books by Kathi Daley

  Come for the murder, stay for the romance.

  Zoe Donovan Cozy Mystery:

  Halloween Hijinks

  The Trouble With Turkeys

  Christmas Crazy

  Cupid’s Curse

  Big Bunny Bump-off

  Beach Blanket Barbie

  Maui Madness

  Derby Divas

  Haunted Hamlet

  Turkeys, Tuxes, and Tabbies

  Christmas Cozy

  Alaskan Alliance

  Matrimony Meltdown

  Soul Surrender

  Heavenly Honeymoon

  Hopscotch Homicide

  Ghostly Graveyard

  Santa Sleuth

 
Shamrock Shenanigans

  Kitten Kaboodle

  Costume Catastrophe

  Candy Cane Caper

  Holiday Hangover

  Easter Escapade

  Camp Carter

  Trick or Treason

  Reindeer Roundup – December 2017

  Zimmerman Academy The New Normal

  Ashton Falls Cozy Cookbook

  Tj Jensen Paradise Lake Mysteries by Henery Press

  Pumpkins in Paradise

  Snowmen in Paradise

  Bikinis in Paradise

  Christmas in Paradise

  Puppies in Paradise

  Halloween in Paradise

  Treasure in Paradise

  Fireworks in Paradise – October 2017

  Whales and Tails Cozy Mystery:

  Romeow and Juliet

  The Mad Catter

  Grimm’s Furry Tail

  Much Ado About Felines

  Legend of Tabby Hollow

  Cat of Christmas Past

  A Tale of Two Tabbies

  The Great Catsby

  Count Catula

  The Cat of Christmas Present

  A Winter’s Tail

  Taming of the Tabby

  Frankencat

  The Cat of Christmas Future – November 2017

  The Cat of New Orleans – February 2018

  Seacliff High Mystery:

  The Secret

  The Curse

  The Relic

  The Conspiracy

  The Grudge

  The Shadow

  The Haunting

  Sand and Sea Hawaiian Mystery:

  Murder at Dolphin Bay

  Murder at Sunrise Beach

  Murder at the Witching Hour

  Murder at Christmas

  Murder at Turtle Cove

  Murder at Water’s Edge

  Murder at Midnight

  Rescue Alaska Paranormal Mystery

  Finding Justice – November 2017

  A Tess and Tilly Mystery

  The Christmas Letter – December 2017

  Road to Christmas Romance:

  Road to Christmas Past

  Writers’ Retreat Southern Mystery:

  First Case

  Second Look

  Third Strike

  Fourth Victim

  Fifth Night – January 2018

  USA Today best-selling author Kathi Daley lives with her husband, kids, grandkids, and Bernese mountain dogs in beautiful Lake Tahoe. When she isn’t writing, she likes to read (preferably at the beach or by the fire), cook (preferably something with chocolate or cheese), and garden (planting and planning, not weeding). She also enjoys spending time on the water when she’s not hiking, biking, or snowshoeing the miles of desolate trails surrounding her home.

  Kathi uses the mountain setting in which she lives, along with the animals (wild and domestic) that share her home, as inspiration for her cozy mysteries.

  Kathi is a top 100 mystery writer for Amazon and won the 2014 award for both Best Cozy Mystery Author and Best Cozy Mystery Series.

  She currently writes six series: Zoe Donovan Cozy Mysteries, Whales and Tails Island Mysteries, Sand and Sea Hawaiian Mysteries, Writers’ Retreat Southern Mysteries, Tj Jensen Paradise Lake Mysteries, and Seacliff High Teen Mysteries.

  Giveaway:

  I do a giveaway for books, swag, and gift cards every week in my newsletter, The Daley Weekly http://eepurl.com/NRPDf

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  Kathi Daley Blog – publishes each Friday http://kathidaleyblog.com

  Webpage – www.kathidaley.com

  Facebook at Kathi Daley Books – www.facebook.com/kathidaleybooks

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  E-mail – kathidaley@kathidaley.com

  Goodreads – https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7278377.Kathi_Daley

  Twitter at Kathi Daley@kathidaley – https://twitter.com/kathidaley

  Amazon Author Page –https://www.amazon.com/author/kathidaley

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