A Dark Path

by Robert E. Dunn

  While Cherry Dando was in the hospital, I went there to visit my mother. It remained tense, but I thought we were making some progress. I guess I was wrong. Cherry was released one morning. I understand Carmen picked him up in that old beater of a car—loaded with boxes and clothes. That time, she didn’t even bother to say goodbye.

  My relationship with Billy Blevins was damaged. I had done that. Problems don’t magically repair in the euphoria of surviving life-threatening situations. Every action movie ever made—that ended in a kiss and the promise of future happiness—is a lie. I never told him the truth about what happened when Johnson Rath took me to that shack.

  Roy Finley made great progress on the El Camino. Billy never came to see it. He said he couldn’t accept that kind of gift from someone who would work for him if he won the election. It was sound reasoning, but Billy Blevins was never a very good liar.

  The heat finally broke one evening—with the arrival of a cold front from the Rockies. Black clouds exploded with lighting and rain—as if taking vengeance for crimes the Ozarks kept secret. I watched from behind glass walls. My body was surrounded by a home and art created by my dead husband. My heart was surrounded by my longing to be with Billy. It was a moment of my life that seemed to be everything.

  Meet the Author

  Robert Dunn is the author of the Katrina Williams series, as well as the novels The Red Highway, The Harrowing, and Dead Man’s Badge.

  He can be found on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/RobertEDunnAuthor or on Twitter at @WritingDead.

  A Living Grave

  The first in a gritty new series featuring sheriff’s detective Katrina Williams, as she investigates moonshine, murder, and the ghosts of her own past . . .

  BODY OF PROOF

  Katrina Williams left the Army ten years ago disillusioned and damaged. Now a sheriff’s detective at home in the Missouri Ozarks, Katrina is living her life one case at a time—between mandated therapy sessions—until she learns that she’s a suspect in a military investigation with ties to her painful past.

  The disappearance of a local girl is far from the routine distraction, however. Brutally murdered, the girl’s corpse is found by a bootlegger whose information leads Katrina into a tangled web of teenagers, moonshiners, motorcycle clubs, and a fellow veteran battling illness and his own personal demons. Unraveling each thread will take time Katrina might not have as the Army investigator turns his searchlight on the devastating incident that ended her military career. Now Katrina will need to dig deep for the truth—before she’s found buried . . .