by Blake Pierce
“Yeah,” Brian Woerner said. His voice was so unexpected that it startled Mackenzie a bit. “I heard him talking to someone about it. Returning flesh back to the earth before the flesh was dead. He was serving the earth…or something.”
“And he wasn’t the one that captured you, was he?” Mackenzie asked.
“No. It was someone else.”
“Could you ID him if we showed you a picture?”
Brian nodded and stared back out to the forest. Apparently, he was done talking for now.
The three of them sat in silence, waiting for Clements and Smith to arrive. As they waited, Mackenzie reached out to the ground and plucked up an acorn. She rolled it between her fingers, cupped it in her palm, and then threw it with disgust out into the forest.
CHAPTER THIRTY SEVEN
Mackenzie’s right knee was aching and itching as she sat in front of McGrath’s desk. There were eight stitches in it and it was wrapped in layers of gauze. She watched as McGrath flipped through several sheets of paper with a machine-like approach. He’d been reading the contents of her report as well as documentation sent in by Clements and Smith for the last five minutes, asking only the briefest of questions as he read.
Finally, he slid the papers to the side and looked at Mackenzie with an expression she couldn’t quite read. As usual, she wasn’t sure what to expect from him.
“I don’t know what to do with you, White,” he said. “By all accounts, this case was a success. Despite your cowboy antics there at the end, you did what I asked. You wrapped up the case before another person was killed. More than that, you saved the would-be next victim and helped stop a killer. Beyond that, the men you worked with in Strasburg speak very highly of you—although this Clements guy says you are a hard-ass.”
“With all due respect, sir, that sounds like a great report.”
“It is. But I know your history. You have a habit of going out on things alone. You had no business leaving Bryers behind.”
“I regret that, sir. But in the end, looking back on how it all played out, I think it might have been the best thing.”
A long silence followed.
“So what now?” Mackenzie asked.
“What now,” McGrath said, “is I show you that I am a man of my word. If you want to have a ghost presence on the Jimmy Scotts case out in Nebraska, it’s yours.”
She thought about it for a moment and let out a heavy sigh. “Can I have a day or so think about it?”
“You can have a week,” he said. “If I don’t hear anything from you by then, your chance is gone permanently.”
“Thank you, sir.”
“You’re dismissed,” McGrath said.
She got up from her chair with the crutch that she was quickly coming to hate and made her way to the office door.
“Agent White?”
“Yes, sir?” she asked, turning back to him as she reached the door.
“Damn good work. Keep it up—just not on your own.”
She smiled. It felt good to hear those words. Somehow, it made her feel a future before her.
She nodded and made her exit, the aches in her knee highlighting his last comment.
***
Exactly sixteen days after rescuing Brian Woerner from the little shack in the woods outside of Little Hill, Mackenzie hobbled out to the street on crutches and caught a cab to the hospital.
In the back of the cab, she started to cry but kept it to a minimum.
As it turned out, Bryers had been too generous with the amount of time he had left.
He was currently having complications and the doctors weren’t sure how much longer he was going to last. It was suggested by his doctors that the strenuous conditions of the events outside of Little Hill State Park had made his situation worse.
She got her sorrow out of the way, tears shed, and any questions of unfairness handled internally, before she reached the hospital. She took the elevator to the second floor and knocked on Bryers’s door with the end of her crutch.
He was in bed, propped up on pillows and with clear tubes coming out of his nose. Surprisingly, he was in good spirits. She had been keeping him informed about the aftermath of the case via e-mail. It had been a good exercise for both of them during those three weeks. It was because of this that they had been able to fall into an easy discussion the moment she sat down.
“How much longer do you have to hobble around on that thing?” he asked her.
“Until it doesn’t hurt to bend the knee,” she answered. “The doctors were originally worried about nerve damage but it seems like I dodged that bullet.”
“Good. Has McGrath come around yet?”
“Yes,” she said. “I got a by-God compliment out of him.”
“That’s more proof for my side,” Bryers said, reaching out and taking her hand. “You were made for this.”
She wiped away a tear.
“What do you say you beat this thing and get back to work, old man?”
He shook his head sadly.
“Nah,” Bryers said. “Even if I do get out of here, I’m done. I told McGrath everything this time. I sort of had to. If I don’t show up to work one day because I died…well, he’d eventually figure out what happened.”
They both laughed about this and then fell into a silence. It was the same sort of silence that had held them while sitting in the forest outside of Little Hill State Park. It had gotten them through that difficult time and it did so now.
Ten minutes later, she gave his hand a squeeze. He didn’t respond right away so she looked over to him. He was sleeping, his breaths coming in and out slowly, no doubt helped along by the equipment he was hooked into.
There was the faintest smile on his face as he slept. Mackenzie got up with the aid of her crutch, leaned over, and kissed him on the forehead.
She looked to that thin slumbering smile one more time before she left him.
It was the last time she saw Bryers alive.
NOW AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER!
BEFORE HE TAKES
(A Mackenzie White Mystery—Book 4)
From Blake Pierce, bestselling author of ONCE GONE (a #1 bestseller with over 800 five star reviews), comes book #4 in the heart-pounding Mackenzie White mystery series.
In BEFORE HE TAKES (A Mackenzie White Mystery—Book 4), newly minted FBI agent Mackenzie White is ordered to take on a new and disturbing case. Women are going missing in rural Iowa, and a pattern is emerging. It is feared a serial killer is on a rampage, his pace increasing. Given her Midwestern roots, Mackenzie is chosen as the perfect fit.
But Mackenzie is reluctant to return to the Midwest, this time to a starkly rural setting that reminds her too much of her upbringing, of her own ghosts in her closet. She also seeks her own father’s murderer, with darkness haunting her at every turn of her trip. Plunged deep into the world of farms, of silos, of slaughterhouses, of long stretches on empty highways, Mackenzie feels as if she’s falling back into the depths of her psyche, and into the nightmares she always feared to face.
In the deadly game of cat-and-mouse, she finally realizes the psychosis of the killer she is up against, and comes to realize that the land of her upbringing is holding even darker and more twisted horrors than she could imagine.
A dark psychological thriller with heart-pounding suspense, BEFORE HE TAKES is book #4 in a riveting new series—with a beloved new character—that will leave you turning pages late into the night.
Book #5 in the Mackenzie White Mystery series will be available soon.
Also available by Blake Pierce is ONCE GONE (A Riley Paige mystery—Book #1), a #1 bestseller with over 800 five star reviews—and a free download!
BEFORE HE TAKES
(A Mackenzie White Mystery—Book 4)
Did you know that I've written multiple novels in the mystery genre? If you haven't read all my series, click the image below to download a series starter!
Blake Pierce
Blake Pierce is author of the bests
elling RILEY PAGE mystery series, which includes six books (and counting). Blake Pierce is also the author of the MACKENZIE WHITE mystery series, comprising three books (and counting); of the AVERY BLACK mystery series, comprising three books (and counting); and of the new KERI LOCKE mystery series.
ONCE GONE (a Riley Paige Mystery--Book #1), BEFORE HE KILLS (A Mackenzie White Mystery—Book 1), and CAUSE TO KILL (An Avery Black Mystery—Book 1) are each available as a free download on Amazon!
An avid reader and lifelong fan of the mystery and thriller genres, Blake loves to hear from you, so please feel free to visit www.blakepierceauthor.com to learn more and stay in touch.
BOOKS BY BLAKE PIERCE
RILEY PAIGE MYSTERY SERIES
ONCE GONE (Book #1)
ONCE TAKEN (Book #2)
ONCE CRAVED (Book #3)
ONCE LURED (Book #4)
ONCE HUNTED (Book #5)
ONCE PINED (Book #6)
MACKENZIE WHITE MYSTERY SERIES
BEFORE HE KILLS (Book #1)
BEFORE HE SEES (Book #2)
BEFORE HE COVETS (Book #3)
BEFORE HE TAKES (Book #4)
AVERY BLACK MYSTERY SERIES
CAUSE TO KILL (Book #1)
CAUSE TO RUN (Book #2)
CAUSE TO HIDE (Book #3)
KERI LOCKE MYSTERY SERIES
A TRACE OF DEATH (Book #1)
