by PJ Fernor
Down to the Wire
An Allie Down Mystery Thriller
PJ Fernor
Contents
Hey there Reader
Down to the Wire
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter 59
Chapter 60
Chapter 61
Chapter 62
Chapter 63
Chapter 64
Chapter 65
Chapter 66
Chapter 67
Chapter 68
Chapter 69
Chapter 70
Chapter 71
Chapter 72
Chapter 73
Chapter 74
Chapter 75
Chapter 76
Chapter 77
Chapter 78
Chapter 79
Chapter 80
Epilogue
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About the Author
Hey there Reader
We meet again!
This book was inspired by a place in a town nearby where I grew up. There was section of town that we were all told not to go near. I can still picture the bridge, the graffiti, and the way it used to flood in the summer rains.
Please read, enjoy, and see if you can crack the case before Allie down.
Welcome back once more to Sandemor.
I’ll see you at the end.
Sincerely,
PJ Fernor
www.pjfernor.com
Down to the Wire
A WOMAN FOUND DEAD IN THE WOODS. A CRYPTIC MESSAGE WRITTEN IN BLOOD. THE CASE THAT JUST MAY END DETECTIVE ALLIE DOWN’S CAREER.
It’s almost Halloween in the normally quiet town of Sandemor. A small task force is formed by Detective Allie Down. The goal? Find out who has been trashing pumpkins and porches in the wealthy area of town. For Allie, it’s better than chasing down a cold-blooded murderer. Her focus is solely on taking care of her niece Lo. Plus, she needs the break after her last case. The haunting image what she had to do keeps her up at night. Her only reprieve is taking a midnight walk. Which usually eases her.
Until the night she sees a young woman dressed in white, running from her.
Unable to catch the young woman, Allie goes home, unrested and uneasy.
Before Allie can figure out who the young woman is, she gets word of a female body found in the woods.
The body isn’t the same young woman Allie saw.
But there’s a message written in blood.
WE’RE ALL HIS.
With Ben at her side, Allie immerses herself into the investigation, which takes her to a dark part of the town.
A place where young women and adult women have no choice but to survive. By any means necessary.
The local police try to keep up with the activity that occurs under the bridge known for violence and ‘lost souls’ gathering.
The first girl Allie talks to refuses to say a word.
The next day – that girl is dead.
Coincidence?
Allie doesn’t think so.
Soon, she begins to chase down every girl and every lead with an eerie sensation that something bigger is happening in and around her small town.
Without proof, all Allie can do is keep working.
There’s just one problem – everyone she talks to ends up murdered…
And she feels it’s only a matter of time before the killer strikes close to home.
Prologue
There’s nothing quite like a job well done.
The best part is knowing you did the work. It’s not about fate. It’s about being prepared. Ready to go. It’s about having a backup plan too if need be.
Just look at Miss Rachel Horvert.
She’s the one in the backseat with tape on her mouth.
He smiles and looks in the mirror.
He sees nothing.
Nobody sees anything either.
Rachel was perfect.
Why?
Because of her small obsessive-compulsive actions.
She made it almost easy.
Even though the word easy floated around, it still took time.
He had to get a fresh notebook.
He had to study the patterns.
All the patterns.
For example, when Rachel ran, she had to lead with her right foot. If she led with her left foot, she was slower.
Also, her track days.
On those days, she practiced so hard, it made her slower after school the next day.
On a non-track day, she zipped her way home.
She loved to get her homework done right away.
She would do a page of homework and then take a sip of soda and eat a chip.
That’s how she did her homework every day.
It got to the point where he could close his eyes and know exactly what she was doing.
And that’s when it was time to strike.
Tuesday. Just after dark.
It was Tuesday after a track meet where Rachel didn’t perform well. That was because her friend - Rebecca - talked her into going to a party Saturday night. That made her very lazy on Sunday. And that bled into Monday.
So when Rachel didn’t perform well at meets, she would punish herself by practicing extra hard on Tuesday.
Top that with her being slow because of the meet itself… and the fact that her boy crush went to that party with another girl…
It was time for Rachel to experience a better life.
It was as simple as that.
And she was going to get that at her new home.
Love. Care. Time to properly heal.
“You’ll love it, Rachel,” he called out.
He felt his seat move a little.
Poor girl is still thrashing around.
Up ahead he sees flashing lights.
He grits his teeth and shakes his head.
There’s no way he can turn around. That’ll bring attention to his car.
He hates when things don’t go according to plan. This entire night was supposed to be…
He pulls up to the flashing ligh
ts and rolls his window down.
“Cool night out, huh?” he asks.
“Might be one of those Octobers where we see some snow,” the police officer said.
“That’s true,” he says. “What was it… ten years ago? We had about eight inches on the ground when the kids were trick or treating.”
“You have kids?”
“More than I care to admit,” he says with a grin.
“My wife is about to have number five any day now.”
“Hey! Congrats, Officer. That’s fantastic. Kids… they’re just… I don’t know.”
“Listen, we’re setting up for the DUI checkpoint tonight.”
“Oh, right,” he says. “You know, that’s good you do that. Sometimes people can be so selfish. Drinking and driving… I had family killed in a drunk driving accident. I was at home, sick.”
“Sorry to hear that,” the officer says. “You’re good to go. Just watch my partner up there. You don’t have to stop. Just don’t hit him.”
“Thank you, Officer,” he says. “And, hey, good luck with the new baby.”
“I appreciate it.”
The officer waves him along as another car pulls up.
He drives home, smiling.
Maybe sometimes fate did play into things.
“You’re really going to love it at home,” he says to the empty backseat.
Rachel is tucked tight between the front and back seat.
She can breathe.
But she can’t see or talk.
This is all part of the process.
When you learn to walk, you have to fall a few times, and you might get hurt.
This is basically the same thing.
(3 days later)
“She won’t stop crying.”
“Still?” he asks.
“Yeah.”
He sucks in a breath.
He looks down at the cutting board with the very expensive meat and cheese.
Tonight is supposed to be a celebration.
A wonderful evening of laughter and enjoyment.
“What can I do to help?”
He turns his head.
In a different life, he would have swung the knife and sliced her throat.
He would have watched her die.
He would have enjoyed it.
He doesn’t do that tonight.
“You did all you could for the poor girl,” he says. “So much time spent.”
“I told her everything, like I-”
“This is not your fault,” he says.
He thinks about that DUI checkpoint.
That was the only part that went wrong that night.
Rachel had so much promise though.
She had been perfect.
He rubs his temples.
“Maybe I need glasses,” he says.
“Maybe you need to give yourself a break,” she says back.
“That too,” he says. He looks at her. “You know what has to happen next, right?”
“It’s only been three days,” she says.
He shakes his head. “She won’t stop. This happens sometimes. They’re not all perfect. They’re not all like you.”
She laughs and her cheeks turn red.
He reaches back for the knife.
“I guess I better fix my mistake,” he says.
She touches his arm. “Let me see what I can do. Please.”
He nods.
He turns and starts to cut the expensive cheese again.
It doesn’t matter what anyone does tonight…
Rachel is not going to see the sun tomorrow.
Chapter One
Years Ago
He knows he’s being followed.
And he knows they know he knows he’s being followed.
That’s part of the mind games.
There’s a small relief when he sees them following. Almost as though he knows the tricks… but he doesn’t. If this were a circus, he’d be the juggler and the guys following him were the ones walking the tightrope or in a cage with a lion.
Slowly, he moves his hands to the top of the steering wheel and grips it tight.
It’s going down right now. It’s going to happen right here, right now.
It’s pretty simple what’s going to happen.
They’re going to kill him.
They’re going to make it extra painful.
They’re not going to worry for one second about it either. Meaning they will handle anything that comes their way when it comes down to the police. He’ll end up another dead body. Nobody will care. Sure, some will miss him. They’ll mourn and grieve, but the mind and soul move on. He’s not close enough to anyone for it to stick there.
He slowly starts to speed up.
There’s no hope here.
He could pull into a bright parking lot.
He could pull up to a police station and it won’t matter.
This isn’t fate either.
This is a series of decisions that are now catching up to him.
The risks were always on the table.
He knows about risks.
A lot about risks.
The traffic light ahead turns yellow, then quickly to red.
He has no choice but to slow down.
If he speeds through the light, they’ll do the same.
That’ll make things worse.
He sits and waits.
The large vehicle behind him does the same.
This is a strange feeling to experience.
Knowing you’re going to die.
Knowing the countdown is actually happening right now.
It’s not years, months, weeks, or days away.
It’s down to minutes.
No more silly holidays or summer cookouts with cold beer and charred burgers. No more fireworks. No more watching the leaves turn colors and falling. No more of the rush of the holidays. Or the celebration of a new year… or telling everyone that tired joke of ‘See you next year!’
It’s all over now.
The light turns green and it’s time to drive into the last moments of his life.
The first turn he can make, he does.
A left hand turn that takes him onto a side road.
That’s when he comes to a stop and exits the car.
He turned, adjusted his shirt and walked toward the other vehicle.
All four doors open and three men jump out.
They’re as big as he expects them to be.
And they waste no time in landing punch after punch to his ribs, gut, and face.
When he falls, they pick him back up to hit him and make him fall again.
The process is rinse and repeat for what feels like forever.
Why is death so slow?
The sound of someone whistling echoes around and the three men quickly back away.
He’s left on the ground, waiting for death.
There are footsteps.
He lifts his head and can only see out of his right eye.
When he sees who it is, his heart finds more heartbeats.
“You…,” he manages to say with blood in his mouth and throat.
“Me.”
In maybe the most elegant outfit he’s ever seen, he can’t believe this is happening like this.
“You know you’ve done wrong, correct?”
He nods.
There’s no point in lying.
“You’ve prepared yourself to die?”
He nods again. “I did my best to-”
The expensive shoe feels like a brick hitting his mouth.
“Don’t speak! Ever!”
He groans and spits blood on the street.
“If I wanted you dead, you’d be dead. I normally would never take this much time on someone like you. So now you’re asking yourself why am I still alive… correct?”
He nods.
He knows better than to speak again.
“There’s life. And there’s death. And there’s the space in between. Th
at’s where you come in. Do you enjoy the smell of the air after a rain storm?”
He nods.
“Do you enjoy the smell of a beautiful woman’s freshly washed hair?”
He keeps nodding.
“Remember that. Remember everything you could lose with the snap of my fingers.”
More nodding.
“Stop nodding and listen to me carefully.”
He stops nodding.
He stares the best he can.
He listens the best he can.
There’s a buzzing in his ear he can’t get rid of though.
“I’ve followed you for a while now. I see what you’re capable of. I can use you. I can keep you alive. But make no mistake that this is me being nice. This is merely business. Now you may speak.”
“What do you need from me?” he asks.
“You’ll know soon enough.”
Chapter Two
The Other Place
