Fierce Shadows: Shadows Landing #4 Read online

  Fierce Shadows

  Shadows Landing #4

  Kathleen Brooks

  All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

  This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons living or dead, actual events, locale, or organizations is entirely coincidental.

  An original work of Kathleen Brooks. Fierce Shadows copyright @ 2020 by Kathleen Brooks.

  Kathleen Brooks® is a registered Trademark of Laurens Publishing, LLC.

  Created with Vellum

  Bluegrass Series

  Bluegrass State of Mind

  Risky Shot

  Dead Heat

  Bluegrass Brothers

  Bluegrass Undercover

  Rising Storm

  Secret Santa: A Bluegrass Series Novella

  Acquiring Trouble

  Relentless Pursuit

  Secrets Collide

  Final Vow

  Bluegrass Singles

  All Hung Up

  Bluegrass Dawn

  The Perfect Gift

  The Keeneston Roses

  Forever Bluegrass Series

  Forever Entangled

  Forever Hidden

  Forever Betrayed

  Forever Driven

  Forever Secret

  Forever Surprised

  Forever Concealed

  Forever Devoted

  Forever Hunted

  Forever Guarded

  Forever Notorious

  Forever Ventured

  Forever Freed

  Forever Saved (coming July/August 2020)

  Shadows Landing Series

  Saving Shadows

  Sunken Shadows

  Lasting Shadows

  Fierce Shadows

  Broken Shadows (coming October 2020)

  Women of Power Series

  Chosen for Power

  Built for Power

  Fashioned for Power

  Destined for Power

  Web of Lies Series

  Whispered Lies

  Rogue Lies

  Shattered Lies

  Moonshine Hollow Series

  Moonshine & Murder

  Moonshine & Malice

  Moonshine & Mayhem

  Moonshine & Mischief (details coming soon)

  Contents

  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

  Epilogue

  Also by Kathleen Brooks

  About the Author

  For L:

  Be Brave. Be Determined. Be Fierce.

  Prologue

  “Mom, I said I’m not going,” Allie Crisp said with a roll of her blue eyes.

  “But the show starts in ten minutes,” her mother complained. Allie was so over this family vacation. It was great her parents were taking her and her little sister on vacation before Allie started her second year of college, but come on. Her mom wasn’t giving her any room to be herself. Allie was being treated as if she were her fourteen year old sister instead of an almost nineteen year old who had lived away at college for the past year. One year with no curfew, no reporting in to your parents, and no stupid song and dance show at a resort.

  “Mom, I don’t want to go to the show. I’m going to walk on the beach and make my way back to the room,” Allie said again.

  “Honey, let her have her space. She’s used to being on her own.”

  Allie shot her dad a thankful smile. He always got her. Allie’s little sister was the needy one. She’d always wanted to be the center of attention. Not Allie. She was content to let her sister have the spotlight.

  “Fine,” her mother relented. “Be careful. Don’t wander too far. We’ll see you in a little while.”

  Allie rolled her eyes again. “It’s not like I can go anywhere. The resort is the island.”

  “Come on, Mom. I can’t wait for the show,” Allie’s younger sister, Claire, said as she slipped her hand into their mom’s and sent a smirk to Allie. Yeah, yeah, she was the favorite. Allie already knew that.

  Allie watched as her family walked through the lobby of the Palm Meadows Island Resort. They were from Missouri and Allie went to college in Indiana. Why would Allie want to be stuck in a show when there was a beautiful beach right outside?

  Allie walked out of the lobby and down the boardwalk. She stopped and pulled off her flip-flops before the boardwalk transitioned into the sandy beach of the small island off the Charleston, South Carolina shore. It had been pretty cool actually. The only way onto the small private island was by a ferry. They’d driven their minivan onto it and then were able to get out and watch as they made the twenty-minute boat trip to the island. But that was where the cool ended. Her mother and sister were driving her crazy. They all wanted her to be the same high school nerd with no life she’d been before college. But she’d tasted freedom and she wanted more.

  This summer she was on a mission to break out of her shell. She’d started in college. She’d gone to some parties and even drunk some beers. Now Allie was going to have a summer fling and come back to college ready to do something more than sloppy make-outs at a party.

  Allie heard the music from the beach nightclub and paused. It was a club for twenty-one and over at the pool bar. She looked at her tight tank top and her skirt. It was one her mom picked out and went down to her knees. Allie rolled it at the waist until it was at mid-thigh and took a deep breath. She was going to be nineteen next month. That was close enough to twenty-one.

  Allie walked with purpose up the short boardwalk that led to the club. The late summer air was hot and humid, even at nine at night. The back wall of the club facing the ocean was wide open with the pool between it and the beach. Music was blasting and the dance floor was full of people too young to sit through some silly show. How Allie wished she were one of them.

  Allie skirted the dance floor and made her way to the bar. The bartender looked to be in his early to mid-twenties. Surely he wouldn’t card her. He was a compatriot in youth, Allie told herself as she took the only open seat at the bar that lined most of the back wall. To her left was the walkway to the main hotel now sitting back a distance. To her right was a walkway to the pool. But right in front of her was her summer fling.

  “What can I get you?”

  “A drink to start and then we’ll see where you can take me,” Allie said with a bat of her eyelashes.

  The hot bartender with longish beach-blond hair that hung over his eyebrows smiled at her. “Let’s start with your ID and then see where it goes.”

  Allie leaned forward making sure he got a good look at breasts big enough to make IDs unnecessary. “When’s your break?”

  The barten
der smiled and leaned forward so that his elbows were on the bar and he was looking at her right in the eyes. Oh, he was the perfect man for a hot summer romance.

  “I’m flattered, but right now you could be a minor and then I’d go to jail. So, let me see your ID and then we can talk.”

  Allie pulled out her wallet and hoped he wasn’t good at math. His nametag read Brody and she hoped he would cut her a break.

  “So close, yet so far away. Bonus points for not giving me a fake.”

  He handed it back to her and she shot him a flirty grin. “I may not be able to drink, but I’m not a minor.”

  “There’s nothing minor about you, Allie,” Brody grinned. “However, this is a club for twenty-one and over starting at nine. I’m sorry, but you’re going to have to leave.”

  Allie sighed. Well, there went her plans. She shrugged her shoulders. “Well, I tried.”

  “I get off in a couple hours. Maybe I’ll see you at the pool.”

  Allie bit her lip to keep from screaming in excitement. “If you’re lucky.” Allie slid from the stool and gave Brody her best “I want you” look before making sure he saw her walk toward the pool. It was a nice night out and she had her phone. She could sit by the pool, listen to the club music, and catch him as soon as he got off work.

  The pool bar was transformed into the nightclub by adding two temporary walls, but the large pool was still open for another hour. Lights made the water glow blue as hidden lights in the landscaping cast the area in a warm glow.

  There were people still swimming as Allie relaxed on a lounge chair that let her look over the pool and the beach as the last of the summer light disappeared. She pulled out her cell phone and began to text her roommate about her soon-to-be hookup with the hot bartender.

  “Excuse me.”

  Allie looked up as a waiter who looked to be in his mid-twenties with brown hair and a big smile walked toward her with a tray balanced on one hand with some fruity-looking drink on it.

  “Have you seen a woman in a white dress?”

  Allie looked around. The people who were in the pool were drying off, getting ready to leave as it approached closing time, but none of the women had a white dress with them. “I’m sorry, I haven’t. Maybe she’s in the club.”

  He shook his head and Allie could tell he was annoyed. “I had to get a top-shelf rum for her and then she leaves. You want it? If not, I have to throw it out.”

  Allie tried not to look too eager. “Sure. What do I owe you?”

  He handed her the drink. “Don’t worry about it. Have a good night.”

  “Thanks!” Allie called as the waiter walked away.

  Allie took a selfie with the drink and sent it to her roommate. Let the fun times begin!

  Allie took a sip and smiled. It was sweet, fruity, and yummy. She looked back at the club as she took deep sips of her drink and wondered how much longer Brody had on his shift. Allie blinked quickly when she began to feel funny. She stood to walk toward the bathroom, but everything was spinning and her legs didn’t seem to be working. She tried to get them to move, but they wobbled and then gave out as she sat back down on the lounger.

  “Are you okay?”

  Allie tried to see where the voice was coming from. Was it Brody? “Help me, please.”

  A figure appeared in front of her, but her vision was so blurred she couldn’t see who it was. Darkness took over even though she was still awake. Allie felt herself being lifted. She felt her flip-flops fall off and the feel of rough grass and sand on her feet. She felt bushes being parted as they tore at her bare arms before she was lain down. Hands were shoving up her skirt and then her shirt. Allie fought. Or at least she thought she did. But then there was nothing as the darkness consumed her.

  “Mr. and Mrs. Crisp, we found your daughter.”

  Mrs. Crisp let out a cry of relief as she grabbed onto her husband. “Thank you, Detective Chambers. Is she okay? Where is she?”

  Detective Willie Chambers hated this part. The part where for a brief moment the parents think their child is alive and well. “Allie’s body was found by fishermen earlier this morning. I am so sorry for your loss.”

  Willie held his breath and pressed his lips together. Here it was. The two-second delay as the parents processed the worst news he could deliver. Their daughter was dead. She’d been found floating in the ocean after she’d been missing for thirty-six hours. He’d just come from the medical examiner’s office. The last moments of Allie Crisp’s life hadn’t been peaceful. There was evidence of sexual assault. There was also evidence she’d fought back. However, according to the medical examiner, Allie had been tossed in the ocean right after her attack. Being in the salt water for so long had caused all DNA evidence to be washed away or degraded so much it was basically useless. Just like the others had been.

  Mrs. Crisp let out a soul-shattering cry of pure anguish as she collapsed to the floor. Her husband dropped to his knees, holding her as he cried that it was his fault. That he should have walked her back to her room himself instead of letting her go alone. The worst part was that Willie couldn’t promise to find who did it. Like with the others, there was no physical evidence, no surveillance footage, no witnesses. The only clues were the two dead bodies and the three victims still alive who had no memory of the assaults. The only common factor was that they had all been guests at the Palm Meadows Island Resort.

  Willie stepped from the conference room to give the Crisps a moment alone. Allie’s younger sister, Claire, was sitting in the hall. He knew she’d heard her mother’s cry and knew that her sister was dead. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she turned a pale face up to him.

  “Allie’s dead, isn’t she?”

  Willie clenched his jaw. You never got used to this. “Yes. I’m sorry. You can go in with your parents if you’d like.”

  “I should have told her how much I loved her,” Claire said before standing and then walking stiffly into the conference room.

  Willie ran his hand over his face and headed to his desk. He pulled out his private cell phone and looked around to make sure no one could hear him. “Agent Castle, this is Detective Willie Chambers of the Charleston Police Department. I think I need your help on a case, but the request can’t come from me.”

  “I know how much your boss likes the FBI coming in and taking over. What’s it about?” Agent Castle asked. He was the FBI agent in charge of the Charleston office.

  “I think women are being drugged and assaulted at Palm Meadows Resort, but I don’t have any evidence of it.”

  “Let me just say this isn’t the first time I’m hearing about it. Also, let me say I’ve gotten word that I’m not to investigate.”

  Willie’s brow creased as he ran through the options of why the FBI would be called off the case. “Are they being protected?”

  “No,” Agent Castle said cryptically. “This is . . . a jurisdictional matter.”

  “Someone else is already investigating them,” Willie said with relief.

  “I couldn’t say.”

  “If you happen to talk to them, will you let them know I have cases for them to look at and I’m happy to share information?”

  “I’d pass it along if I knew anything about it. Will I see you next week?” Castle asked.

  “You bet. You FBI guys don’t have a chance.”

  “Yeah, well, I heard the fire department has a hell of a softball team this year.”

  “Damn firemen,” Willie muttered. They had the sexy calendar with puppies and the best softball players. “See you then.”

  Willie hung up and opened his desk drawer. Inside were his personal files—files he knew Castle could get to whoever was investigating. As Willie copied them, he thought of who it could be—CIA, DOJ, ATF, Homeland. Whoever it was, he hoped they were better at finding evidence than he was. As the sounds of the Crisps’ cries could still be heard, Willie promised he’d do anything he could to find justice for Allie and the others, even if it meant teaming up with anothe
r agency.

  1

  Harper Faulkner scrubbed the gleaming wood of her bar vigorously as she muttered to herself. She was reminding herself that family was important, even meddling old great-aunts who lived two states away.

  Harper, her brother, Gavin, and her cousins had grown up in Shadows Landing, South Carolina, and never could have imagined that Great-Aunt Marcy Davies from Kentucky would play such a role in their lives the past couple of years. In that short time, the estranged family had healed and become as tight as if they’d all grown up together. But that didn’t mean Harper liked any of them meddling in her love life. Her own parents didn’t even do that. In fact, when she was in college, they’d moved to Florida with her aunt and uncle to start a small hotel and didn’t get back to Shadows Landing much.

  That was fine with Harper. She didn’t need a love life. She had men when she wanted them. Her business was the most important thing in her life. She’d started Shadows Bar right after college and she’d built it up into the small town’s evening social hotspot. But then sweet, old, meddling Great-Aunt Marcy had set her up to show some “young boy” around Charleston and Shadows Landing. Marcy had even arranged a time and place Harper could meet him but conveniently left his phone number off the message so Harper had no way to cancel. One thing Harper could say about the Davies family: they were fast learners and as underhanded as can be when meddling in people’s personal lives.