City of Bones by Blake Pierce

Author:Blake Pierce [Pierce, Blake]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Mystery & Suspense, Police Procedural, Women Sleuths, Thrillers
ISBN: 9781094372914
Google: OdYREAAAQBAJ
Publisher: Blake Pierce
Published: 2021-12-15T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

It did not surprise Ava that she slept poorly in the tight-fitting chair in Amberley’s living room. There was no room to stretch out and her back was killing her. The little bit of sleep she did manage to get was plagued by strange dreams that kept her shifting uncomfortably in the chair.

In one of the dreams, which was little more than a fragment, she was back out on the street where Millie Newsom had been killed. She was canvassing the street with a partner that she knew well—a partner she had lived with and loved for nearly a decade before he’d been killed in the line of duty. Clarence walked alongside her, studying the streets along with her. He then turned his eyes to her and when they locked eyes, she could recall the intensity of his stare even while she slept.

“This case is too difficult,” he said. “Better leave it to those better equipped. You go on home and stay safe. Be a good mom and take care of our kid.”

“But I can do this,” Ava argued. “There’s got to be an answer somewhere.”

As he considered his answer Ava watched as two people came around the corner behind him. They walked right by the newsstand Ava had seen in the real, waking world, and began to fight. One pulled a knife and slashed the other directly across the throat.

“Answers aren’t always going to be right in front of you, never as simple and as direct as spilled blood,” Clarence said. “You have to try harder.”

“But there’s so much trouble out there waiting for me. I’m afraid I’ve gotten in too deep.”

“Of course you have,” he said. “That’s why you just need to quit. You were never cut out for this, Ava. I love you, but this is so much harder than you’re capable of handling.”

As he spoke to her, the blood from the fallen man behind them seeped down the street. It collected around her shoes and both she and Clarence watched it pool around her heels, but said nothing.

“It’s okay,” Clarence said. “Quit. Leave it for others. Leave it for the capable men on the force.”

More blood pooled around her feet and this time when she looked back to the fallen body, it was Millie Newsom. It was Millie as she’d seen her on the coroner’s table, only her pale lips were drawn back in a smile. She parted them and her tongue moved. She formed a single word that came out in a stagnant breath that Ava could clearly smell, despite the distance.

“Quit…”

Ava awoke with a jerk, nearly falling right out of Ronald Amberley’s chair. She sat up and looked around the room. Her tired, swirling mind was actively looking for Clarence to be there for a moment. Ave closed her eyes and shook her head, as if to dislodge the nonsense. Jittery and feeling slightly outside of her own head, she got out of the chair and walked into the kitchen. She rummaged through Amberley’s mostly-empty cabinets until she found a glass.

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