The Killer She Knew: A totally addictive crime thriller (Leigh Brody FBI Mystery Book 3) by Nichole Severn

Author:Nichole Severn [Severn, Nichole]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Storm Publishing
Published: 2025-02-14T00:00:00+00:00

TWENTY

Durham, New Hampshire

Thursday, October 10

9:02 a.m.

Tamra Hopkins wasn’t missing.

She was dead.

Leigh jerked Ava away as the body came into sight. Left right there in the middle of the second-floor corridor of lower administration offices. A scream-like gasp escaped the fifteen-year-old’s throat as reality crashed down around them. She twisted around to push Ava toward the stairs, but the damage had already been done. “Don’t look. Don’t look.”

They couldn’t disturb the crime scene.

But Ava wasn’t in her right mind. None of them were. A sick color of green infiltrated Ava’s face a split second before she slapped her hand over her mouth. “I’m going to be sick.”

Leigh grabbed for the nearest garbage can and passed it to her, holding Ava’s hair back as she emptied all those coveted calories into the bin. “It’s okay. I’ve got you.”

Ford’s frame maneuvered past them. He closed in on the body and gently tested the victim’s neck for a pulse. Raising his gaze to Leigh, he shook his head. Dead. He shoved to stand, his gaze searching around the scene intently.

The two campus police officers she’d noted downstairs rushed up the stairs. Then slowed in horror.

She could read their thoughts as clearly as if they’d spoken aloud. How had this happened right under their noses? How long had it been since they’d seen Tamra downstairs? An hour? Less? Leigh couldn’t help but run through every interaction, every change in the young woman’s expression, every word out of her mouth over the past twenty-four hours.

“I don’t understand. I just saw her.” Ava tried to breathe through the next round of heaving, but it would take a few minutes to work through the shock. “Who would want to hurt Tamra?”

“I’m sorry. You shouldn’t have seen her like this.” Leigh tried to rub small circles into Ava’s back, wishing it would do a damn bit of good for her own furious rush of loss. She hadn’t known Tamra Hopkins more than a day, but the young woman on the floor hadn’t deserved this. Any of this. She couldn’t stop that internal pull to check out the body. This didn’t feel like the meticulous premeditation the unsub had utilized in disposing of Alice Dietz’s remains. This was impulsive. A survival tactic. A mistake. “I’m going to take you back downstairs. Okay? We’ll get you some water, and you can rest until I’m done here.”

Man, she was really failing at this whole work–mom balance. Who the hell brought their child to a crime scene? Ava continued to clutch the garbage can—better to be safe than sorry—and Leigh set her hand at her daughter’s low back.

“No!” Ava twisted out of Leigh’s reach. “You can’t just put me somewhere out of sight and forget about me again. You said you would try harder. So try harder, Leigh.”

The girl certainly knew how to twist the knife poisoned with guilt for the kill. Leigh shifted her hands to Ava’s arms, squeezing all the love she could into that hold. It wasn’t enough. She had

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