The Missing Sister: FBI Mystery Thriller (Ella Raven FBI Mystery Series Book 2) by Tara Darkwood

Author:Tara Darkwood [Darkwood, Tara]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2025-05-18T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 36

I stepped outside, the air biting at my skin, cold and sharp, and it should’ve been enough to snap me out of the fog in my head, but it didn’t. Everything still felt like it was suffocating me, creeping in from all directions.

Agents flanked me as we moved, keeping a careful distance, watching for anything that could go wrong. But nothing ever really feels right, does it? Not after everything that’s happened. Not when I’m this close to losing control again.

The car ride back to the scene was a blur. The hum of the engine did nothing to calm the churning inside me. The world outside was a blur of neon lights and dark streets, but it was all just background noise. The only thing that mattered now was the scene in front of me.

We pulled up to the crime scene, the headlights cutting through the dark, illuminating a flurry of activity; it suddenly looked very different from a few hours ago. It was no longer deserted; forensics, uniformed officers, and crime scene techs were moving like clockwork. They had already secured the area, their focused chatter nothing more than white noise. But as I stepped out of the vehicle, the chill of the night air gripped me again, and the sounds of the scene fell away. My boots scraped against the gravel, every step heavy as I remembered stepping out like this just a few hours ago, too. The rush of it all, the sound of the wind in my ears, was almost deafening, but nothing felt louder than the tension in my chest. I hadn’t planned on this, didn’t know the informant would die, and if I could help it, I didn’t want to see his cold, lifeless body, but I had to. I owed him that much.

They saluted me when I approached, their faces a mix of respect and detachment. I saluted back automatically, but all I could focus on was the body bag lying under the harsh white lights. The body was already zipped up, and he remained a stranger with no name. He definitely had a name I didn’t know. He was probably someone’s son, someone’s brother. Hell, maybe he even had a family waiting for him somewhere. But right now, none of that mattered. All that mattered was the fact that he had trusted me. He had trusted me to protect him, to keep him safe. He trusted me enough to come out, and he had been killed because of that.

I swallowed hard, my throat tight. I didn’t even know what to say. This man, this nameless informant, had believed in me. And I couldn’t save him. He was dead, and I was left standing here, a knot of guilt in my gut that I couldn’t untangle.

The wind picked up, making the edges of my jacket flap against my arms. It was too cold to stand still, but I didn’t want to move. Not yet. Not until I could get some kind of closure.

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