The Taken Ones: A totally gripping crime and mystery thriller by Choudhary Ruhi

Author:Choudhary, Ruhi
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781800198876
Publisher: Bookouture
Published: 2022-01-17T00:00:00+00:00

Mackenzie’s feet carried her to Hidden Lake to watch the sunrise. It was a long run from her place. It was in the woods of Hidden Lake where she had helped Melody bury a body. Those woods were marked, forever haunted by the ghost of her past, forever echoing what she had agreed to do even if she was only twelve years old.

She panted and bent to breathe through the stitch on her side. The woods were across the lake; she stood on the other side. There was no wind. The water and the woods stood still, like a painting. The only sounds were the flapping wings of birds and the cry of a hawk. This is what Lakemore was at the core. Underneath the film of football, poverty, and crime, it was the place where regular people had dark secrets buried.

Mackenzie took a deep breath, the smell of pine needles and damp soil, along with something else. Something in the air that tempted people into doing horrible things.

She shivered and jogged back to her place, trying to shed away that fetid feeling that Hidden Lake always gave her.

When she reached her house, the sun finally rose over the horizon, spilling bright light everywhere. At her front porch, Austin was sitting, his blond hair fluttering in the wind.

“Austin?” she squeaked, aware that she was sweaty.

“Sorry, Mackenzie. But it was important.”

“Come inside.” She unlocked the door and let him in. It was seven in the morning. Did it have to do with his fiancée? Was he going down that path again? “What’s up?”

“I’m sorry for showing up like this, but I think I found something that might help you.”

“Oh. Of course.” She went to the kitchen and ran some water to wash her flushed face.

“Some uniform had talked to Stella’s co-workers at the pharmacy, and they’d said that she was acting normally in the days leading up to her disappearance,” he recounted while she dabbed her face dry. “But one of her co-workers said that Stella had been using her work email for some personal correspondences.”

“How did they know that?”

“Stella accidentally left the tab open. The co-worker doesn’t remember what was written exactly, but it was enough for her to see it wasn’t work-related. Apparently, Stella made some excuse, and they didn’t talk about it.”

The wheels in her brain spun fast. “We found nothing odd in Stella’s emails, but we had only checked her personal one. Why was she using a work one for personal stuff?”

Austin’s eyes lit up. “Exactly. I thought you should know. Maybe there’s something there.”

“Why wasn’t this in the reports?” Mackenzie had diligently gone through every statement that was collected when Stella went missing.

“The officer didn’t think it was important to make a note of it. I was talking to some of the guys, and it came up.”

She wiped her brow. “Must be a new one. We tell them that every word spoken needs to go into the report, but, oh well.”

The bell rang. She hopped over to the door, wondering who it was this time.

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