The Vanishing Wife: A gripping and addictive crime thriller (Leigh Brody FBI Mystery Book 2) by Nichole Severn

Author:Nichole Severn [Severn, Nichole]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Storm Publishing
Published: 2024-09-12T00:00:00+00:00

TWENTY-ONE

Gulf Shores, Alabama

Sunday, September 22

10:32 a.m.

The Fuentes home wasn’t like the others Leigh had noticed in Gulf Shores.

A single-level colonial off Wedgewood Drive with white siding, manicured hedges, and a red brick path leading to the front door. Something Leigh might see back home rather than in an ocean-tourist town churning out missing teens. The house itself was far enough away from the overpriced ocean front properties but close enough to be included in Gulf Shores High School’s boundaries. The antique wood door held on to two elongated panes on either side. Giving visitors a blurry view into the home. The door was open now, with an officer posted to keep unwanted guests from entering.

Detective Moore nodded to the uniform acting as gatekeeper, Leigh close behind. Just as a news van pulled up to the curb. The detective stopped short of crossing the threshold. “Shit. Who tipped them off?”

The vultures were already descending. Eager for that first pound of flesh. The news woman Leigh had clocked at Ruby Davis’s death scene slipped free of the van’s passenger seat, wobbling on impossibly high heels before checking her hair in the side mirror. Caroline. That was what Detective Moore had called her. She wore a different outfit now, though the basics were the same. Skirt, heels, hairspray. Guess a night in jail hadn’t been enough to curb Caroline’s curiosity about this case.

The last thing a mother wanted when her daughter had gone missing was a camera shoved in her face. It was the last thing Leigh had wanted as a surviving member of her family for a long time. Reporters, true crime authors, interview requests, podcast hosts, documentary directors—they’d all followed her to college then become reinvigorated when she’d joined Concord PD. Leigh, do you still believe your father’s innocence? Do you talk with your father in prison? Are you joining the police department in an attempt to reopen the case? Why did your mother kill herself?

Her move into the FBI seemed to ward them off. But the investigation in Lebanon two months ago had brought it all back.

Her face had graced newspapers she’d never read. National coverage had spilled details she’d always kept to herself. More interview requests, more journalists leaving messages on her voicemail. Literary agents had come out of the woodwork, all vying to work with her to pitch her story to publishers. Her entire life had been displayed for public consumption. But there was one secret they’d never have. Her brother, Chandler. They would never know he’d survived Chris Ellingson, or that she and her brother had set a plan in motion to reveal the monster hiding behind that manipulative smile.

It was the thought of someone else profiting off her loss—of attempting to insert themselves into the protected memories of her life—that had been too much to take. And no one, not even a cheating, gutless spouse like Wesley Portman, deserved that kind of pain. Leigh turned to the uniformed officer at the door of the Fuentes home. “They do not step one foot on this property.

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