Her Deadly Rose: A totally gripping and unputdownable crime thriller (Detective Amanda Steele Book 12) by Carolyn Arnold

Author:Carolyn Arnold [Arnold, Carolyn]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bookouture
Published: 2024-10-18T00:00:00+00:00

TWENTY-SIX

It was mid-afternoon when Amanda walked up the path to Tara Coolidge’s front door. Trent was beside her, and their strides were both marked by determination. Their minds were open coming here. They hoped Tara could prove useful to the investigation, but it was entirely possible she had killed Michaela and they had yet to find motive and evidence.

Tara’s house was the block over from where Katherine Graves lived in her huge two-story home. She hadn’t bought it on a cop’s salary, but sadly from her mother’s life insurance policy. It was also a purchase in honor of her memory because her mother had always wanted a big home. She was murdered before she realized that dream.

Amanda went to knock, but the door gave way. She glanced at Trent, and they both prepared to draw their weapons. “Tara Coolidge,” Amanda called out. “Prince William County PD.”

She was met by silence. That contradicted the car in the driveway telling her someone should be home.

Pushing the door open the rest of the way, the faint odor of blood hit her nose. “Oh, this isn’t good.”

“I smell it too.”

They slowly treaded down the hallway going deeper into the house. She repeated her callout, but there was no response. She ducked into the living room. Couch pillows and throws were strewn around the room. Books had been pulled from built-in shelving and littered the hardwood.

But she went cold at the sight in the middle of the room.

Tara Coolidge was lying face down in a pool of deep crimson.

Next to her was a marble-base table lamp covered in blood.

“I’ll call it in.” Trent pulled his phone.

Amanda took in the scene in front of her. They’d come here considering Tara might actually be Michaela’s killer, and now she was dead. What the hell was going on?

She asked that question repeatedly for the next few minutes.

“Everyone’s on their way,” Trent said after finishing the slew of calls. Before pocketing his phone, he looked at it. A few seconds later, he said, “I’ve got an email from the judge’s office. All the warrants are approved.”

She nodded. It was good news, but they were too busy to serve any of them now.

“I’d say that Coolidge didn’t go down without a fight.” Trent gestured toward the ransacked room.

“Too bad it wasn’t enough.” Amanda felt faint. The blood was deeply colored, and its surface appeared tacky. She’d been dead for a while. Probably since last night or early that morning. If they had held her longer, would that have made a difference to her fate? “She’s dressed in the clothes she was in yesterday when we spoke with her.”

“Maybe her rush to leave was because she was expecting someone.”

“Could have been. But who and why?”

“And how does this advance either investigation? We thought Tara may have been Michaela’s killer, but how does that result in her murder?”

“I don’t really know. I mean, unless we weren’t alone in our suspicions. We could be looking at someone who killed her in retribution.”

“So you’re suggesting someone killed Coolidge for killing Michaela?” Trent blew out a breath.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.