Dark Pursuit Read online

  PRAISE FOR NOVELS BY BRANDILYN COLLINS

  One of the Best Books of 2007 … Top Christian suspense of the year.

  Library Journal, for Crimson Eve

  The excitement starts on page one and doesn’t stop until the shocking end … [Crimson Eve] is fast-paced and thrilling.

  Romantic Times

  The action starts with a bang … and the pace doesn’t let up until this fabulous racehorse of a story crosses the finish line.

  Christian Retailing, for Crimson Eve

  Collins crafts an unparalleled cat and mouse game wrought with mystery and surprise.

  TitleTrakk.com, for crimson eve

  A chilling mystery. Not one to be read alone at night.

  RT BOOKclub, for Coral Moon

  Thrilling … one of those rare books you hurry through, almost breathlessly, to find out what happens.

  Spokane Living, for Coral Moon

  … a fascinating tale laced with supernatural chills and gut wrenching suspense.

  Christian Library Journal, for Coral Moon

  … fast-paced … interesting details of police procedure and crime scene investigation … beautifully developed [characters] …

  Publishers Weekly, for Violet Dawn

  A sympathetic heroine … effective flashbacks … Collins knows how to weave faith into a rich tale.

  Library Journal, for Violet Dawn

  Collins expertly melds flashbacks with present-day events to provide a smooth yet deliciously intense flow … quirky townsfolk will help drive the next books in the series.

  RT BOOKclub, for Violet Dawn

  Skillfully written … Imaginative style and exquisite suspense.

  1340mag.com, for Violet Dawn

  A master storyteller … Collins deftly finesses the accelerator on this knuckle-chomping ride.

  RT BOOKclub, for Web of Lies

  … fast-paced … mentally challenging and genuinely entertaining. Christian Book Previews, for Web of Lies

  Christian Book Previews, for Web of Lies

  Collins’ polished plotting sparkles … unique word twists on the psychotic serial killer mentality. Lock your doors, pull your shades—and read this book at noon.

  RT BOOKclub, Top Pick for Dead of Night

  This one is up there in the stratosphere … Collins has it in her to give an author like Patricia Cornwell a run for her money.

  Faithfulreader.com, for Dead of Night

  … spine-tingling, hair-raising, edge-of-the-seat suspense.

  Wordsmith Review, for Dead of Night

  A page-turner I couldn’t put down, except to check the locks on my doors.

  Authors Choice Reviews

  Collins keeps the reader gasping and guessing … artistic prose paints vivid pictures … High marks for original plotting and superb pacing.

  RT BOOKclub, for Stain of Guilt

  … a sinister, tense story with twists and turns that will keep you on the edge of your seat.

  Wordsmith Shoppe, for Stain of Guilt

  … an abundance of real-life faith as well as real-life fear, betrayal and evil. This one kept me gripped from beginning to end.

  Contemporary Christian Music magazine, for Brink of Death

  Collins’ deft hand for suspense brings on the shivers.

  RT BOOKclub, for Brink of Death

  This gripping murder mystery thrills from page one.

  christianbookpreviews.com, for Brink of Death

  Compelling … plenty of intrigue and false trails.

  Publishers Weekly, for Dread Champion

  Finely-crafted … vivid … another masterpiece that keeps the reader utterly engrossed.

  RT BOOKclub, for Dread Champion

  … riveting mystery and courtroom drama.

  Library Journal, for Dread Champion

  The cleverly complex plot, realistic courtroom drama, well-sketched secondary characters, and strong pacing make this book a fascinating read.

  dancingword.com, for Dread Champion

  Chilling … a confusing, twisting trail that keeps pages turning.

  Publishers Weekly, for Eyes of Elisha

  A thriller that keeps the reader guessing until the end.

  Library Journal, for Eyes of Elisha

  Unique and intriguing … filled with more turns than a winding mountain highway.

  RT BOOKclub, for Eyes of Elisha

  One of the top ten Christian novels of 2001.

  christianbook.com, for Eyes of Elisha

  Captivating … An imaginative plot, rounded characters, and workmanlikeprose.

  Moody magazine, for Eyes of Elisha

  OTHER BOOKS BY BRANDILYN COLLINS

  Kanner Lake Series

  1 | Violet Dawn

  2 | Coral Moon

  3 | Crimson Eve

  4 | Amber Morn

  Hidden Faces Series

  1 | Brink of Death

  2 | Stain of Guilt

  3 | Dead of Night

  4 | Web of Lies

  Chelsea Adams Series

  1 | Eyes of Elisha

  2 | Dread Champion

  Bradleyville Series

  1 | Cast a Road before Me

  2 | Color the Sidewalk for Me

  3 | Capture the Wind for Me

  Dark Pursuit

  Mobipocket Reader™ format

  Copyright © 2008 by Brandilyn Collins

  This title is also available as a Zondervan ebook.

  Visit www.zondervan.com/ebooks.

  Requests for information should be addressed to:

  Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49530

  ISBN-13: 978-0-310-30217-9

  All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible: New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.

  Internet addresses (websites, blogs, etc.) and telephone numbers printed in this book are offered as a resource to you. These are not intended in any way to be or imply an endorsementon the part of Zondervan, nor do we vouch for the content of these sites and numbers for the life of this book.

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other—except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.

  Published in association with the literary agency of Alive Communications, Inc., 7680 Goddard Street, Suite 200, Colorado Springs, CO 80920. www.alivecommunications.com

  Interior design by Michelle Espinoza

  For Tony Lamanna,

  for all your help

  with the law enforcement aspects

  in my Kanner Lake novels.

  Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Part 1

  Chapter one

  Chapter two

  Chapter three

  Chapter four

  Chapter five

  Chapter six

  Chapter seven

  Chapter eight

  Chapter nine

  Chapter ten

  Chapter eleven

  Chapter twelve

  Chapter thirteen

  Chapter fourteen

  Chapter fifteen

  Part 2

  Chapter sixteen

  Chapter seventeen

  Chapter eighteen

  Chapter nineteen

  Chapter twenty

  Chapter twenty-one

  Chapter twenty-two

  Chapter twenty-three

  Chapter twenty-four

  Chapter twenty-five

  Chapter twenty-six

  Chapter twenty-seven


  Chapter twenty-eight

  Chapter twenty-nine

  Chapter thirty

  Chapter thirty-one

  Chapter thirty-two

  Chapter thirty-three

  Chapter thirty-four

  Chapter thirty-five

  Chapter thirty-six

  Chapter thirty-seven

  Chapter thirty-eight

  Chapter thirty-nine

  Chapter forty

  Chapter forty-one

  Chapter forty-two

  Chapter forty-three

  Part 3

  Chapter forty-four

  Chapter forty-five

  Chapter forty-six

  Chapter forty-seven

  Chapter forty-eight

  Chapter forty-nine

  Chapter fifty

  Chapter fifty-one

  Chapter fifty-two

  Chapter fifty-three

  Chapter fifty-four

  Chapter fifty-five

  Chapter fifty-six

  Chapter fifty-seven

  Chapter fifty-eight

  Chapter fifty-nine

  Chapter sixty

  Chapter sixty-one

  Chapter sixty-two

  Chapter sixty-three

  Chapter sixty-four

  Chapter sixty-five

  Chapter sixty-six

  Chapter sixty-seven

  Part 4

  Chapter sixty-eight

  Chapter sixty-nine

  Want to Discuss Dark Pursuit with Your Book Club?

  Insightful questions about the story and how it applies

  to your life can be found on my website at:

  www.brandilyncollins.com

  Dear Reader:

  In this first book after my Kanner Lake Series I take you on a new and somewhat different rollercoaster ride. In these hills and plunges, rocketing through the blackened tunnels, you will meet new characters upon whose beleaguered heads I’ve wreaked my never-ending havoc.(Poor things—that they should end up in one of my books.)

  Those of you familiar with the Peninsula side of the northern California Bay Area will quickly see I’ve wedged a town into rural territory. Gayner lies on the west side of Freeway 280, roughly between Edgewood Road and the town of Woodside. As long as I’m creating people, why not create an entire town as well?

  My thanks to Courtney Rants at Zi Spa in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, for her information about the workday and training of a hair stylist. Somehow she managed to do my hair and answer my million pesky questions at the same time. All you other stylists out there—be thankful you don’t have me for a client.

  And now, here we go again. You know the drill. Strap on that seatbelt, keep your hands inside the car, and —

  Beelzebub, addressing the fallen angels

  after being thrown out of Heaven:

  The King of Heaven hath doomed

  This place our dungeon, …

  nor shall we need

  … to invade …

  What if we find

  Some easier enterprise? There is a place …

  Of some new race, called Man, …

  Thither let us bend all our thoughts, to learn

  … where their weakness: …

  Seduce them to our party, that their God

  May prove their foe, …

  … Advise if this be worth

  Attempting, or to sit in darkness here

  Hatching vain empires.

  Paradise Lost, Book II, John Milton

  Part 1

  Severed

  UNTITLED MS.

  one

  “Ever hear the dead knocking?”

  Leland Hugh watches the psychiatrist ponder his question, no reaction on the man’s lined, learned face. The doctor lists to one side in his chair, a fist under his sagging jowl. The picture of unshakable confidence.

  “No, can’t say I have.”

  Hugh nods and gazes at the floor. “I do. At night, always at night.”

  “Why do they knock?”

  His eyes raise to look straight into the doctor’s. “They want my soul.”

  No response but a mere inclining of the head. The intentional silence pulses, waiting for an explanation. Psychiatrists are good at that.

  “I took theirs, you see. Put them in their graves early.” Deep inside Hugh, the anger and fear begin to swirl. He swallows, voice tightening. “They’re supposed to stay in the grave. Who’d ever think the dead would demand their revenge?”

  From outside the door, at the windows, in the closet, in the walls—they used to knock. Now, in his jail cell the noises come from beneath the floor. Harassing, insistent, hate-filled, and bitter sounds that pound his ears and drill his brain until sleep will not, cannot come.

  “Do you ever answer?”

  Shock twists Hugh’s lips. “Answer?”

  The psychiatrist’s face remains placid. The slight, knowing curve to his mouth makes Hugh want to slug him.

  “You think they’re not real, don’t you?” Hugh steeples his fingers with mocking erudition. “Yes, esteemed colleagues.” He affects an arrogant highbrow voice. “I have determined the subject suffers from EGS —Extreme Guilt Syndrome, the roots of which run so deep as never to be extirpated, with symptoms aggrandizing into myriad areas of the subject’s life and resulting in perceived paranormal phenomena.”

  He drops both hands in his lap, lowering his chin to look derisively at the good doctor.

  The man inhales slowly. “Do you feel guilt for the murders?”

  “Why should I? They deserved it.”

  He pushes to his feet.

  He pushes to his feet. He slumps back in his chair.

  He slumps back in his chair. He aims a hard look

  He aims a hard look

  The psychiatrist.

  Hugh’s hands fist,

  He cannot

  He can only

  He

  “Aaghh!” Novelist Darell Brooke smacked his keyboard and shoved away from the desk. All concentration drained from his mind like water from a leaky pan.

  His characters froze.

  He lowered his head, raking gnarled fingers into the front of his scalp. For a time there he’d almost had it—that ancient joy of thoughts flowing and fingers typing. In the last two hours he’d managed to write three or four paragraphs. Now—nothing.

  Absolutely nothing.

  King of Suspense. He laughed, a bitter sound that singed his throat. Ninety-nine novels written in forty-three years. Well over a hundred million copies sold. Twenty-one major motion pictures made from his books. Countless magazine articles about his career, fan letters, invitations to celebrity parties. Now look at him at age seventy-seven. Two years after the auto accident and still only half mobile. And wielding a mere fraction of the brain power he used to have.

  What good is an author who can’t hold a plot in his head?

  As for his once-diehard fans, they were now happily reading King or Koontz or that upstart Patterson.

  Betrayers, all. He made a gagging sound in his throat.

  Darell stared at the monitor, reading over his strikeouts, struggling once more to settle into the story. He pictured the psychiatrist, his killer …

  No use.

  Face it, old man. You’ ll never write that hundredth book. You’ve been put out to pasture for good.

  He wrenched his eyes from the screen and reached for his shiny black cane. With effort, he pushed himself out of his leather chair to unsteady feet. The broken bones in his left leg and ankle had long since healed, but the ligament damage had not. Despite painful physical therapy his foot had not regained its full flexibility. Amazing—the constant flexing of a foot to maintain equilibrium. He hadn’t realized the importance of those muscles and tendons until his were torn apart.