“You gotta get here, and fast. There’s . . .” Chase’s voice broke. “There’s a dead body out on the Parkinsons’ property. It’s a girl, man.”225Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8rYFJF0aOX
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Neveah.225Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy0AdN5wUkt
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Zach’s stomach surged into his throat as he climbed out of the cruiser. They’d followed Chase’s instructions out of town to the north. The dirt road led off Highway 434 and into the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. He spotted the only other police cruiser Clear Springs had to its name off the side of the road, Chase’s long frame leaning against it. He had his head in his hands.225Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLGNoVMscLO
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Considering the man had seen a thing or two when he worked homicide over in Seattle before moving here a few years ago, that didn’t bode well. In the time Zach had known Chase, he’d never seen the other man riled—or as hopeless as he looked now.225Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ14AazZOKQ1
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The Marines hadn’t been a cakewalk for Zach. He’d experienced things in the desert that he wished he could wipe out from his mind, even nine years later. This was different. Nearly a decade working in Clear Springs and the closest he’d come to a murder case was a lost hiker who’d wandered miles off course and ended up freezing to death near Sawfoot Ridge.225Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP8LHVvYjbk
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That was it.225Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoxHNaV1Wu0
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This was worlds different.225Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYEOCOwAIkF
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“Call it in.”225Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN37DYG7PYy
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Henry gave him a look like he was crazy, his bushy gray eyebrows sliding up his forehead. “To who?”225Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ70lhVb1SeZ
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That was the question, wasn’t it? He took a deep breath and tried to think. Clear Springs was small enough that they didn’t even have their own mortuary. They didn’t have detectives. They didn’t have a damn thing except him, Henry, and Chase. “Call the coroner over in Augusta. Keep it quiet. I don’t want the Smiths to hear about this before we have a chance to confirm—”225Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjEH3zVqywX
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“You think it’s Neveah?” The shock in Henry’s voice made him feel like a monster.225Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV3tJHblD1O
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Zach opened the door. “I won’t know until I get a look at the body. Make the call.” He got out. It was tempting to take some time, to do something to prolong the moment when he had to walk around Chase’s vehicle and look at the body of a girl who had once lived and loved and laughed. But that was not why he was here—he was here to do right by her, whoever she was.225Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6hArs7TXlr
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So he braced himself and tapped Chase’s shoulder. “Tell me.”225Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnfF5OdimQe
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Chase gave a full-body shudder, but his voice was almost calm when he said, “I got a call from old-man Parkinson about some teenagers trespassing on his property. I took my time, because you know how he is.”225Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNMIAKWPTdB
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Zach knew. He could also hear the guilt in his deputy’s voice. “You couldn’t have known.”225Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo7LD1gaUVo
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“But—” Chase shook his head, his brown eyes wide as if he were in shock. “Right. You’re right. This shit is just messing with my head, you know?”225Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdC12dPekiA
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“I know.” He realized he was still stalling and motioned his deputy over. “Talk to me while I take a look.”225Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWS7G98HKwD
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Walking around that car was hard—harder than it should have been. Seeing the flash of pale skin down in the bushes on the side of the road was harder yet. Zach walked to the body on leaden feet and crouched down. The girl was on her stomach, one arm outstretched as if she was reaching for help and the other curled underneath her. Her dark hair was a tangled mess that hid her face. And she was naked.225Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMdh8hwKhNz
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Chase cleared his throat. “I was going to cover her, but . . .”225Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3S3P9l85Mu
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“You did the right thing.” As much as he wanted to grant her that respect, they needed to gather evidence before they moved her.225Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYEQVzbeZhA
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He examined the ground. There was one set of footprints—Chase’s—that circled the body, and scuff marks where he’d obviously checked for a pulse. No other marks, except for a set of bare footprints that must belong to the girl. He frowned. Surely she didn’t walk here and fall over dead?225Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIOndMICE8E
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Zach sat back on his heels and looked around. They were a good ten miles from town, but ten miles wasn’t that far in the grand scheme of things. With the mountain range rising in the distance, there was no reason for her to be lost. Every local knew that if you put the range at your back and started walking, you’d run into some sort of civilization sooner rather than later. He put that in the back of his mind and returned to his examination.225Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKYx3zjU9Qk
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Faint bruises covered her back and ran down her arms and legs, ranging in size from what could be fingerprints to large ones indicating a more serious blow. The colors varied, too—some nearly black and others faded to a sickly green-yellow. So, not all new. She certainly couldn’t have gotten them all in the few days she’d been missing.225Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUqiYm4mqjr
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You’re getting ahead of yourself.225Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm8NOqZ1bzT
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Right.225Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAtJ0Rk9Ant
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He leaned closer, carefully putting his hand on the dirt to stabilize himself. There was a marking between her shoulder blades, a smudge of blue-black that looked like ink. A tattoo? There was another on her hip, and yet another one on the wrist of the outstretched arm. What the hell?225Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjJxsRGHoFU
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Whatever the origin of these marks, he doubted they were something she’d consented to. Time would tell, though, and he’d have to wait to hear from the coroner to know for sure.225Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5NX6p39di5
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Only one thing left to see.225Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPsFvuZEEml
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He lifted the curtain of her hair, and froze.225Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDZLjBGfdkc
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The girl wasn’t Neveah Smith.225Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnCoEQLu26D
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It’s finally happening.225Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ53U7aqWCa0
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Eden Collins sat in her car and told herself for the thousandth time that she was a fool. She shouldn’t be here. There was nothing she could offer the situation that wouldn’t make everything worse. She tapped her finger on the steering wheel, staring at the entrance to the Clear Springs police station. Growing up, she’d been in there once or twice when her mother decided that some outside help was necessary to rein in her rebellious daughter.
She’d never thought she’d walk in voluntarily.225Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMUItmcNH1h
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She’d never thought she’d come back to Clear Springs at all.225Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyZvPOTAXJk
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She sighed. There was no help for it—either she needed to turn the car around, drive back to Missoula, and catch the next flight out to Virginia, or she needed to stop trying to talk herself out of this and walk in there and offer her services.225Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMEM6grkXet
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I don’t want to go back. Please don’t make me.225Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKy3dnrZLH2
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It was the cry of a child in the dark. She’d worked very, very hard to leave that child behind, but the little-girl voice had the nasty habit of popping up at the worst times. Eden had known coming back to Clear Springs for the first time in a decade would rouse all sorts of inner demons she’d been so determined to forget. It didn’t make it any easier to bear.225Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9w0wnxR9pQ
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“This is stupid. Get out of the car. Get out of the car right now.”225Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQBlzwEYbZs
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She threw her body into motion, half-afraid that if she didn’t force herself to move, she’d sit there until someone decided to report her for being creepy. Who am I kidding? The people in this place are just as likely to knock on the window and ask me if I need any help.225Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF1mDBKNwon
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The fall air had a little bite to it, and she closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. Home.225Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwSYP5ZUvQv
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No. It’s not home. It’ll never be home again.225Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8Ztmsgbcto
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She’d made a life for herself in the FBI, and if she didn’t have much in the way of roots . . . well, she’d left the possibility of roots behind when she left Clear Springs. Most days it didn’t even bother her that much. She was doing good in the world, using her nontraditional childhood to give her an edge that had helped her make a name for herself over the last six years in the cult division. She was Eden Collins, FBI agent. She wasn’t that scared little girl. Not anymore.225Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaN2ozOTeWV
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One step at a time, she made her way into the police station. She’d half expected it to be a whirl of motion, with people rushing here and there, trying to come to terms with the fact that death had touched their small town. But there was no one in the room except a man sitting behind the desk in the corner, glaring at the phone on his desk.225Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNB5KOOxezU
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Zach Owens.225Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ28n8xfurPn
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The golden boy of Clear Springs in every sense. His blond hair was still cropped short, harkening back to his days as a Marine, and his body was obviously well taken care of. This wasn’t a man who’d let his years working in a sleepy little town turn him soft.225Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZSc3HBeVJE
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While Zach took her in, she conducted her own perusal. She’d never met him personally, but she knew him by reputation and pieces of information stolen via eavesdropping. He’d gone off to war a boy and come back a man with shadows in his eyes. Or maybe she was just seeing him with rose-tinted glasses, the tragic figure representing everything she’d never have. Acceptance. Loyalty. The love of the people here.225Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡymn2H4XOVC
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Something like jealousy curled through her stomach. It was silly and childish, and she was better than that, but it was hard not to resent someone who so obviously fit. Eden had done a bit of traveling since she’d turned eighteen and run as far and fast as she could from her mother, but she’d never found a place that was well and truly hers.225Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡamT67WOKMQ
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He caught sight of her and narrowed his eyes. “Can I help you?”225Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcnElKPlCIj
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Being pinned in place by those blue eyes made her second-guess the intelligence of her plan yet again. It didn’t matter. He needed her help, even if he didn’t know it yet. She stepped forward. “I’m here about the body.”225Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡohaPZoz0EF
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His shoulders dipped a quarter of an inch before rising again, the tell so slight, she wouldn’t have noticed if her business didn’t rely on seeing what other people missed. He frowned. “How the hell did you hear about it already? It’s only been a few hours.”225Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZkOm3Co85d
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And here’s the kicker. She pulled out her phone and brought up her e-mail. “This was sent to me yesterday afternoon.” Zach cursed, and she didn’t blame him. The photo showed the dead girl, her hand outstretched as if begging for help. As if begging Eden for help.225Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqsPuRsKKan
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“Who sent this to you?”225Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7VRu2gWj1C
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“I don’t know.” When she tried to respond to the e-mail, it had bounced. Eden had thought it was some sort of prank, but she’d done a search through the FBI data banks on Clear Springs just in case . . . and discovered that a body perfectly matching the one in the photo was currently in the Augusta morgue.225Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡomusNVmWnL
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A body that shared at least superficial similarities with Eden.225Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkPykitrkye
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He looked at her as if seeing her for the first time. “As much as I’m grateful for the heads-up about a potential leak, who are you and why would this picture be sent to you?”225Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfcusBtfmx0
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This was it. The moment of truth. She straightened and did her best not to appear as nervous as she felt. “I’m here because I recognize that tattoo on her back.” She held out her hand, proud of herself when it didn’t shake. “I’m Eden Collins, and you’ve got bigger problems than you realize.”225Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2AFtsIoh4I
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