Desperate to find out what happens to Billie next? Get the second chilling and gripping instalment in the series, Then She’s Gone. When Billie is called to a crime scene on an isolated Florida beach, she’s shocked to find the name of her best friend alongside the broken body... The twists will have you turning the pages late into the night.
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THEN SHE'S GONEAN UNPUTDOWNABLE, GRIPPING AND TWISTY CRIME THRILLER PACKED WITH SUSPENSE
A discovery of bones on a windswept beach, the disappearance of a young woman, and a detective whose secrets are about to come out…
ONE
November
Cocoa Beach, Florida
Jonathan, an eight-year-old boy with a mop of curly brown hair, stepped onto the beach and felt the sand between his toes for the first time. He looked around with wonder, taking in the sun glinting off of the waves, the sand stretching endlessly across the distant shoreline. He felt a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth, and before he knew it, he was squealing with delight.
His mom had been right, he thought to himself. This was it, he was finally here. This was what he had been waiting for. He felt himself slowly relax as he let the ocean breeze wash over him.
Jonathan’s wonder was only heightened when he saw the seagulls soaring and diving around him, the salty smell of the ocean in the air, and the sound of the waves crashing against the shore. He had never seen so much beauty in one place, and he wanted to make sure he never forgot it.
He closed his eyes and inhaled deeply, the sun’s warmth on his face, and a feeling of peace washing over him. Jonathan had barely slept all night in anticipation. When they had arrived at the hotel in Cocoa Beach, the night before, it had been dark. He had been able to hear the ocean, the waves crashing the shore, but not see it till now. And what a sight it was. His momma hadn’t been lying to him. It was spectacular.
Jonathan stood at the edge of the beach, staring in awe at the endless expanse of bright blue water before him. The sun shone down from a cloudless sky, and the wind gently blew his hair back from his face. He shifted his gaze to the white sand beneath his feet, feeling the grittiness between his toes as he took a few tentative steps forward.
As though pulled by an invisible string, Jonathan started running toward the shoreline, faster and faster until he was nothing more than a blur.
“Jonathan!” His mom shouted after him as he got closer to the ocean, the hypnotic call of the sea too strong to resist.
He laughed and grinned back at her, feeling an inexplicable sense of freedom as his tiny feet left tracks in the sand. His mother shouted after him to be careful of the rip currents, to stay close to the shore, but he ignored her, lost in a world of his own creation. He reached out and tried to scoop up a handful of the blue water, allowing its coolness to calm him as he splashed it in his face, laughing. Then he dove in. Headfirst he let it cover his small, chubby body, pretending to be a dolphin or even a mermaid. He played in the water for a long time, before he finally noticed it.
What is that?
A few feet away, Jonathan spotted something—a suitcase tucked away near the dunes of the beach. He felt like it was calling for him, and he cautiously approached it, apprehension rising within him as he considered what could possibly be inside. Could it be a hidden pirate treasure? Could it be gold coins enough for him to bathe in like he had seen in cartoons? Maybe it was enough money for him to be able to buy his momma a brand-new house by the ocean? The temptation was too strong. He had to know.
The latch seemed locked in place, and fear suddenly paralyzed Jonathan as he tried to reach out for it. What if it was something dangerous? What if he got in trouble for opening it? Finally gathering all of his courage, he flipped open the latch with trembling hands.
What Jonathan saw made him scream in terror; instead of finding some hidden treasure within the suitcase, he found himself faced with something far darker. Before he had time to process what had happened, his mother’s voice was calling his name, and her footsteps were already racing toward him.
But it felt like they were too late.
TWO
Melbourne Airport, Florida
Lisa Baxter, a savvy businesswoman with a sharp eye for detail and a penchant for order, dreaded the prospect of air travel. The mere mention of it sent shudders down her spine. She hated the airport. The long lines, the lack of privacy, the constant hustle and bustle of people of all walks of life merging and mingling—it was overwhelming. She hated being wedged in a tiny seat between strangers who felt entitled to take up more room than their own, and she couldn’t stand the unfamiliar, unpredictable movements of the airplane as it bumped through the sky.
But most of all, she dreaded the people. They always seemed far too loud, far too intrusive, and far too eager to strike up a conversation. Even when Lisa was content to sit in silence, they seemed to sense her unease and take it as an invitation to talk. She wished more than anything that she could just disappear into her own mind and forget about the rest of the world.
The airport was an overwhelming mixture of noise, bright lights, and distracted travelers. Lisa made her way through the bustling crowd, searching for an out-of-the-way spot to sit down and collect her thoughts. Everywhere she looked there were blinking screens, loudspeakers making announcements, and people hauling suitcases behind them. The air was filled with the scent of disinfectant as the hum of fluorescent lighting buzzed overhead. Despite the soothing familiarity of it all, Lisa couldn’t shake the fear that flew in with her ticket—a fear of what had happened in the sky before and what might happen again, when she had been on a plane to Denver and they’d had to do an emergency landing. She hadn’t flown since then. She didn’t trust in the airlines or the airplanes or even the pilots.
As she stood in line for check-in, her gaze landed on something strange—a duffel bag lying forgotten near her feet. It seemed oddly out of place where it was, and Lisa felt her heart begin to pound as she studied it warily. Who owned it? Why was no one standing near it?
She stared at it for a long time, while waiting in the line.
Nobody stepped forward to claim the duffel bag, and Lisa tiptoed nervously toward it. She bent over cautiously, half expecting something hazardous to jump out at her.
“Excuse me, officer,” Lisa called out. “There’s some abandoned luggage over there. I’m not sure who it belongs to.”
The security officer approached her, one hand already resting on the gun at his hip. She showed him the bag. He gave the duffel bag a wary once-over, assessing it for any signs of danger.
And then his face dropped as he spotted something. A dark red mark on the zip on one side. It looked wet. Drenched in something. He looked up and locked eyes with her as they both realized what it was. Blood.
THREEBILLIE ANN
“I want the house.”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing as I looked up at Joe. “Excuse me?”
He nodded, his lips tight. “You heard me.”
I narrowed my eyes. Did I just hear him right? “What do you mean you want the house? Where will I live with the kids?”
Joe and I were having another heated argument, the likes of which we had been having almost every day since we had started to discuss the logistics of our divorce. He had agreed to move out and had gotten a condo downtown, not far from our family home. Meanwhile I had been staying with the children in the house. We were sitting in the living room, me on the worn leather sofa we’d chosen together when we moved in, and he in the armchair that had originally been his father’s, but had quickly become his own favorite. The room was bathed in a soft light, and the air was thick with a tense silence.
I was the first to break it.
“What do you mean you want the house?” I repeated, incredulously, barely recognizing my own voice.
Joe didn’t flinch. “I want the house,” he replied, his voice resolute. “What’s so hard to understand about that?”
