her carry-on bumping against each marble slab. She passed her landlord’s unit and smiled down the banister toward it. The old lady in 1A was a feisty woman—she’d helped on a case before. Or, at least, had tried to.
Adele reached her own unit, curling up the stairs and coming to a stop in front of the brown door.
She placed her bag on the ground, huffing a sigh and feeling the weight of anxiety lift as it was wont to do when near one’s home.
But her breath caught. She frowned.
Bent over.
Something was on the doormat.
She stooped now, bending at the knee, some of the exhaustion fading to be replaced by a prickle of curiosity.
Not just that, but the curiosity was quickly replaced by a sudden jolt. She looked sharply up and down the hall. Empty. She hadn’t seen anyone on the stairs. She cursed and sprinted toward the next flight, looking up; no one.
She glanced warily, trembling now, her eyes flitting to her neighbors’ doors. None were open. No one was watching.
She turned, slowly, like in a horror movie when someone faced a ghost. Her eyes fixed on the item next to her carry-on, left on the doormat.
A Carambar. The same candy her mother had loved so dearly.
Trembling, her knees weak, she approached. Days lacking sleep, shedding tears, panic, all swirled through her at once. And her fingertips shook as she reached out and picked up the candy.
Still shaking, she pulled on either end of the wrapper, watching it twirl open. She spotted words written in marker on the inside. She gently lowered the candy onto her carry-on, careful not to touch too much of it—hard to lift a print, but possible.
She held the Carambar in a shivering grasp and stared at the words scrawled in blocky handwriting inside the candy wrapper.
I miss her too.
Adele yelled and threw the wrapper toward her door. It flicked and fluttered like a leaf on the wind and then drifted slowly to the ground, curling up one last time before settling just beneath the door.
She stared at the writing, her eyes blazing, her teeth set. Some of the dull, dreary emotions from the week began to fade, replaced now by an excited prickle along her spine.
She’d been on the right track. The killer had been spooked. He thought he was taunting her, playing with her—but he’d just made his first huge mistake.
She stared at the wrapper, breathing heavily, her fingers still shaking as she reached for her phone.
But just then, as if sensing her attention, the phone began to ring.
Adele frowned, staring down at her side, and then, as if in slow motion, she reached for the device and picked it up. For half a second, she expected the call to be coming from her mother’s killer. But no—the office. Foucault’s number.
“Sir?” she said, swallowing back any ounce of emotion.
“Agent Sharp?” said a voice on the other end.
Not Foucault, though. A female voice. It took Adele a second to realize it was Agent Sophie Paige.
“Yes?” Adele said.
“You’re back in France?” said Agent Paige. Sophie’s voice lacked its usual latent hostility. Which only sent another tremble through Adele’s body.
“Paris, yes,” said Adele, curt, her eyes still fixed on the Carambar.
“I—I don’t know how to say this,” Paige said, slowly. “But you’re going to want to see this.”
“See what?”
“A murder,” said Paige.
“So soon?” said Adele. “Just got back from the hospital, is it—”
“It’s my case—that’s not why. Look, Adele… I know the timing is poor. But this body… Whoever killed them…” Agent Paige struggled to find the words, but then she said. “It’s identical to your mother’s murder. You should come by.”
Adele stood quietly for a moment, closing her eyes and then opening them again, fixating on the Carambar. For a moment, it all felt like a dream. She felt certain she hadn’t heard Paige correctly. Was she joking?
“Adele?” said Agent Paige. “Did you hear me?”
Adele didn’t blink, didn’t hesitate, and with a voice that snapped like a bear trap, she said, “Tell me where. I’m on my way.”
NOW AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER!
LEFT TO ENVY
(An Adele Sharp Mystery—Book 6)
“When you think that life cannot get better, Blake Pierce comes up with another masterpiece of thriller and mystery! This book is full of twists and the end brings a surprising revelation. I strongly recommend this book to the permanent library of any reader that enjoys a very well written thriller.”
--Books and Movie Reviews, Roberto Mattos (re Almost Gone)
LEFT TO ENVY is book #6 in a new FBI thriller series