Long Shadow (Veiled Intentions #2) - Elle Keaton Page 0,1

the outside deck. Niall claimed a booth next to the windows where he could spread out and watch the water and islands pass by.

In the past he’d never thought he would get tired of the city. Now he’d been away from Piedras for a little over a week and thought he was going to suffocate from the buildings, the cars, the people, and his tiny condo on the twelfth floor. Years ago, after high school, he’d been on a mission to get away from the islands and the small-minded people there. Staying on Piedras had not been part of his life plan. No, he was going to be the best damn cop he could be—the best homicide cop. He was going to give others what he and his grandparents never had—he was going to bring closure to families.

To some extent, he had. Niall had had a very high solve rate. But it came with a cost, one he couldn’t afford anymore. The cold cases haunted him. The guilt when victims’ families called, emailed, or even visited him in person to ask if there was anything new, if there was… anything. When the answer was no, Niall’s thoughts always returned to his own mother and how her disappearance had gone unnoticed for weeks and was still unsolved. Would never be solved.

Ana was a ghost looking over his shoulder demanding closure, telling him he hadn’t tried hard enough, wasn’t dedicated enough, wasn’t good enough. Numbers didn’t matter; her specter was louder. On the opposite shoulder lurked a devil who whispered that Ana Hamarsson hadn’t disappeared, she’d just run away from her son and the responsibilities of parenthood. For the most part, Niall managed to ignore the malevolent demon… and while he’d never tried to find her, he had little doubt she was dead.

A fuzzy-headed blond child toddled by at full speed, his or her father trying to catch it from behind. The child shrieked with laughter at being able to outrun their parent. As they closed in on the booth Niall occupied, the child stumbled and would’ve smacked headfirst into the table if Niall hadn’t reached out and grabbed it by the arm.

The child giggled, unaware it had barely avoided tragedy.

“Thank you! She’s deceptively fast. Hopefully after this she’ll fall asleep,” the father said.

“No problem.”

Niall went back to staring out the window, but the dark waters outside had no answers for him. As lousy a mother as Ana Hamarsson had been, she didn’t deserve to disappear without a trace. In the late 1980s, the Green River Killer had still been trolling Seattle and its suburbs for vulnerable women, and Ana had definitely fallen into that category, but her murder was not among those the killer eventually confessed to. Niall suspected she’d gotten into a killer’s car willingly and that had been that.

Sometimes Niall hoped she’d just run away to a better life, but as an adult he knew how impossible that would have been for her, an addict whose overwhelming drive was finding her next fix. He sighed, wanting to think about anything but his mother, but for some reason he couldn’t shake Ana tonight. She’d disappeared sometime in late fall or early winter, leaving Niall behind with her druggie friends. But no one knew exactly how long she had been gone, only that she’d left her young son behind, hidden in a closet for days. He supposed he was lucky that one of her less-terrible friends dropped him off near a police station instead of pushing him off a pier or selling him to someone for drugs.

All Niall remembered was walking for what seemed like a long time and being hungry but too afraid to say anything. Then he’d been told to sit on a bench and not to move or the bogeyman would get him, and the person with him had left. He’d sat there for hours, needing to use the bathroom, too petrified to do anything—even cry—until someone realized he was alone and alerted the police. Niall wished he could remember the officer’s name. She’d knelt in front of him and asked him why he was there; if he was okay. Niall had had to think about it, but he’d been told not to move, not that he couldn’t talk to people. He’d liked her shiny badge.

Finally, the ferry bumped against the pilings of Hidden Harbor, dragging him from his memories. Niall made his way down to his car, glad to be back on the island. He’d missed it: