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Back Black Rock Bay Save as PDF
Chapters (42)
  1. TITLE PAGE
  2. COPYRIGHT
  3. DEDICATION
  4. CONTENTS
  5. PROLOGUE
  6. CHAPTER ONE
  7. CHAPTER TWO
  8. CHAPTER THREE
  9. CHAPTER FOUR
  10. CHAPTER FIVE
  11. CHAPTER SIX
  12. CHAPTER SEVEN
  13. CHAPTER EIGHT
  14. CHAPTER NINE
  15. CHAPTER TEN
  16. CHAPTER ELEVEN
  17. CHAPTER TWELVE
  18. CHAPTER THIRTEEN
  19. CHAPTER FOURTEEN
  20. CHAPTER FIFTEEN
  21. CHAPTER SIXTEEN
  22. CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
  23. CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
  24. CHAPTER NINETEEN
  25. CHAPTER TWENTY
  26. CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
  27. CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
  28. CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
  29. CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
  30. CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
  31. CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
  32. CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
  33. CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
  34. CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
  35. CHAPTER THIRTY
  36. CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
  37. CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
  38. CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
  39. CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
  40. CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
  41. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  42. ABOUT THE AUTHOR

The slope of the forehead, the nose that had clearly been broken one too many times. The line of his jaw. They tugged at a memory she barely realized had formed.

She looked up, meeting Izzy’s narrowed gaze.

“I didn’t expect to recognize him.”

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER TWO

IZZY

Detective Isabel Santiago looked between the dead man’s face and Mia’s. The color had seeped out of both.

The sea had not been kind to Robert Twist. Though she didn’t have a good idea of what he’d looked like before spending time in the ocean, Izzy guessed he’d never been particularly attractive.

He was on the shorter side, with the type of chin that slid off into his neck. His face was concave, the sunken cheeks even more pronounced because of the toll the water and its inhabitants had taken on him. A sharp widow’s peak was emphasized by the way his hair was plastered back, caked with sediment.

“You recognize him?” Izzy asked Mia, her mouth suddenly dry. She might have been new to the murder beat, but it didn’t exactly seem like a good thing for the lead detective on the case to know the victim. Wishing they were having this conversation in private, Izzy took a step closer so that she was blocking the rude doctor and his eyes that saw too much.

Mia blinked a few times, her mouth twitching as if trying to remember how to form words. Then she took a deep breath, shook her head once, a tiny jerk to the side, and looked up from the dead man sprawled out before them. “I’ve seen him before. I didn’t know him, though.”

That, at least, was something. The hollow feeling that had taken up residence beneath her rib cage faded slightly. “Where’d you see him?”

“Outside the station.” Mia’s composure was completely back, professionalism hiding the confusion. Seeing Mia shaken was odd, but witnessing her ability to slip her mask into place so effortlessly wasn’t exactly reassuring, either.

The problem was, Izzy didn’t know Mia that well. She was still learning her quirks, her tells, when she wanted to be left the hell alone, and when she wanted to be needled into talking. And Izzy wanted to get it right, because it had been a long time since she’d had a partner she thought was going to last.

She’d been unsure about Mia at first. The woman was tiny, for one. A hundred pounds soaking wet. Izzy had met some women who were short but dense, all muscle, but Mia wasn’t like that. Everything about her was delicately built.

The woman was too pretty, on top of it, her dirty-blonde hair cut short, framing a pale, heart-shaped face that was all sleek, straight lines.

She spoke only when the occasion called for it and never went out for beers after work.