CAUSE TO DREAD (Book #6)

KERI LOCKE MYSTERY SERIES

A TRACE OF DEATH (Book #1)

A TRACE OF MURDER (Book #2)

A TRACE OF VICE (Book #3)

A TRACE OF CRIME (Book #4)

A TRACE OF HOPE (Book #5)

CONTENTS

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

CHAPTER NINETEEN

CHAPTER TWENTY

CHAPTER TWENTY ONE

CHAPTER TWENTY TWO

CHAPTER TWENTY THREE

CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR

CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE

CHAPTER TWENTY SIX

CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN

CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT

CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN

CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT

CHAPTER TWENTY NINE

CHAPTER THIRTY

CHAPTER ONE

To think, just the month before, Maria Ramirezs biggest worry was that she could not find a large enough pair of soccer cleats for her son. It had seemed like such a massive worry, making sure she had those dumb shoes before tryouts started. Her entire world had rotated around the search for those shoes for about three days. As she walked out of the hospital and toward the dark parking lot, the amount of stress that endless search for cleats had caused seemed almost comical.

Things had changed quite a bit since then and it had helped her to re-prioritize things that were important. Cleats. Soccer. Anything leisurely or fun…what was the point to any of it now?

Of course, shed have to paint it in a totally different light for her two kids. She figured theyd understand it; they were just old enough to truly understand what her recent batch of bad news would mean for them. With the news she just received, things were going to look different. There would be some very hard conversations with the kids and their father. Maria and her ex-husband hadnt talked about anything for more than five minutes over the last three years, but they were going to have to now.

She felt the hospital looming behind her, almost like a haunted house in a badly made horror movie. The news shed received inside had not been hopeful; it had been downright awful, actually. But she was choosing not to let it eat away at her. She was choosing to try to use it as a way to connect with her kids, to show them that life wasnt all about soccer cleats or getting a new Xbox because the old one overheated and broke.

She pulled out her phone, wanting to call Teddy, her son, to tell him to take some chicken out of the freezer. She had no idea what shed make for dinner tonight, but she needed to get her mind on daily, routine things. Maybe over dinner, shed tell them. It would be difficult and there would be some hard conversations over the next few days, but it needed to be done.

Thinking of the frozen chicken as she neared her car, she chuckled nervously. To hell with that.