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Back The Secrets We Bury Save as PDF
Chapters (49)
  1. Cover
  2. Love best-selling fiction?
  3. Also by Mary Bush
  4. Dedication
  5. 1
  6. 2
  7. 3
  8. 4
  9. 5
  10. 6
  11. 7
  12. 8
  13. 9
  14. 10
  15. 11
  16. 12
  17. 13
  18. 14
  19. 15
  20. 16
  21. 17
  22. 18
  23. 19
  24. 20
  25. 21
  26. 22
  27. 23
  28. 24
  29. 25
  30. 26
  31. 27
  32. 28
  33. 29
  34. 30
  35. 31
  36. 32
  37. 33
  38. 34
  39. 35
  40. 36
  41. 37
  42. 38
  43. 39
  44. 40
  45. 41
  46. Acknowledgements
  47. A note from the publisher
  48. Love best-selling fiction?
  49. You will also enjoy:

They shut the garage door and plodded through the snow to the fence. Val again, was happy to be wearing her thermal boots and she used her right foot to clear away some of the snow. As soon as she did the slat swung back into place. She repeated for the next slat. Both were now straight and appeared as if nothing was wrong. “The storm the other day must have blown these out of place and then they got stuck in the drifting snow. They swung open pretty readily.”

Val took a long hard look at what she was seeing. Through the open slats she had a pretty good view of the Ballards’ back door.

Jack inspected the pieces. “These didn’t come loose by accident. The screws are missing from the bottom. These top ones have been loosened, allowing this to swing open.” He illustrated the movement by sliding them left to right, and then back again. “Val, this is why it’s important to see the home where a victim lived, even if they weren’t killed in the home. It tells you a lot about them and their way of living. This was deliberate. It’s just enough space for someone to slip through and it certainly wouldn’t have been seen by anyone since it’s at the back of the house. No neighbors would have seen who’s coming or going through this.”

14

The next morning was crazy, and though Val wanted to run with everything she discovered last night, she couldn’t right now. Four bodies had come in overnight and as Dr. Maddox worked on the autopsies, Val was called out to a crime scene at Regency Hotel on the waterfront. The maid found a man hanging from the shower head in the bathroom. Not very creative—he tied the bedsheet around his neck to do it.

And Gwen had her own case to attend to: a woman had been stabbed to death by another woman in her West Side home. A knife duel, it seemed. The winner would get the man; a drug dealer prize no one ever should have wanted.

Val read her report as she entered room 1404 at the Regency Hotel. The maid had vacuumed the rugs and changed the sheets before going out to her cart in the hallway to retrieve a bucket and scrub brushes to clean the bathroom. She entered the bathroom and immediately called the manager. The maid didn’t appear distraught as she spoke to police now. Evidently a naked guy swinging from the shower was not the most disturbing thing she’d found on her cleaning rounds.