Buried Secrets, page 1
Buried Secrets
Synopsis
Tuesday Johnson spent her career helping the Spokane, WA, community as a probation officer and a search and rescue K9 handler. After suffering a career-ending gunshot wound, all she wants is to heal and spend quiet time with her mother during her last days of battling cancer. Instead, visions of murder disrupt her hopes for peace, and family secrets shake up everything she thought she knew.
After twenty-five years of searching, private detective Addie Caine has all but given up hope of finding her brother alive. When the last known sighting brings her to Spokane and a routine search uncovers a decades-old burial ground, the hunt for her brother means pursuing a serial killer. Tuesday and Addie, along with Tuesday’s dog, Tripper, struggle to solve a twenty-five-year-old mystery while searching for love and redemption along the way.
What Reviewers Say About Sheri Lewis Wohl’s Work
Drawing Down the Mist
“Vampires loving humans. Vampires hating vampires. Vampires killing humans. Vampires killing vampires. Good vampires. Evil vampires. Internet-savvy vampires. Lovers turning enemies. Nurturing revenge for a century. Kindness. Cruelty. Love. Action. Fights. Insta-love. This one has everything for a true drama.”—reviewer@large
Cause of Death
“I really liked these characters, all of them, and wouldn’t say no to a sequel, or more.”—Jude in the Stars
“CSI meets Ghost Whisperer. … The pace was brilliantly done, the suspense was just enough, and I’m not ashamed to admit that I had no idea who the serial killer was until almost the end.”—Words and Worlds
“Cause of Death by Sheri Lewis Wohl is one creepy and well-written murder mystery. It is one of the best psychological thrillers I’ve read in a while.”—Rainbow Reflections
“[A] light paranormal romance with a psycho-killer and some great dogs.”—C-Spot Reviews
“There’s a ton of stuff in here that I enjoy very much, such as the light paranormal aspect of the book, and the relationship between our two leads is very nice if a bit of a slow burn. The case was engaging enough that I didn’t really set this title down once I started it.”—Colleen Corgel, Librarian, Queens Public Library
“Totally disturbing, and very, very awesome. …The characters were amazing. The supernatural tint was never overdone, and even the stuff from the killer’s point of view, while disturbing, was awesomely done as well. It was a great book and a fun (and intense) read.”—Danielle Kimerer, Librarian (Nevins Memorial Library, Massachusetts)
“This thriller has spooky undertones that make it an intense page turner. You won’t be able to put this book down.”—Istoria Lit
The Talebearer
“As a crime story, it is a good read that had me turning pages quickly. …The book is well written and the characters are well-developed.”—Reviews by Amos Lassen
She Wolf
“I really enjoyed this book—I couldn’t put it down once I started it. The author’s style of writing was very good and engaging. All characters, including the supporting characters, were multi-layered and interesting.”—Melina Bickard, Librarian, Waterloo Library (UK)
Twisted Screams
“[A] cast of well developed characters leads you through a maze of complex emotions.”—Lunar Rainbow Reviewz
Twisted Echoes
“A very unusual blend of lesbian romance and horror. …[W]oven throughout this modern romance is a neatly plotted horror story from the past, which bleeds ever increasingly into the present of the two main characters. Lorna and Renee are well matched, and face ever-increasing danger from spirits from the past. An unusual story that gets tenser and more interesting as it progresses.”—Pippa Wischer, Manager at Berkelouw Books, Armadale
Vermilion Justice
“[T]he characters are so dynamic and well-written that this becomes more than just another vampire story. It’s probably impossible to read this book and not come across a character who reminds you of someone you actually know. Wohl takes something as fictional as vampires and makes them feel real. Highly recommended.”—GLBT Reviews: The ALA’s GLBT Round Table
Buried Secrets
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By the Author
Crimson Vengeance
Burgundy Betrayal
Scarlet Revenge
Vermillion Justice
Twisted Echoes
Twisted Whispers
Twisted Screams
Necromantia
She Wolf
Walking Through Shadows
Drawing Down the Mist
The Talebearer
Cause of Death
Avenging Avery
All that Remains
The Artist
Witch Finder
Buried Secrets
Buried Secrets
© 2023 By Sheri Lewis Wohl. All Rights Reserved.
ISBN 13: 978-1-63679-397-9
This Electronic Original Is Published By
Bold Strokes Books, Inc.
P.O. Box 249
Valley Falls, NY 12185
First Edition: November 2023
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
Credits
Editor: Shelley Thrasher
Production Design: Susan Ramundo
Cover Design by Tammy Seidick
eBook Design by Toni Whitaker
Acknowledgments
Always and forever, thank you to my Scorpio sister, Shelley Thrasher. She never gives up on me and she always makes me better.
Dedication
To Karen Kelly and Andrea Sawyer, the very best of friends who always say yes to adventure, share the joy of wilderness hikes and half marathon runs, and wine by the fire.
The flock that flies together, stays together…
Forever my K9 handler sisters.
And I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not;
I will lead them in paths that they have not known:
I will make darkness light before them,
and crooked things straight.
These things will I do unto them,
and not forsake them.
Isaiah 42:16
The Holy Bible
King James Version
Chapter One
“Nope. Pineapple out.” Tuesday Johnson crossed her legs and stared across the desk at Adam Roll, Chief Probation Officer for the Eastern District of Washington. She didn’t say to him, “Guarantee your best shot isn’t going to cut it.” Quite sure that deep down he knew it. In some respects, she appreciated his efforts to get her to change her mind. Others, not as much. Just let her walk away in peace.
“Tuesday,” Adam pleaded. “You can’t do this to me. We need you here. You have a wealth of knowledge, and the younger officers look up to you. You’re critical to the continued success of the office.”
Guilt would definitely not do it. “Seriously, Adam. Did you not see this?” She pointed to her shoulder. “Did you miss the part about the probationer shooting me? Think about the odds of the kind of damage he did to me, and all while I was wearing a vest! If that doesn’t scream walk away, I don’t know what does.”
He held up his hands. “No, no, no. I’m not downplaying anything about that nightmare. It shouldn’t have happened, and I’ll make sure you have whatever you need for support. Anything at all, we’re there for you. The whole office. You’re the best officer I have, and the truth is, I see you sitting behind this desk in a couple of years.”
His confidence in her meant a great deal. Always had and part of the reason she’d become a supervising US probation officer. She’d learned from Adam and become a better officer because of his gift of mentorship. It didn’t change the fact that she’d walked into the house of an offender, convicted of non-violent offenses, and he’d shot her. Probably would have killed her too, except that when doing fieldwork in the remote areas of their district, they traveled in pairs. Her partner that day saved her life. A chill slid through her as she flashed back to that day. She forced herself to rejoin the conversation at hand.
“I appreciate your support, both for my physical and mental health, and for career advancement.”
“Then you’ll stay.” Hope bloomed on his face.
She held his gaze and shook her head. “That’s not where I was going.”
“Please?”
“I repeat, nope. I can’t.”
“You can.”
“I don’t want to.” There, she’d said it out loud. Not a horse she desired to get back up on.
Tuesday still had over a decade of service left before mandatory retirement, and from a practical standpoint, it would be worth sticking it out. As she’d recovered in the hospital those first few weeks, and then at home, she’d done little more than think about where her life would go from here. No matter what scenario she ran through, it all came back to one thing: she needed to walk away.
What happened to her had occurred through no fault of the training she’d received as a federal probation officer. Always excellent and had made her feel well-prepared when performing field visits. The remote areas weren’t her favorite, as they tended to be where the fringe element most often made their homes. More guns, more violence, more off-the-grid types who often harbored various degrees of paranoia as well as a well-developed dislike for federal officers. Or law enforcement in general. Still, when their district shifted to the protocol of two officers for those areas, her comfort level had moved to a good place. What could go wrong with two well-trained officers together?
All that had changed when a couple of bullets pierced her. As she healed and started to think about returning to her career, she learned first-hand about post-traumatic stress. Each time she thought of walking into one of those houses again, her throat closed up, and her heart beat so hard and fast she feared a full-on cardiac attack. No career or retirement benefits were worth that.
A call from her mother had put her over the edge with the hard decision. Cancer, stage four, with only a few months, at most, to live. Not that they’d ever been close, because Tuesday never measured up to her brother, October, the golden boy. Once he came along twenty-three months after her birth, Tuesday had been relegated to the corner. Barely two years old, she’d understood her place in the family dynamics. Nothing changed about that in the intervening years, despite both navigating their lives as adults. For October, once a golden boy, always a golden boy. For her, once a disappointment, always a disappointment.
Despite her lowly status in the family, her mother played the guilt card to get what she wanted from her. October couldn’t come and take care of her right now, big shocker, so that left only Tuesday. If she didn’t show up, her mother cried about how she’d die alone in the big house on the massive grounds of the family ranch. Fully trained in the psychology behind family dysfunction, she still agreed to go take care of her. Probably a case of the neglected child who always tried to gain favor with the abusive or neglectful parent. Clearly, her work toward self-care only extended to her professional life. She’d agreed to, at least temporarily, return to the family home by the weekend and serve as her mother’s nurse.
“Come on, Tuesday. Whatever you need, I’ll make it happen. It will take me too long to replace you, and frankly, nobody can do that. I’m not saying that just to get you to stay either. It’s the truth.”
Time to play the card he wouldn’t be able to beat. “My mother is dying.”
He plopped back in his chair and stared. “What?”
“My mother is dying, and I promised I’d go be with her during her final days.” She’d made it official. Now she wouldn’t be able to back out of it, even if she wanted to. Which, deep down, she did. Knots settled deep in the pit of her stomach.
“Oh, shit.” The light went out of his eyes. Full house beats a straight.
“Yeah. Oh, shit.” A little guilt weighed on her, given her less-than-warm relationship with her mother. The devoted-daughter role really didn’t apply in her case.
He steepled his fingers and leaned his chin on them. His glasses perched on the top of his head, resting in his curly, gray-streaked hair. “Look, how about this? You can take family leave, and if you run out, we can request leave donations to get you through until you can come back.” Hope bloomed in his eyes.
A good idea if she’d planned to come back. “I’m done, Adam. I’m really done. I’m sorry, but that’s the way it has to be.” While she could blame it on her mother’s illness, this decision really had more to do with her. She couldn’t do this anymore. It just worked better in this discussion to put the responsibility for her departure on her mother.
His face fell. He got it at last. “Damn.”
“It’s for the best.”
“I’d give anything if this hadn’t happened to you.” A good chief looked out for his people, and Adam set the bar for good chiefs. None of the blame rested on his shoulders.
“But it did.” The reality sucked for both of them.
“It did. What can I do?” He dropped his hands to the desktop, his shoulders dropping too.
“Just process my paperwork.”
He nodded. “I will, but I’m going to hate it.”
“Thank you.” She got up and returned to her office with the window that looked out over the Spokane Falls. She’d miss the view.
Ten minutes later, Tuesday walked out of the federal building, carrying a small box containing the few personal items she’d kept in her office. She crossed through the courtyard and continued across the street to where she’d left her car parked at a meter. As she drove away, she didn’t look back.
* * *
“Are you sure?” Addie Caine typed into her laptop as fast as she could.
Mary Johnson’s voice hinted at indignation. Could be the connection. Or not. Their collaboration began because of Mary’s almost supernatural skill at information-gathering that only required some of Addie’s experience to take it to an even higher level of amazing. Her work always provided substance to any case Addie happened to be working. That she ended up being a delightful person she loved to be around came as a perk. She also knew that it didn’t bode well if she even appeared to malign Mary’s skillset. “What do you take me for, an amateur? Seriously. That’s insulting.”
“God, I hope not. I trained you better than that.” Not blowing smoke to appease her. She had all the confidence in Mary’s abilities.
“You did, so shut up and listen. The old records show a credit-card receipt at a gas station in Hunters, Washington, wherever in the hell that is. Took me freaking forever to get the copy, but I did because, let’s face it, I have mad skills, and it’s the last charge he made before he dropped out of sight.”
Her fingers flew over the keys, and the answer popped up in seconds. “Northeast Washington State. Northwest of Spokane.”
“I believe that’s it. Look, I really think you should book a flight out there.”
“I’ll drive.”
“Seriously? That’s what, twenty-four hours or some shit like that?”
“Not quite that long, but it’s a haul. I want my stuff with me.” Stuff being clothes, computers, boots, and, yeah, a gun or two. Always prepared, isn’t that what Otis had taught her? Besides, if Mary was right, Anthony had gone to this place called Hunters and dropped out of sight. She needed to know how. More than that, she needed to know why. After a career dealing with the criminal element, she had a pretty good idea of the answer. Didn’t like it either.
“I can meet you in Cheyenne.”
Addie smiled. Mary never let her down. She’d seen that from the beginning. It’s why she’d agreed to be her mentor when Mary decided to join the profession. Like so many of them, they’d both started as cops. Things for women were a ton better these days but still had a ways to go. For Addie, the idea of working on her own appealed to her more than remaining on the police force, and the same had been true for Mary.
After earning her credentials, Mary had decided to return to her hometown of Boise. She said it was about being with family. Hadn’t fooled her at all. It had been more about one tall, dark-haired detective whom she’d ultimately married. Donny Powell should consider himself a lucky man to be able to snag Mary.
“No. You stay home with the old man. I got this.” She didn’t want to admit to Mary that she wanted to do this alone. After everything her friend had done for her, it would definitely sound ungrateful.
“I don’t like you out there in the middle of nowhere all alone. You don’t even know anyone up in those parts.”
“I’ll make friends.” Addie had been doing this long enough to navigate pretty much anywhere on her own.
“You’re killing me.”
She smiled, even though Mary wouldn’t be able to see her amusement. “Won’t be the first time.”
“Be careful.” Her words turned serious.
