TOO PRETTY TO DIE (Eva Rae Thomas Mystery Book 13), page 1
Contents
What’s coming next from Willow Rose?
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Part I
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Part II
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Part III
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Part IV
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Part V
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter 59
Chapter 60
Chapter 61
Chapter 62
Chapter 63
Chapter 64
Chapter 65
Chapter 66
Chapter 67
Chapter 68
Chapter 69
Chapter 70
Chapter 71
Chapter 72
Chapter 73
Chapter 74
Chapter 75
Chapter 76
Epilogue
Epilogue
Afterword
About the Author
Books by the Author
Copyright
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The Blind cannot see, the proud will not.
-Russian Proverb
Prologue
Miami, FL
Chapter 1
What was it about taking a trip that made mature and otherwise very rational women go crazy and act like teenagers on prom night? It’s not like they intended to let it get this far. They didn’t come to Miami to party. They didn’t mean for these things to happen or to become this drunk. After all, they were just four women—mothers and housewives—from Russell Springs, Kentucky, going away for a weekend of self-care.
They were doing something good for themselves for once.
As soon as they stepped off the plane and felt the warm Miami breeze on their faces, they knew deep down that this trip would be different. They were tired of being confined to their daily routines and always putting their families first. They wanted to let loose, have fun, and feel alive again.
They all had children the same age, and that’s how they met—at their mom’s group fifteen years ago. They quickly became friends for life. Best friends for life. Each other’s ride or die, they would say when clinking their wine glasses. It was a cliché, but from the outside, the four of them seemed to have it all: money, looks, families, and each other.
At first, they tried to stick to their plan of relaxation and rejuvenation. They went to the spa, got massages, and lounged by the pool. But as the sun began to set, they found themselves drawn to the nightclubs and bars that lined the streets of South Beach.
It started with a few drinks, just to loosen up and have some fun. But soon enough, they were dancing on tables and flirting with strangers. They knew it was reckless and dangerous but couldn’t help themselves. It was like they were teenagers again, with no responsibilities or consequences to worry about.
Kristen Thomasson, a forty-year-old middle school English teacher, was looking at her three friends at the club that night in Miami while filming them with her phone. She felt happy inside—happy to be with her best friends. Heck, she was away from her two children of seven and fifteen years, who took up all her energy and strength these days.
She had good reason to feel joy.
Yes, there was a sadness inside her that kept coming back whenever she tried to push it away and tell herself not to worry—that this was the weekend of fun. It still crept back into her mind and made her tear up.
“Come on, dance with us,” Janice said, waving at her. Janice was a mental health counselor and the mother of the group, always concerned with everyone’s well-being and constantly aware of everyone’s mood. There was no hiding you had a bad day from her. She could tell from the moment she laid eyes on you.
“What’s up?” was her favorite phrase, followed by a slightly tilted head. Her red shoulder-length hair would brush on her shoulders, and her lips pout slightly. She had an expression that made you realize you had to give her something, or she wouldn’t let it go.
“I’ll be right there,” Kristen said and waved back. “Gonna get some more drinks.” She yelled the words, but Janice signaled that she couldn’t hear her because of the loud music in the club.
Kristen signaled back by pretending to be drinking from an imaginary glass, and Janice understood, then nodded and gave her a thumbs up. She didn’t have to tell her what she wanted. Kristen knew her drink of choice.
“Cosmopolitan with extra cranberry juice and Grey Goose Vodka.”
She yelled the words, and the twenty-year-old bartender nodded.
“And a lemon drop martini, one glass of prosecco, and an espresso martini.”
“You got it,” the bartender said, preparing the drinks.
Kristen watched him pour the Cosmo into the glass, then glanced at her friends on the dance floor, giving it all they had, despite being, by far, the oldest ones there. Pat was twerking, and that made her laugh. Pat could pull it off, though. She still managed to work as a model at the age of thirty-eight and had gotten her body right back after giving birth, much to the envy of the others. You couldn’t even tell she had ever been pregnant on the skin of her stomach.
It wasn’t fair.
She didn’t make her living by being a model alone, though, as the jobs were long in between since she had reached a more mature age. For extra income, Pat worked as a real estate agent for million-dollar houses, where looking good wasn’t exactly an obstacle to success.
She was the beauty of the group and the one who attracted everyone’s attention whenever they went places, something especially Marley envied or maybe admired. Marley was a stay-at-home mom by choice. She wanted to focus on the upbringing and education of her only daughter, and family was everything to her. She never understood why Pat had left her husband after seven years of a miserable marriage. She had no respect for the fact that she could do such a thing and did not understand her decision to ruin a perfect family.
“She didn’t even try to fight for them,” was her argument. But Marley would never say so to Pat’s face, only to the others when Pat wasn’t there. Pat knew how she felt, though, and decided to ignore it.
She loved her friend group way too much to pick a fight and destroy what they had. Heck, they all did.
They needed each other too much to risk it.
“Cheers!”
Kristen yelled the word out as her friends approached the bar and grabbed their drinks. They all clinked their glasses, then looked at one another while sipping their drinks. As the alcohol hit their lips, Kristen felt a rush of excitement that coursed through her veins. She had been waiting for this night for weeks—a night out with her closest friends, away from the stress of work and daily life.
The bar was packed, and the music was loud, but Kristen didn't mind. She loved the crowd’s energy, the way everyone seemed lost in their own world. It was a vibrant atmosphere, and Kristen felt nothing could bring her down.
As the night went on, their group moved from the bar back to the dance floor. Kristen felt the beat of the music pulsing through her body as she let herself go, moving to the rhythm. Her friends were right beside her, and for a moment, she felt like nothing else in the world mattered.
As they danced, a man caught Kristen's eye. He was tall, with dark hair and piercing blue eyes. Kristen felt a tingle run down her spine but ignored it. Before she knew it, the man had sauntered over to her and offered to buy her and her friends a drink.
“To a night we will always remember,” Marley said, lifting her shot glass to meet the others.
“Or to one we will not remember,” Pat corrected her, laughing.
“Or to one we won’t want to remember,” Janice said with a wink.
Chapter 2
The first thing she noticed was the heat. There was this burning sensation coming from outside of her body. Pat was deep in sleep, or maybe even passed out, when she opened her eyes and suddenly realized what was happening.
Fire!
Panicking, she sat up and tried to find her bearings. The heat was unbearable, and she could barely breathe. She realized that she was out at sea, on the deck of a boat—a yacht that had flames coming up from the cabins below, licking at the sky.
Where am I?
She rose to her feet, holding onto the railing as the world spun while fear rushed through her veins. She couldn’t see the others anywhere and didn’t remember whose boat they were on.
How did I get here? Where is my phone?
She searched for it but didn’t find it. She then looked at the ocean surrounding her and realized she couldn’t see any land anywhere—only the blue and green waters as far as the eye could see—not even another boat in sight.
The yacht groaned and sighed. A window below deck popped, and Pat jumped in fear. She felt so strange—like the world around her was wobbly, and her hands and feet were detached. Her head spun massively, and she could have sworn she was in a dream, yet somehow, she knew it was real. This was very real. The fire was very real indeed.
The others? Where are the others?
“Kristen? Janice? Marley?”
Pat screamed their names in deep confusion. She saw fish in the water below her as she looked down. She knew there were big fish in these waters, and definitely also sharks.
Holding onto the railing, she slid around the deck, trying to reach the stern to see if there was a dingy or anything she could use to escape.
If there had been one, it was gone now.
Panic erupted in her as the boat creaked and moaned. The fire was spreading fast now and eating from the deck.
“Janice? Marley? Kristen?”
She screamed at the top of her lungs, but no one answered. And the yacht was beginning to sink.
Think fast, Pat. Think!
She stared at the ocean below, then searched for life jackets under the seats in the back and found one. She put it on, heart hammering in her chest, then looked out at the ocean before her, fear pounding inside her.
She had always been terrified of sharks. Beyond terrified.
“Okay, here we go,” she said and was about to jump when she saw movement coming up behind her and turned her head with a gasp.
If it was the scuba mask itself or the loud breathing coming from behind it that scared her half to death, she didn’t know.
As this person grabbed her throat and stabbed her in the abdomen with the fishing knife, it dawned on her that the real tragedy wasn’t her dying.
It was the fact that no one knew where she was, and her body would never be found.
Part I
Miami, Florida.
Three years later
Chapter 1
“So, how does it feel to be here? In the same place your mom was last seen three years ago?”
Tara looked into the camera behind the woman across from her. Her eyes were big and wide. Her lip quivered slightly as she spoke.
“I… have to say, it’s harder than I thought it would be.”
“Please, look at me when you answer and not into the camera,” the journalist said. Her name was Barbara Bowen, and she worked for a true crime show called What Really Happened. She looked an awful lot like her name sister Barbara Walters, with the same perfectly coiffed bob haircut and a blue power suit. It probably wasn’t a coincidence, Tara thought to herself. Tara dreamt of becoming a journalist one day, and at the age of eighteen, she hadn’t seen much of Barbara Walters’ work, but she had read a lot about her and felt inspired to become like her one day.
Apparently, she wasn’t the only one.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I have never… done anything like this before.”
“I know,” Barbara said with a smile. “We’ll just do it again. Don’t worry about it.”
Tara rubbed her fingers together. They felt clammy, not just because she was so nervous but also because of the Miami heat. It was Tara’s first time in Florida, and she had to admit it was hot, even though it was November. She kind of liked it and understood why her mother had chosen to go there when she was going away with her friends three years ago.
Exactly to the date.
Tara took a deep breath, trying to steady herself. It was hard to be here, but it was also something she had to do. Her mother had disappeared without a trace, leaving Tara and her dad devastated and heartbroken. They had searched for her everywhere, but no one had seen or heard from her since she left for that trip. Tara had grown up so much since then, but the pain of her mother’s disappearance never left her.
Looking up, she met Barbara’s eyes, feeling a sense of comfort and understanding there. The woman was a professional but also kind, which meant a lot to Tara.
“You ready?” Barbara said.
Tara swallowed and nodded. She wondered about her long brown hair and if it still looked good. She had straightened it at the hotel this morning but risked getting curls and messing up the entire thing with the heat and humidity. She looked awful with curly hair.
“Okay, let’s try again,” Tara said, her voice a little stronger this time.
Barbara nodded, adjusting the microphone clipped to Tara’s shirt.
“Okay, let’s roll.”
Barbara signaled the cameraman, Billy, standing behind her, and the red light turned on again. Tara felt more nervous because she had messed up the first time.
“Tara. Your mom disappeared here in Miami, along with her three friends. Today, it’s been exactly three years since she was seen last. How does it feel to be here?”
Tara cleared her throat. She felt the blood leave her face and blinked a few times, hoping the dizziness would disappear. Barbara smiled and nodded, urging her to start talking.
“It… I guess it’s a lot harder than I thought it would be.”
“And why is that?”
Tara took a deep breath. Her heart was hammering in her chest, yet she felt herself growing pale. The walls in the hotel lobby were closing in, or so it felt. Was she going to pass out?
You can’t faint. Not now.
“Are you okay?” Barbara asked.
Tara closed her eyes briefly and then nodded. “Yes, yes, I just need a moment.”
“Take your time.”
Tara cleared her throat again. She opened her eyes and looked at Barbara. “I’m sorry, it’s just really… I haven’t seen my mom since I was fifteen years old, and I thought it would be easy to come here, but it is really hard. To know that she was here, and this is one of the places she was, and where some man at the front desk saw her according to the police report, it’s just….”
“Overwhelming,” Barbara said with a sympathetic smile.
Tara nodded. “Yes. It’s a lot.”
“So, now that you have come here, what do you expect to find?”
