Excerpt of Dark Endings by Katie Mettner

“Oh no,” she muttered, pivoting onto the sand to get closer to the tree without contaminating the scene more than necessary. One glance told her this wasn’t an accidental death. The woman’s throat had been slit, though there wasn’t a speck of blood on her anywhere, at least not on the portion Grace could see. “What is that?” She held onto the branch and leaned in to see what was on the woman’s shirt.

Were those pages from a book? Why were they pinned to the woman’s shirt? Every part of her wanted to move in and start the investigation, but this wasn’t her jurisdiction, and it wasn’t her job to investigate anymore. Despite desperately wanting to know more, she did the only thing she could do: Call the sheriff. While she dialed, she forced herself not to think about the sheriff's sexy eyes since his wife probably wouldn’t appreciate that, whomever she may be. She made a mental note to ask Evangeline about her daughter and maybe even ask for a picture so she could remember her every time she wanted to obsess over the man.

“Black Hollow Sheriff’s Department,” a voice answered, and she was disappointed it wasn’t that of the man himself.

“Hello, I need the sheriff at the shoreline of the Black Hollow Resort,” she said. “I just found a body.”

“Excuse me? Did you say body?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Grace agreed. “Not a drowning either. This woman has been murdered.”

“Hold, please,” the woman said, and silence filled the line while Grace kept watch around her, certain the murderer hadn’t hung around but aware that she shouldn’t leave herself open to an attack all the same.

“This is Sheriff Weaver.” That deep, resonating voice filled her head, and she couldn’t help but take it in momentarily. “Who is this?”

“Ewan, it’s Aurora Barlow,” she said, still using her pen name. She’d have to fess up at some point, but now was not the time. “I was walking on the beach after the storm, and on my way back to the cottage, I found a woman’s body under a tree. There’s no question she was murdered. Better bring the ERT.”

“ERT? I am the emergency response team,” he muttered, and she grimaced internally. His job just got twice as hard. “Where are you located?”

“Take the path from the cottages down to the beach. I’m near the grove of oak trees about 500 yards to the left of the end of the path. I’ll be standing where you can see me. I don’t want to leave the body unattended, though.”

“No, stay where you are, and don’t touch anything,” he ordered, to which she rolled her eyes.

“Duh,” she said in response. “This isn’t my first rodeo with a murder victim. Just hurry up and get over here.”

“On my way,” he said before the line went dead.

She dropped her arm to her side and turned to face the ocean rather than the young dead woman who had met her fate at the hands of someone who decided to take their rage out on a hapless victim. That black mist filled her vision again, and her pupils narrowed to show her a dark figure far off in the distance. The figure stared at her for several seconds before turning and disappearing into the water. The shadow figure was immediately replaced by the face of the woman under the tree—her features contorted in a death mask that made Grace gasp. The action broke the vision, and she leaned over, sucking in air before turning to take in the woman again. Her features looked almost serene, meaning her killer had fixed her expression after she died. That told her whoever this was had killed before and would do it again.