登陆注册
10472700000001

第1章

The plane was taking her to Nebraska.

Mackenzie blinked, unable to shake the thought from her mind.

She usually had no problem falling asleep on a plane. But this flight was different. She felt like there was something out west that was literally pulling the plane toward it like a magnet. And she would not be returning to Washington, DC, until she had solved a current case that reached nearly twenty years into her past-pointing at the death of her father.

It was a case that had been calling her for years. She'd gone above and beyond to prove herself, and McGrath was finally setting her loose on this case. It was no longer just about the unsolved murder of her father seventeen years ago; similar murders were occurring now, all connected by a mysterious clue that no one had yet deciphered. Business cards featuring the nonexistent business name of Barker Antiques.

Mackenzie thought about those business cards as she looked out the window. The afternoon sky was clear. Beyond the scattering of plump white clouds, she could just barely catch sight of the vein-like structure of roadways that carved through the Midwest down below. Nebraska was close now, its cornfields and flat expanses looming about forty-five minutes ahead.

"You okay?"

She blinked and looked away from the window, turning to her right. Ellington sat in the seat next to her. She knew he was nervous, too. He knew how much this case meant to her and was putting unnecessary pressure on himself. Even now, he was nervously picking at the lid of the cup that had held ginger ale ten minutes ago.

"Yeah, I'm good," she said. "If I'm being honest, I can't wait to get started."

"You got a plan in mind?" he asked.

"I do," she said.

As she wound her way through her plan of attack, she realized that this was one of the reasons she had fallen in love with him. He could tell that she needed to talk through it all but would shut down if he asked her point-blank. So instead of asking about her emotional state, he used the fa?ade of work to pry. She was on to his tricks, but that was okay. He knew how to work around her defenses in a way that was charming and caring.

So she discussed her plan of attack. It all started by meeting with the local PD and the small team of FBI agents that had been working the case. She also planned to bring Kirk Peterson, the private detective who had worked the case for a while, in on it. Although he had been in a miserable state the last time she had seen him, he had the most insight to offer.

From there, she wanted to find and speak with a man named Dennis Parks. His fingerprints had been found on Gabriel Hambry, a man who had been strategically set up as a red herring a week ago. She was well aware that Parks could also be another red herring, but the fact that Dennis Parks had once known her father made it all the more appealing. The connection was a small one-a mutual acquaintance as Parks had served as a police officer for one year before calling it quits and getting into real estate.

Her father, after all, seemed to be the first victim in a string of seemingly random murders that had been spread over nearly two decades.

After meeting with Dennis Parks, she wanted to meet with the family of a man who had been killed several months ago-a man named Jimmy Scotts. Scotts had died in an almost identical fashion as her father and had been the murder that had effectively reopened her father's case.

She stopped her plans there although she knew there was more to it. But it was something she was not ready to contend with yet-much less verbalize in front of Ellington.

At some point, she was going to have to face her past. She'd been there before, tiptoeing through the house where she grew up. But it had been fleeting. At the time she had not realized it, but it had terrified her. It was like willingly walking into a house you knew to be haunted, locking yourself inside, and then throwing away the key.

She'd have to face it this time around. It was hard enough to admit that to herself without wondering what Ellington would think of it.

He nodded in all the right parts as she carried him through her step-by-step approach. They'd briefly discussed their roles in a meeting with McGrath as they had booked the trip to Nebraska. One element to the seemingly multilayered case was the recent murder of vagrants. The body count was now up to four, each body left with one of the Barker Antiques business cards. Ellington had volunteered to do his best to get that end of the case in order while Mackenzie stayed closer to the core of the case-the deaths of her father and Jimmy Scotts, and the more recent death of Gabriel Hambry.

"You know," Ellington said when she was done, "if we can wrap this one up, I think your career in DC might hit the stratosphere. You're already one of the better field agents the bureau has. I hope you like dealing with bureaucratic bullshit and sitting behind a desk. Because that's what a stellar record with the bureau gets you."

"Is that so?" she asked. "Then why aren't you parked behind a desk yet?"

He smirked at her. "That stings, White."

He reached out and took her hand. She could feel tension in his grip but there was the usual degree of comfort at his touch as well.

She was grateful that he was with her. While she was usually all for tackling things on her own, even she had to admit that she was going to need the moral and emotional support that only Ellington could provide if she had any hope of wrapping this case up.

She held onto his hand as the Midwest continued to roll by beneath them. Nebraska drew closer and closer, the plane pulled on by that magnetic hold that Mackenzie's past seemed to have over her.

同类推荐
  • Troy High

    Troy High

    Homer's Iliad, the classic tale of love and revenge, is shrewdly retold for teens in Troy High. Narrated by Cassie, a shy outsider at Troy High, the story follows the Trojans and Spartans as they declare war on the football field. After the beautiful Elena—who used to be the captain of the Spartan cheerleaders—transfers to Troy High and falls madly in love with Cassie's brother Perry, the Spartans vow that the annual homecoming game will never be forgotten. Off the football field, an escalating prank war fuels tensions between the schools. The stakes are raised when Cassie is forced to choose between the boy she loves (a Spartan) and loyalty to her family and school. Troy High will seduce readers with its cast of mythic proportions.
  • Bad Girl

    Bad Girl

    Ricardo Somocurcio is in love with a bad girl. He loves her as a teenager known as 'Lily' in Lima in 1950, where she claims to be from Chile but vanishes the moment her claim is exposed as fiction. He loves her next in Paris as 'Comrade Arlette', an activist en route to Cuba, an icy, remote lover who denies knowing anything about the Lily of years gone by. Whoever the bad girl turns up as and however poorly she treats him, Ricardo is doomed to worship her. Gifted liar and irresistible, maddening muse-does Ricardo ever know who she really is?
  • Elvissey

    Elvissey

    At once a biting satire and a taut, fast-paced thriller, Elvissey is the story of Isabel and John, a troubled couple who voyage from the year 2033 to a strangely altered 1954. They are on a desperate mission to kidnap the young Elvis Presley and bring him back to the present day to serve as a ready-made cult leader. He proves, however, to be a reluctant messiah, and things do not work out quite as planned.
  • Kinetic Golf

    Kinetic Golf

    In Kinetic Golf, Nick Bradley uses 115 extraordinary photographs, accompanied by clear, direct text, to raise the bar on golf instruction and give golfers—amateur or professional—a unique way of actually feeling their way to mastering the game. Offering insights that words alone cannot convey, the book provides a vastly improved golf game as the reward. Drawing upon his deep knowledge of trade and Tour secrets, Bradley shows how to build a powerful and consistent game while also debunking many of the myths that cloud the confidence and hinder the performance of the novice and developing golfer. Throughout Kinetic Golf, Bradley boils down the very essence of swing motion and technique, blends it with a feeling, and then creates an image that says it all. Take one look, and you'll get the picture.
  • Magic and Other Misdemeanors (Sisters Grimm #5)

    Magic and Other Misdemeanors (Sisters Grimm #5)

    Daphne, Sabrina, and Puck's most magic-filled mysteryThe latest addition to the New York Times bestselling series, which Kirkus Reviews calls "memorable and madcap"In book five of the series, Sabrina and Daphne Grimm are ready to tackle their own case: Who is stealing the magical possessions of the most powerful Everafters in town? With Granny distracted by Mayor Heart's campaign against human residents, the girl detectives are on their own. Puss in Boots (now an exterminator), Cinderella (a radio relationship counselor), Sleeping Beauty (owner of a coffee shop), and their old enemy, Prince Charming, are among the many suspects, and one thing is for certain: The villain's plans mean a grim future for the Grimms—truly!
热门推荐
  • 扁鹊的禁方

    扁鹊的禁方

    神秘的千年秘方,居然会引起诡异的杀机!? 千年前,医祖扁鹊将记载惊世医术的秘笈《禁方》传于弟子,溘然长逝。其弟子创立神医门,修建古城,将《禁方》深藏其中,世代守护,再不外传。数十年前,侵华日军占领古城,挟持神医门,疯狂寻找《禁方》,却丧生诡秘地穴。如今,遗失数十年的神医门……
  • 快穿之这位大人有点甜

    快穿之这位大人有点甜

    说好了完成这个任务就可以离开,耍赖就算了,为什么好端端的女配逆袭系统变成了男配攻略系统?“你滚!老娘只劫零食不劫色!”莫柚怒吼。俊美男人从身后环绕住莫柚,笑得一脸娇羞“小媳妇儿~我就是吃的,你吃我啊~”莫柚:“你给老娘滚!”莫柚无奈望天,我到底为什么会招惹上你?本文1v1,男女主身心干净!
  • 春秋五霸秦穆公传

    春秋五霸秦穆公传

    《春秋五霸秦穆公传》讲述了在春秋五霸中,秦穆公最具多面性。他是一个以吃亏为福,三置晋君。甚至助其对手登上霸主之位的大智若愚的君子:是一个打破禁锢。以五羊皮举百里奚于奴隶之中,君臣戮力,一统六合的霸主:是一个超越一己之私情,对曾经背叛过他的女人姚圆圆信任如初的伟丈夫:是一个大赦农民之过。赐其马肉调料的和蔼长者……《春秋五霸秦穆公传》由秦俊著。
  • 经济学的诡计大全集

    经济学的诡计大全集

    本书分为九大编,分别介绍了消费、生产、职场、理财、爱情、婚姻等方面与经济活动相关的内容,既新颖有趣,又能启发读者思考,引人入胜。我们力求让读者认识到经济学“诡”计多端的一面,从容看清商家使用的花招,以及经济学到底在我们身边布下了什么迷阵,到底生活中都隐藏了哪些秘密。到底工作中又有哪些不为人知的故事。同时通过日常生活中的常见例子,来介绍经济学的基本知识,并且让读者把经济学的智慧运用到生活和工作中去,让你既能在精神上得到知识的愉悦,在诡计、陷阱和谎言背后读懂经济学,更能学会在工作和生活中以经济学家特有的”法眼”识破一切机关,从而避开陷阱,有效地保护自身的利益。
  • 阴阳眼法医

    阴阳眼法医

    天生阴阳眼,因此异能,他深陷重重危机,命悬一线,也因此异能,他解疑题,破奇案,抱得美人归。一段惊悚之路,一段旷世奇情……
  • 朱自清作品集:匆匆

    朱自清作品集:匆匆

    朱自清的一生著作27种,近200万字,除了散文,他的诗歌、文艺批评和学术论著等均有传世名篇。书中精选了他的散文、诗歌、教育杂文、文学批评等各类型的经典篇章,从朱自清风格迥异又至情至性的文字中,体会他的匆匆流年,清浅人生。
  • 木总的旧爱人

    木总的旧爱人

    一次意外,程一被推到,后脑勺受到强烈撞击,死亡。岂料,乔之缘复活到程一体内。一个脑子有病,神经错乱,脑回路不同于人的程一。一个成熟稳重,优雅气质,温婉对人的乔之缘。到底,男主木林森该爱谁?木林森,“以前不让我爱你,以后也不让我见你吗?你如此狠心,为何我还是如此爱你。”乔之缘,“以前是我看不清,现在换我来爱你,补偿以前的一切。”木林森满脸嘲讽加恶心的语气,“程一,你最好离我远点,别纠缠我。”程一,“…………”这让我还怎么爱他,求解,在线急等……
  • 巨龙穿行中原

    巨龙穿行中原

    亳州市是一片有着丰厚的历史文化底蕴的土地。那里曾经香车宝马,商贾云集;那里有一代圣君商汤指点江山的影迹;那里是集政治家、军事家、文学家于一身的一代枭雄曹操习兵演武痛饮狂歌的地方,他“东临碣石,以观沧海”的诗句至今尚在古城萦绕,留存的地下运兵道、习练水兵的涡水浅滩也还令今人瞩目;那里流传着“天资文藻、博闻强识”的魏文帝曹丕和出口成章、七步成诗的曹植的逸事;更有在中国军事上震古烁今的张良、曹仁、曹洪、夏侯渊、许褚……亳州地理位置在历史上也相当优越,更兼水陆之便,在经济上曾无比辉煌。
  • 诺贝尔文学奖获奖作家随笔精品

    诺贝尔文学奖获奖作家随笔精品

    《诺贝尔文学奖获奖作家随笔精品》共收录了1901年至2010年诺贝尔文学奖获奖作家随笔精品80余篇,作品字里行间透露着文学大师对社会的见解和生活的智慧,为所有读者提供一份供学习、欣赏、借鉴的随笔经典之作。《诺贝尔文学奖获奖作家随笔精品》1995年12月初版,此次为修订后再版。
  • 熊王

    熊王

    猎人兰登和布鲁斯来到山谷,小熊被猎人活捉。在追杀与逃避中,托尔与猎人兰登相遇了,它咆哮着恐吓兰登,但最终却饶恕了这个看起来苍白弱小的人类。兰登幸存下来后顿悟生命,放弃了猎杀,将小熊放生。