Page 1 of Girl Between

PROLOGUE

Perspiration gathersin the small of her back as I watch her hips sway to the music. She’s perfect. A delicious specimen, ripe in all the right places. She gyrates on the crowded dance floor, her drink sloshing precariously over the rim, adding to the stickiness of the night air on her skin.

It’s hot, but thanks to the copious amounts of alcohol I watched her consume, she doesn’t seem to notice. There’s a lot she doesn’t notice tonight. Most importantly my presence.

It will be her fatal mistake.

Who knows what choices she’d make tonight. Any one of which could lead to her demise. Lucky for her, I’m here to intervene. To make sure her life will carry on. Thanks to me she’ll outlive her fate. She’ll continue on. This is a gift I offer. To her, to humanity. She will accomplish more in death than she ever could’ve in life.

I bide my time, waiting in the shadows. It won’t be long now.

She’ll beg for me to take her.

They always do in the end.

It’s a wonder it took me so long to see it. My true calling.

I can’t wait to see the look on his face when I present this gift.

He asked me to do it. Even if he doesn’t know it yet.

Her blood will be on both our hands. But it will be worth it in the end.

1

Detective Vincent Georgestood ankle-deep in stagnant bayou water trying to get a better look at the body that had been discovered. Or at least what was left of it. Thanks to the murky mineral-rich brackish waters sucking at his waders and the work of the local wildlife, the remains would be difficult to identify.

“I reckon it was a gator,” one of the park service officers commented.

“Ya think,” LaSalle muttered.

George shot his officer a stern warning look that put her back in line. Bryce LaSalle was a rookie with promise, but the park service had called the NOPD for help, not criticism.

With 26,000 acres of swamp, marsh, overgrown trails, and waterways, the Barataria Preserve was a popular dumping ground for human remains. One that gave the understaffed Park Service officers more than they could handle on a regular basis.

George wished he could say getting called out here to assist in investigations was a rare occurrence. But that wasn’t the case. Today, they’d arrived in the bayou at dawn, but it still wasn’t early enough to beat the New Orleans humidity or mosquitos. Four hours later, it wasstarting to get the best of his team. He could practically feel the dissention on the bank behind him.

“I’m gonna be late for my own bachelor party,” Officer Neville grumbled.

George turned, mopping the sweat from his brow with the back of his arm. “You know I won’t let that happen,” he assured him.

It wasn’t just that Officer Alphonse Neville was about to be his brother-in-law that had George checking his watch, but disappointing his youngest sister wasn’t an option.

Slogging out of the muck, George took Neville’s offered hand and climbed the bank to stand next to his best friend. “There’s not much we can do here,” he said, shaking the debris from his waders. “You and LaSalle can head on back. I’ll stay and oversee the rest of things.”

“Nah, Sarge. We’re not gonna leave ya high and dry,” Neville argued.

George shook his head. “I’d rather that than catch hell from Cadie for making her fiancé miss his own bachelor party.”

Neville exchanged glances with LaSalle, silently weighing their options.

“That’s an order,” George said. “And wash the bayou stink off ya before you head out.”

The two officers grinned, already turning for the ATVs parked on the trail. “This don’t mean you get a pass to skip out on the festivities,” Neville called back, but LaSalle was yanking him along like she was afraid her commanding officer would change his mind.

He wouldn’t.

As disturbing as this scene was, George’s youngest sister’s wrath was worse. Particularly as her wedding date drew nearer.