Page 2 of The Whispering Girls (Detective Katie Scott #14)
ONE
Katie Scott sat in a comfortable chair on the back deck sipping her morning coffee while watching the sunrise.
The warm colors of the morning didn’t counteract the cold and the incoming clouds.
The weather forecast said some snow flurries were possible today and tomorrow.
With a blanket wrapped around her, she took a deep breath.
No matter her mood or what was going on in her life, there was one simple thing she never took for granted—watching the sun come up.
There were always new brilliant hues of orange and yellow highlighting the forest all around the cabin, celebrating that it was a new day when anything was possible.
Katie’s long brown hair was down around her shoulders, gently tousled from a restless night, when she’d napped less than three hours.
She was still dressed in pajamas and thick socks and didn’t have anything on her agenda today.
It was difficult for her to not have anywhere to be or be working on a new case, but she was learning, with some difficulty, to take the much needed time off to relax—something she hadn’t done in a while.
Even this time, it wasn’t by choice, but an order from her superior that she take two weeks immediately.
Katie was a detective for the Pine Valley Sheriff’s Department and she headed up the cold-case unit. She and her partner, Detective Sean McGaven, had worked many cases with a perfect solve record—at least for now.
Katie closed her eyes. Like most days, she still saw the victims and killers, their faces, the crime scenes, and the collateral damage flashing through her memory.
She made peace with herself a long time ago that the memories and images would never completely disappear from her mind.
They were a part of who she was and that was what made her a strong detective.
There was a low whine. Katie reached down to pet her black German shepherd, Cisco.
He had been by her side ever since she did two tours in the Army as a K9 explosive detections team.
She had been extremely lucky to be able to bring Cisco back with her, with a little help from her uncle (and now boss), Sheriff Scott.
Not only did she bring back Cisco, but also post-traumatic stress.
A mental state that was more like a grief cocktail with highs and lows at some of the worst possible times, but she didn’t let it stop her from performing her job.
She was determined it was to be a reality that would take a back seat to her life.
Cisco sat up in front of Katie. The jet-black dog with amber wolf eyes watched her with curiosity, slightly tilting his head. It was clear he felt Katie’s moods.
“Good boy, Cisco,” she said. She got up from her chair and stood at the railing looking out into the forest. The brisk air touched her face, but in an odd way it was comforting.
Maybe she would go for a walk and clear her head.
Or maybe she would make pancakes and stay inside contemplating her life.
Probably not.
Katie knew she wasn’t going to be able to do nothing for two weeks.
The area she was staying in was beautiful, but the Echo Forest was really quiet and isolated.
A friend of her uncle had offered the nice two-bedroom cabin and it had seemed a perfect place for her to take the time she needed.
However, as she stood in the silence, she wasn’t so sure.
She had spent only one night there so far, and as she looked out at the immense forest, her serene surroundings, she was already calculating the days and hours until she would be heading home.
Several loud thumps against the cabin jolted Katie back into the present.
Cisco instantly turned his focus toward the interior of the house. His body stiffened and a low grumble vibrated from his chest. He stood still, taking in sight, sound, and smell to catalog the incident.
Katie instantly moved quietly back into the house with her cop instincts alert and grabbed her Glock from her suitcase. Straining to listen, she didn’t hear any more sounds despite expecting to hear another thump, a voice, or even footsteps. But it remained hushed.
Cisco padded lightly behind her, watching her back.
Katie slipped out of her pajamas into a pair of jeans and a hoodie, quickly pulling on her boots. Her mind seemed to always jump to criminal activities instead of thinking it might just be the trees swaying against the cabin or a forest creature making its way across the roof.
She inched from her bedroom to the living room and then stopped at the front door.
Pausing there, she listened. No other sound.
Her nearest neighbor was a couple of acres away and she wasn’t sure if the occupants lived there year-round—it was most likely vacant.
There wasn’t a convenient peephole in the door to see if someone was out there.
Instead, her hand grasped the deadbolt lock and she quietly eased it clockwise before gripping the doorknob .
Furious knocking broke the tense silence. The rapping was fast and frantic, rattling through the cabin.
It startled Katie, causing her anxiety to rise. Her breath became shallow, and her hands tensed.
Cisco rapid-barked.
She turned to the dog. “ Nein , bleib ,” she said in German to command the dog to stop barking and to stay in place.
Cisco immediately stopped and stood in position. His eyes fixed at the door.
With her gun down at her side, but ready if she needed it, Katie said, “Who is it?”
There were soft cries. “ Please …” said a female voice. “I…I…need your help.”
Katie’s first thought was that someone was trying to bait her as a ruse to get her to open the door, but that was her cop way of thinking. Everything wasn’t always the worst-case scenario.
She turned the doorknob and opened the door.
A teenage girl, who looked to be about seventeen to eighteen years old, stood there staring at Katie, her eyes wide.
The girl wore jeans, a long-sleeved T-shirt, and a jean jacket.
Her fur-lined leather boots were laced up to her knees.
Her long blonde hair was braided and gently laid over her right shoulder.
She had several piercings on her ears and wore a leather choker with unusual beads.
“What’s wrong?” said Katie glancing around to make sure there wasn’t anyone else.
“Please help me…” The girl eyed Katie’s gun. “Please, I saw your car…There’s a…” The teen was clearly distraught and had obviously seen something.
“I’m Katie. Can you tell me what’s wrong?”
“I found a woman in the woods. She needs help.”
Katie’s interest heightened, but she still wasn’t sure if the girl was making complete sense. “Where?”
“She’s just a ways. Please…you need to come and help. ”
Katie glanced back to where Cisco waited. “What’s your name?”
“TJ.”
“Okay, TJ, show me where this woman is.” Katie grabbed her phone and keys from the small wooden table by the door. She wondered why the girl hadn’t called the police for help. Katie slipped the Glock in her waistband. “Do you have a phone?”
She shook her head.
Katie thought that was strange, that a teenager didn’t have a cell phone—or at least didn’t want Katie to know she had one.
“Please hurry,” said TJ as she began to walk down the gravel driveway.
Katie closed her cabin door and locked it, leaving Cisco behind. She wasn’t sure what was going on, so she decided not to bring the dog. It was one less thing to worry about.
“This way…” the girl said.
Katie had to jog to keep up as they weaved their way around trees and across overgrown areas.
The brisk morning brought out a strong aroma of oak and pine trees, pushed around by the slight icy breeze.
Katie made a mental note of the route they took, as the trees and winding areas began to all look the same.
They moved through the wooded area for less than ten minutes before TJ abruptly stopped, her arms at her side. It was as if her feet were glued to the forest floor.
Katie could see that she was shaking and her eyes were filled with tears.
TJ then raised her arm slowly and pointed. “There,” she barely whispered.
Katie looked to where she indicated and instantly sucked in a breath. She blinked twice to make sure she was really seeing what she thought she was.
About twenty feet away was the body of what appeared to be a woman hanging in a pine tree, her feet barely a foot above the ground, the body swaying slightly.
Katie could see bright pink nail polish on her toes and fingers.
It was clear by the condition of the body and its disturbingly pale-bluish color that the woman seemed to have been dead for a while, more than a couple of hours.
She was dressed only in pale-pink panties and a thin white T-shirt, and there was a brown burlap sack over the woman’s head.
The rope around her neck made an eerie creaking sound against the branch as the body rocked back and forth.