Book blurb – what the story’s about.
Angela Martin is like everyone else. She wants acceptance. Love. Passion.
For five years she’s lived with the pain of knowing her husband cheats on her. She’s dealt with the heart-rending rejection by rebuilding her life around her work, becoming the first woman detective in the history of the Moose Creek, N.C., police department.
Then she stumbles upon him. A man who reawakens desire, who makes her feel more alive than she believed possible by pulling her into a world of bondage and dominance, devotion and trust taken to a new level, fear mingling with desire, a craving stronger than any drug.
Soon women start turning up dead in Moose Creek, bound and tortured, tied in ways that Angela finds startling familiar. Angela’s heart tells her that her newfound love cannot be the killer, her detective instincts tell her otherwise, and her obsession with this new lifestyle draws her back to him, even at the risk of her life.
LETHAL OBSESSION is a tale of sex and bondage, love and fear, desire and suspicion, with an ending that will leave you breathless, craving more.
It was late Friday afternoon when Angela walked into the chief’s office. Two days had passed since the second victim was found, since Angela had blacked out and fallen onto the body. For those two days Angela had been off the case, on mandatory sick leave until Chief Suggs was satisfied she was fit for duty. He had arranged for a full physical the day after her blackout, and called her in this afternoon to discuss the findings.
Or so she thought.
“Chief,” she said as she stepped through the open doorway.
“Close the door Angela.”
Fear welled in the pit of her stomach. This can’t be good. She did as he asked, then took a seat when he motioned her toward a chair. The chief leaned over his desk, pulled a paper from a file folder and looked at it. From the back Angela could tell it was a picture of some sort.
“Buddy of mine at the state lab called me a little while ago,” he said.
“He find something important?” Angela fought to keep her voice steady.
“You tell me.” He put the photograph on the desktop and pushed it toward Angela. She didn’t pick it up – even viewing the photograph upside down, she knew what it was at first glance – a still shot taken from a surveillance camera. A picture of Angela, slipping from a hotel room, the time stamp showing she exited the second-floor room on the back side of the Moose Creek Motor Inn at the same time her colleagues were surveying the latest murder scene – on the first floor of the front side of the same hotel. Angela’s body turned cold, her skin clammy. Her mind was blank.
“Can you explain this?”
Angela opened her mouth. Nothing came out. Her heart hammered inside her chest, and she focused on that, on slowing her pulse. Her mind refused to address the photo. They sat in silence for several minutes.
“Detective, I’m going to need an explanation.”
Angela slumped in her chair. “I…I don’t know what to say.”
“Start with telling me why you were caught on this footage, what you were doing there when that woman was killed, and most importantly why I didn’t learn about this from you?”
“Chief, I…” Her mind went blank. … Angela stood and paced the office. “Chief, I screwed up. I didn’t compromise the case. What I did there …” her voice faltered. She knew what happened to her very well could relate to the investigation. “…had nothing to do with the case.”
“Everyone in that hotel has to be questioned, checked, and double-checked. Angela, I don’t want to pry, but we need to interview the guy you were with.”
Angela’s stomach tightened. She felt as if she would throw up.
“He’s not a suspect,” she said, voice little more than a whisper.
“Everyone is.”
“He was with me when the call came, you don’t need to talk with him.”
“Coroner puts the time of death between ten that morning and noon. The call came in at twelve-eighteen; the first officers were on the scene at twelve twenty-four. I know you were here until eleven forty-five. That leaves a couple of hours where your…friend…is unaccounted for.”
I was with a killer.
The thought rammed through Angela so hard she almost gasped. She felt dizzy.
“Angela?”
She shook her head.
“Detective, that’s not a request. I am ordering you to divulge his identity.”
“I…don’t know.”
Angela bowed her head, gaze on the floor. The room was beginning to spin, and Angela thought for a moment that was appropriate, given that her life was about to spin out of control.
“Detective, I don’t really want to get into any details here, nothing more than the case requires. And I’ll keep as much out of the public arena as possible, but you have to explain what’s going on. You didn’t know the guy?”
She closed her eyes, leaned back until her head rested on the wall behind the chair. “She opened her eyes, stared directly at the chief. “I met him online.”
“I need to know who this guy is.”
“I don’t know.”
“Describe him for me. We’ll use that to find him.”
Angela leaned over, propped her elbows on her thighs and buried her face in her hands. “I don’t know what he looks like.”
She heard a heavy sigh.
“Chief, I…we…I had an itch to experiment…I was blindfolded the whole time.”
“Jesus Christ,” the chief said, his voice cracking as he did. “Next thing you’re going to tell me is he had you trussed up like a damn turkey.”
Angela looked up from her hands.
“God damn,” the chief whispered….
Or so she thought.
“Chief,” she said as she stepped through the open doorway.
“Close the door Angela.”
Fear welled in the pit of her stomach. This can’t be good. She did as he asked, then took a seat when he motioned her toward a chair. The chief leaned over his desk, pulled a paper from a file folder and looked at it. From the back Angela could tell it was a picture of some sort.
“Buddy of mine at the state lab called me a little while ago,” he said.
“He find something important?” Angela fought to keep her voice steady.
“You tell me.” He put the photograph on the desktop and pushed it toward Angela. She didn’t pick it up – even viewing the photograph upside down, she knew what it was at first glance – a still shot taken from a surveillance camera. A picture of Angela, slipping from a hotel room, the time stamp showing she exited the second-floor room on the back side of the Moose Creek Motor Inn at the same time her colleagues were surveying the latest murder scene – on the first floor of the front side of the same hotel. Angela’s body turned cold, her skin clammy. Her mind was blank.
“Can you explain this?”
Angela opened her mouth. Nothing came out. Her heart hammered inside her chest, and she focused on that, on slowing her pulse. Her mind refused to address the photo. They sat in silence for several minutes.
“Detective, I’m going to need an explanation.”
Angela slumped in her chair. “I…I don’t know what to say.”
“Start with telling me why you were caught on this footage, what you were doing there when that woman was killed, and most importantly why I didn’t learn about this from you?”
“Chief, I…” Her mind went blank. … Angela stood and paced the office. “Chief, I screwed up. I didn’t compromise the case. What I did there …” her voice faltered. She knew what happened to her very well could relate to the investigation. “…had nothing to do with the case.”
“Everyone in that hotel has to be questioned, checked, and double-checked. Angela, I don’t want to pry, but we need to interview the guy you were with.”
Angela’s stomach tightened. She felt as if she would throw up.
“He’s not a suspect,” she said, voice little more than a whisper.
“Everyone is.”
“He was with me when the call came, you don’t need to talk with him.”
“Coroner puts the time of death between ten that morning and noon. The call came in at twelve-eighteen; the first officers were on the scene at twelve twenty-four. I know you were here until eleven forty-five. That leaves a couple of hours where your…friend…is unaccounted for.”
I was with a killer.
The thought rammed through Angela so hard she almost gasped. She felt dizzy.
“Angela?”
She shook her head.
“Detective, that’s not a request. I am ordering you to divulge his identity.”
“I…don’t know.”
Angela bowed her head, gaze on the floor. The room was beginning to spin, and Angela thought for a moment that was appropriate, given that her life was about to spin out of control.
“Detective, I don’t really want to get into any details here, nothing more than the case requires. And I’ll keep as much out of the public arena as possible, but you have to explain what’s going on. You didn’t know the guy?”
She closed her eyes, leaned back until her head rested on the wall behind the chair. “She opened her eyes, stared directly at the chief. “I met him online.”
“I need to know who this guy is.”
“I don’t know.”
“Describe him for me. We’ll use that to find him.”
Angela leaned over, propped her elbows on her thighs and buried her face in her hands. “I don’t know what he looks like.”
She heard a heavy sigh.
“Chief, I…we…I had an itch to experiment…I was blindfolded the whole time.”
“Jesus Christ,” the chief said, his voice cracking as he did. “Next thing you’re going to tell me is he had you trussed up like a damn turkey.”
Angela looked up from her hands.
“God damn,” the chief whispered….
About Shandra Miller
Shandra is a mid-western gal who left home at 16 and never looked back. Eventually she made her way to Florida, worked for three years as a carnie and another three with a circus -- yes, a real, live, honest-to-god circus. Traveled all through the South and Mid-Atlantic, town to town, on the road eight months at a time.
Now she’s a small-town office girl, filing papers, answering the phone. She doesn’t own a cell phone or a TV, she takes long walks at night, lies in the grass in the day time and watches the clouds go by, and she writes erotica. Blazing hot erotica. And mystery stories dripping with lust, sex and suspense.
Author Links
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March Lethal Obsession Blog Tour -- There you’ll find contests and giveaways, and a chance at winning a $25 Amazon gift card and an e-copy of all of her published fiction!
*****
LETHAL OBSESSION is available for purchase during March for an introductory offer of $2.99.
Amazon
Nook
Kobo: Available Soon
Apple: Available Soon
*****
March Lethal Obsession Blog Tour -- There you’ll find contests and giveaways, and a chance at winning a $25 Amazon gift card and an e-copy of all of her published fiction!
*****
LETHAL OBSESSION is available for purchase during March for an introductory offer of $2.99.
Amazon
Nook
Kobo: Available Soon
Apple: Available Soon
*****
GREAT excerpt! Definitely adding this to my reading list. :-)
ReplyDeleteThanks Deliza, I hope you enjoy it!
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