{"id":679,"date":"2008-03-14T00:00:01","date_gmt":"2008-03-14T00:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/shilohwalker.wordpress.com\/?p=679"},"modified":"2008-03-14T00:00:01","modified_gmt":"2008-03-14T00:00:01","slug":"day-5ebook-a-day-giveaway","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shilohwalker.com\/website\/2008\/03\/day-5ebook-a-day-giveaway\/","title":{"rendered":"Day 5…Ebook-A-Day Giveaway"},"content":{"rendered":"

( psst…also, you might wanna run by Laurie’s blog…Dianne Castell is having a blog party on 3\/13 & 3\/14 and I do believe prizes were mentioned)<\/i><\/font><\/p>\n

When it comes to promo, I’m probably a publisher’s nightmare. I hate to promote. If people ask, I’ll honestly admit I think most of my writing sucks (although I’m glad there are people who think otherwise). But every once in a while, I manage to turn out something I think is fairly decent. Today’s book, Talking with the Dead<\/a>,<\/i> is one of those books.<\/p>\n

\u25ca \u25ca \u25ca \u25ca \u25ca<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s a good cop.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

Michael closed his eyes as Lucas wavered into view.<\/p>\n

\u201cLeave her alone, Lucas,\u201d he said tiredly. It was a waste of time. Lucas was feeling the need to investigate, which meant he was going to do everything but<\/i> leave her alone.<\/p>\n

Not good.<\/p>\n

He sensed something about Daisy Crandall that made his skin itch. She had believed him all too easily. Cops didn\u2019t do that. And it didn\u2019t matter that her badge said County<\/i> Sheriff<\/i>. Still a cop.<\/p>\n

She should have been a lot more skeptical.<\/p>\n

The only reason that made sence as to why she didn\u2019t scoff at him\u2026she knew he wasn\u2019t lying.<\/p>\n

Some people had that knowledge, the ability to look at somebody and know whether that person was telling them lies\u2014or truth. She had known. Plain and simple. And if she could sense truth, she could possibly sense other things. He\u2019d rather she not know about the ghost that followed him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI like her.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

Now Michael frowned. Staring at Lucas, he cocked a brow, waiting. Lucas hadn\u2019t ever said that about anybody before. He wouldn\u2019t like somebody he couldn\u2019t trust. He\u2019d been very cautious in life about who he cared for\u2014death had only enhanced that.<\/p>\n

Lucas shrugged as he met his brother\u2019s stare. It was an odd gesture, one that made his mostly solid image ripple for a moment and Michael saw the outline of the dresser behind Lucas for the briefest second. \u201cShe\u2019s\u2026solid,\u201d<\/i> Lucas finally said. \u201cAnd sad. There\u2019s something broken inside her.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

Michael felt his heart clench at Lucas\u2019 words. Yes, he had sensed the grief inside the pretty, sloe-eyed woman. It had left an urge inside him, to go to her and cuddle her against him, stroke away the bleak look in her pretty brown eyes. \u201cNothing I can do about that,\u201d he murmured. He wished he had just moved on. There were complications here that he didn\u2019t need\u2014complications that went beyond the ghost of a murdered woman and a missing runaway.<\/p>\n

But she pulled at him\u2026not just the ghost.<\/p>\n

The sheriff.<\/p>\n

Too often, the only people that could hold his interest were the dead. They whispered to him at night, surrounded him during the day. But the living, they rarely held any interest for him.<\/p>\n

He felt her determination to find the murderer, a deep, steady intent that all but colored the air around her. Solid. Yes\u2026true blue. Loyal, determined, steady, through and through.<\/p>\n

Michael couldn\u2019t walk away until he knew there would be no more ghosts behind him when he left. Which meant stopping the killer.<\/p>\n

Running his tongue along his teeth, he studied the articles in front of him, sifting through to find the earliest one. Six dead women. Going back a year and half. The last two had both been killed within the past four months. The killer was escalating. They developed a taste for it, a need. Time passed and they had to kill more often, more frequently.<\/p>\n

More violently.<\/p>\n

Were there only the four? Or had he hidden some of the victims?<\/p>\n

Areas like this were thick with woods and valleys, easy places to hide bodies. These four had been local. But Michael knew there was one out there that wasn\u2019t from around here. A runaway\u2026somebody barely more than a child. If he had taken one runaway, he\u2019d likely taken others.<\/p>\n

So possibly more murders than they knew about.<\/p>\n

Rubbing his thumb across his chin, he contemplated the grainy picture in the paper. Pretty. Young\u2026in her twenties. But the second one was in her early forties. And then a college coed who\u2019d been home on summer break. The fourth one, the nurse, the ghost he had met earlier\u201428, married, mom with kids. Only thing they really had in common\u2026they were female and white.<\/p>\n

No pattern. That made it harder to pin things down.<\/p>\n

There was something else that had to link them.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s the damned link?\u201d he muttered, shoving a hand through his hair.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know, some people just like to kill.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, but they usually have a preferred sort of victim,\u201d Mike said absently.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve become too much like a cop.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

Mike smiled. \u201cI don\u2019t know what else there is left for me to be, Lucas.\u201d<\/p>\n

A cool breeze drifted through the room.<\/p>\n

Feeling the heavy weight of emotion that seemed to roll from Lucas, he looked up. \u201cIt\u2019s not your fault,\u201d he said quietly. \u201cAnd this isn\u2019t a bad rap, you know.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou wade through the shittiest type of scum known to man, Mikey. You\u2019ve put yourself inside the heads of monsters\u2014I see how sick it makes you. I know how angry it makes you. I know it hurts. And you want me to buy that it\u2019s not a bad rap.\u201d<\/i> Lucas shook his head. His eyes were so full of grief, it hurt to even look at his brother, but Mike wouldn\u2019t look away.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah. I want you to believe it.\u201d Scrubbing his hands over his face, he sighed. Pushing back from the small desk, Mike started to pace the tight confines of the hotel room. \u201cYeah. I\u2019ve had to deal with shit. But you and me\u2026we\u2019ve been doing that all our lives. It\u2019s not like I don\u2019t know how to handle it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI should have tried harder. We should have left sooner.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

\u201cNeither of us could have known how low she would have stooped. Or what kind of messes she had gotten involved in,\u201d Mike said quietly.<\/p>\n

Lucas spun away. The force of rage flooding him had made his image wavery and Mike could barely see him. \u201cI should have. I knew her\u2014I knew what kind of scum she was involved in, knew better than you what she was capable of. I was supposed to protect you, Mikey. I failed. I shouldn\u2019t have let this happen to you.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

\u201cIt happened to you<\/i>,\u201d Mike said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt happened to us both.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

That stopped him in mid-stride. He turned around, looking across the room at his brother. \u201cGuess it did. And it happened for a reason. If it hadn\u2019t\u2026\u201d Grisly images, things he\u2019d rather forget, rolled through his mind. No, he didn\u2019t want to remember many things that he\u2019d seen in the past ten or fifteen years of his life. But lives had been saved because of it, killers had been stopped. \u201cThere\u2019s a man sitting in jail right now because of what happened to me. His last victim didn\u2019t die. We got to him before he could hurt her. You know what? I couldn\u2019t have stopped him if I was your everyday average Jones, Lucas. It may not be the easiest thing to live with, but I\u2019d rather have some bad nights and know that bastard will never kill anybody again, then to change it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t you think you\u2019ve done enough, Mike?\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

Focusing on the papers in front of him, he blew out a breath. \u201cNo. There\u2019s a girl out there, Lucas. A kid. He has a kid. And I\u2019m not going to stop until I\u2019ve stopped him.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd then there will be another. And another\u2026and another. When will it ever be enough?\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

\u25ca \u25ca \u25ca \u25ca \u25ca<\/p>\n

Da rulz<\/p>\n

\n