Girl Found: A Detective Kaitlyn Carr Mystery Read online

  Girl Found

  A Detective Kaitlyn Carr Mystery

  Kate Gable

  Byrd Books LLC

  Contents

  Copyright

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  About Kate Gable

  Also by Kate Gable

  About Girl Found

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

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  Copyright

  Copyright © 2021 by Byrd Books, LLC.

  All rights reserved.

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  Cover Design: Kate Gable

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  This book is a word of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.

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  About Kate Gable

  Kate Gable loves a good mystery that is full of suspense. She grew up devouring psychological thrillers and crime novels as well as movies, tv shows and true crime.

  Her favorite stories are the ones that are centered on families with lots of secrets and lies as well as many twists and turns. Her novels have elements of psychological suspense, thriller, mystery and romance.

  Kate Gable lives in Southern California with her husband, son, a dog and a cat. She has spent more than twenty years in this area and finds inspiration from its cities, canyons, deserts, and small mountain towns.

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  Also by Kate Gable

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  Girl Missing (Book 1)

  Girl Lost (Book 2)

  Girl Found (Book 3)

  Girl Taken (Book 4)

  Girl Hidden (FREE Novella)

  About Girl Found

  Don’t look for me…

  A college student is found dead in the apartment of a US Marine who has disappeared.

  Where is he? Did he kill her and run? And if so, why? Detective Kaitlyn Carr will stop at nothing to find out what happened.

  The marine’s father is certain that his son would never do anything to harm his friend. That’s why he reported the murder and is doing his best to help Kaitlyn find his son. But will this be a regret that will haunt him for the rest of his life?

  Back in her hometown of Big Bear Lake, Violet’s disappearance is becoming a cold case. Everyone has been interviewed. All leads have been followed up on. Now what? Kaitlyn keeps trying. She can’t give up.

  Will Kaitlyn find out who killed the girl and find the marine before there’s another murder?

  Will Kaitlyn be able to find another lead to keep her sister’s case open?

  Girl Found is a suspenseful thriller perfect for fans of A. J. Rivers, Mary Stone, Willow Rose, James Patterson, Melinda Leigh, Kendra Elliot, Ella Gray, and Karin Slaughter. It has mystery, angst, a bit of romance and family drama.

  1

  They found Violet’s clothes last night rolled up in a bag consisting of everything that she wore the night of her disappearance: her shirt, her jeans, her bra, her underwear, her necklace, her socks, her shoes.

  They found the bag of her things but not Violet herself.

  The clothing was found in a bag under a fallen tree tied up and carefully hidden by someone on purpose.

  Why? Why did they take her, my sweet, kind, beautiful, thirteen-year-old sister named for the color of eyes that she had always wanted to have?

  It has been days since anyone has seen her. Being a detective, I know as well as anyone that we might not be looking for her anymore. We're looking for her body.

  "They found her about a mile away from the observatory," Luke Gavinson tells me as my whole body starts to shake.

  He's speaking loudly into the phone, but he sounds like he's miles away. It's like my ears are plugged with something cotton, wax, earbuds. All I hear is a thumping of my own blood and the steady sound of my heartbeat speeding up.

  "The Observatory?" I ask even though I know fully well what he means.

  There's a big white structure with a telescope across the lake from the house where I grew up, where Violet was living with my mom. I've never been inside the observatory itself, but the park is popular with teenagers and visitors. There's a beautiful hiking and biking path nearby through the meadow and a protected marshland for the fish and the birds.

  "I'll be there as soon as I can," I say, but Luke stops me.

  "No, that's not a good idea. You're driving back and forth. It's three hours each way and you're just exhausting yourself. Besides..." Luke's voice drops off.

  I know what he's going to say. I had just had an encounter with an armed suspect. He wants me to take some time
off.

  He wants me to relax. He's worried about me, not just on a professional level, but on a personal one.

  What I'm worried about is the fact that there's a second girl who's missing from Violet's school, disappearing under very similar circumstances. What I'm worried about is the fact that the situation has become dire enough for the FBI to be called in for help.

  That's why he's there. Luke’s not there as a personal favor to me, not at all. He's there because the FBI thinks that they need to get involved and that's both a positive and a negative.

  I'm glad he's there. I'm happy that there are now the resources of the FBI at Violet's disposal looking for her. I'm also terrified. It has been days and with each passing hour, Violet will be harder and harder to find.

  I tell him that I'll be there soon, but he cuts me off again.

  "Listen, I know that you want to be here and I do, too, but there's nothing you can do. You don't have any jurisdiction here."

  "What are you talking about? I have to look for my sister. People talk to me because I'm a detective."

  "I know, but you have already asked a lot of people questions. You have done a lot."

  "Not enough.” I dig my heels in.

  "You need to take some time off. Okay? Not long. I just mean don't drive up here right now."

  “When? When would be an appropriate time for me to look for my sister?” I ask sarcastically.

  "Don't be like that," Luke says. "Please, you know that what I'm saying is right. You know that I'm just looking out for you."

  "I don't need anyone to look out for me. Okay? Least of all you."

  "What is that supposed to mean?"

  I clench my jaw. I didn't want to get into this right now. I don't really want to get into this at all, but I can't help what I think and feel every time I talk to him. There's still so much that has been left unsaid, but this isn't the right time to address that.

  "You know that they're just processing the scene, Kaitlyn. They just found the bag and we don't know what else we're going to find. The crime scene technicians are here. They have everything set up, but it's going to be hours. Okay? It's going to take a while for it all to be collected, let alone processed in a lab."

  "What about Neil?" I ask. "He's the last person to see her, remember?"

  Neil Goss is Violet's middle school friend. He had come up to my mom and confessed to both of us that they had made plans to see each other the night that she had disappeared.

  They met up right after Kaylee dropped her off and they went to the observatory, made out, and did God knows what else. He didn't admit to anything beyond that. He was distraught and upset, but he didn't have to come forward. I know all of these things, but I also know that he has to be hiding something.

  He told us all of that to cover his tracks. He told us that to place himself at the scene and to explain why he was there because he suspects that we are about to find something.

  "You cannot talk to Neil again. Neither of us can. Captain Talarico was very clear about that. He's in charge of the investigation and if Neil talks to us again, which I highly doubt, given who his father is, we are going to do it in a controlled environment with cameras to record exactly what he says."

  Luke doesn't tell me anything that I don't already know. Of course, it has to be this way.

  We have to build a case.

  The thing that I think everyone seems to be forgetting here is that Violet is not dead. No bodyhas been found and there is no confirmation that she was killed. That means that there's still a possibility of her being alive.

  "Okay, fine,” I agree. “You keep me updated about anything else that you find. Okay? I have to go into work and do some more paperwork anyway. Please, promise me that you'll let me know if you find anything else, however insignificant."

  He promises, but he knows very well that even though that's what I made him promise, what I'm actually asking him is that I'll be his first phone call if or when they find her body.

  Uncertain as to what to do when I'm not working, given the fact that I don't have kids or a husband, I go into the office, sit down at my desk, and start to fill out reports about the last case that I worked on.

  I take a few little breaks to get a cup of coffee here and there, but mostly I work. I know that this is not the typical existence of a woman my age, but I don't mind.

  I've never really wanted children or imagined myself with a child, but I have been thinking about getting a pet. Unfortunately, my schedule is so erratic and unpredictable that I know that it will be highly unfair to have my dog or cat wait for me dutifully at home while I work twelve, fifteen, or eighteen-hour days, whatever the job requires.

  I'm a workaholic in the truest sense of the word. I don't have anything else going on. I don't even have any hobbies.

  This is what I sink my time into.

  I work on cases well after others have given up. I work on cases well after they go cold. I think about them, even though the files and the boxes of folders have been put away.

  I've solved a few mainly because I refused to give up.

  I'm tenacious and that's admired in the department in general, except that personally, I know that I'm an addict.

  My addiction is not alcohol, drugs, or partying like it is for many of my colleagues.

  No, it's just work.

  After I had to use a weapon to protect myself, I started seeing the court appointed psychologist to help me deal with my issues. All cops dread these interactions. We worry about being written up and analyzed and then demoted or passed over for promotions, but the woman I've started seeing has actually put my mind at ease. I like talking to her and she has told me a number of things that make a lot of sense.

  I'm a workaholic because I'd rather spend my time working than living. Usually this affliction affects men because women can find solace and meaning in their children and in the children's activities, but in my case, I like to bury my head in my work.

  It gives me peace.

  It distracts me from my life and all of the disappointments and sadness that I have experienced way before my sister’s disappearance.

  2

  Before Violet went missing, I actually considered getting a hobby. I've always enjoyed writing, even dabbled in a short story here and there. It's not a completely unknown thing for a detective to retire and start writing crime fiction.

  Why couldn't that be me? I even started a few novels, started but never finished.

  I open my laptop, click over to the hidden folder, and read over the 2,000 words on the screen.

  I haven't looked at it for quite some time and it immediately takes me away.

  "It's not at all bad," I say to myself, nodding my head.

  I finish my cup of coffee and switch over to tea. If I have too much coffee, I get jittery and have a hard time falling asleep, but the mellow mint tea with no caffeine does little to calm my jitters.

  It's almost time for lunch, but instead of going downstairs, I just head to the vending machine and grab a pack of pretzels. I'm a pretzel junkie, though they’re probably just as bad for me as potato chips.

  I pop one into my mouth one after another and crunch my teeth. I open the second story, which I had started working on when I had a little bit of downtime. I put my fingers to the keyboard to add a sentence when a call comes in.

  They need a detective to go to an apartment building near Sunset Avenue.

  A body has been found.

  A sigh of relief washes over me. I'm the next detective in line, but as soon as I grab my bag and start to head toward the elevators, Captain Medvil stops me.

  "No," he says, picking up the receiver. "I'm sending someone else."

  "It's my turn."

  "Doesn't matter. You need some time off."

  "Absolutely not.” I shake my head, taking a step closer to him.

  He lowers the receiver and stares at me. He narrows his eyes and adjusts his big stance. He's got broad shoulders and a wide face with a typic
al short haircut favored by cops.

  "I'm next on the rotation," I say. "This is my case."

  "I get to decide who gets what case. I'm the captain, remember? How are you feeling?"

  "Fine," I say quickly, a little bit too quickly and he tilts his head, showing his disbelief.

  "No, I'm seriously fine. Okay?"

  "That was kind of a scary situation. You shouldn't have been there alone like that."

  "Okay. That's over," I say, waving my hand.

  "What about your sister? Any news?"

  I know fully well that he can find out the truth with one phone call if he suspects that I'm lying or obfuscating something.

  Then he’ll never let me live it down.

  "They found her clothes in a plastic bag under a tree."

  "Her clothes?" he asks.

  "Yeah, no blood. No body. They're not ripped. Just all of her clothes."