Title: Where Bodies Lie
Author: D.K. Greene
Genre: Psychological Suspense / Serial Killer fiction
Book Blurb:
Peter Wilson is as ordinary as they come. A mid-level worker with a first-floor apartment and no vices to speak of, he’s the picture of wholesome living.
Below the surface, he hides a dangerous secret.
When two F.B.I. agents arrive on his doorstep, the carefully constructed threads of his mysterious past life unravel. It’s time for Peter to face the truth… he’s an accessory to murder.
Putting off retirement, Inspector Douglas resolves to finish the work he started on The Godless Killer early in his career. He’s struck a deal with Oliver Roberts. The ruthless murderer will give up the locations of bodies he’s hidden. But he’ll only share the details with one person…
His son, who went into hiding after Roberts’ arrest.
To bring closure to grieving families, Peter must reconnect with his father. Rekindling their relationship will awaken a monster and bring a grim truth to light…
Blood is thicker than water.
Excerpt:
Peter slides the chain off and opens the door so his uninvited visitors can enter. They stop in the middle of the living room and Inspector Douglas turns in a slow circle while he takes it all in. “Wow, Henry. You’ve got a nice place.”
“Thanks. But again, call me Peter.” He closes the door but leaves it unlocked in case anyone needs to make a hasty exit. He moves to set the Bible down on the coffee table, keeping it within arm’s reach. “What are you doing here?”
“Mind if I sit?” Dougy doesn’t wait for an answer. He takes the folder from his partner and sits square in the middle of the couch, dropping the binder on top of the Bible. He leans into the cushions, arms draped across the back of the sofa, and crosses his legs.
Special Agent Jones moves toward the hallway. “You here alone?”
“Yeah,” Peter answers nervously. “Why?”
“I need to powder my nose.” She points toward the back of the apartment. “Bathroom?”
Peter nods. He still hasn’t put away his nose hair clippers and sucks in a panicked breath of air as she pushes the restroom door open.
“Say, Henry. Do you mind if I have a glass of water? It’s been a long day.” Inspector Douglas lifts his bushy eyebrows and tilts his head toward the kitchen.
The other agent still hasn’t entered the bathroom. She stands in the hallway, watching him with an intense stare that sends a shiver down his spine. To avoid her gaze, he moves into the next room to retrieve a glass for Dougy. The inspector talks as soon as the faucet turns on, and Peter can’t make out any of what he says. Peter yells around the corner to stop Dougy’s chatter. “Just one second…”
When he returns to the living room, Peter finds Dougy in the same position as before. Though it doesn’t look like he’s moved a muscle, the binder is open, and papers are arranged in neat piles across the coffee table. Peter hands him the glass of water, checking the dim hallway for signs of the inspector’s partner. The bathroom door is closed.
Peter shifts his gaze to Dougy without looking at the photos. He’s seen the suspected victims dozens of times over the years. A menagerie of family portraits and studio headshots have come and gone on the news and in the papers for two decades. Peter even watched a documentary last year about The Godless Killer. The director had run trails of red string from the photos to maps, to newspaper clippings, and back again like some conspiracy theorist.
“I spoke to Oliver.” Inspector Douglas takes a sip of water, then sets the glass on a stack of papers. He picks up a photo and offers it to Peter, as if he hasn’t already memorized the woman’s auburn hair and broody eyes.
Peter hears water running in the bathroom. He wonders how long it will take Special Agent Jones to catalog his collection of antidepressants and anti-anxiety pills. He concentrates on looking out the window as a neighbor passes by without waving. “I thought he was still giving everyone the silent treatment.”
Inspector Douglas lets out a low chuckle. He still proffers the photo. “He had been. But suddenly, last week, he decided he wanted to have a conversation. You know how he is. When he wants something, it’s hard to say no.”
“Harder for some than others.” Peter rubs a clammy hand across the back of his sweating neck.
“Yeah, I guess.” The inspector struggles up from the couch, then takes a few steps to close the gap between them. He pushes the photograph into Peter’s line of sight, forcing him to look at the portrait. The woman’s straight teeth and round cheeks make her look young and alive, despite the dark rings of depression encircling her eyes. It’s a graduation photo. Peter has always wondered why she doesn’t look more excited. Maybe, somehow, she knew her time was up.
“He wants to talk about Carol. Show us where she is.”
Special Agent Jones emerges from the bathroom. She moves silently across the apartment, boxing Peter in so he can’t run away from the burning intensity of Carol’s silent stare. He can’t stand the discomfort of the missing woman looking up at him from the glossy paper. Pleading with him to do something. His eyes move to study the top right corner of the picture. It’s a faded grey, the color of a background drenched with the flash of a thousand budget graduation photos.
Peter clears the bubble of worry from his throat. “So what?”
Inspector Douglas shifts his stance. There’s a tenseness about him that makes Peter think maybe Dougy feels her haunting the room, too.
Special Agent Jones leans into Peter, looking over his shoulder at the photograph. Her voice is soft, but the words land on Peter like a ton of bricks. “He says he’ll only talk to you.”
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Why is your featured book a must-read?
Where Bodies Lie is a twisted serial killer mystery that shows how far an abandoned son will go to win his father’s love.
Giveaway –
Enter to win an e-book bundle of all 42 books featured in the Mystery and Suspense Bookish Event:
Open Internationally.
Runs August 11 – 17, 2020.
Winner will be drawn on August 24, 2020.
Author Biography:
D.K. Greene quietly plots character deaths from a small writing nook in her Longview, Washington home.
A former 911 operator, Greene has a lingering interest in crimes and the people who commit them. A lifelong wordsmith, she began penning online articles for pay in 2010. Her enjoyment of clickbait was short-lived, and she turned to fiction soon thereafter.
Greene is the author of The Mommy Mysteries, comedic cozies about motherhood. She also writes the Killers Club series, a growing collection of novels about a brotherhood of serial killers terrorizing the Pacific Northwest.
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