Before He Covets

Before He Covets
Blake Pierce

A Mackenzie White Mystery #3
In BEFORE HE COVETS (A Mackenzie White Mystery—Book 3), newly minted FBI agent Mackenzie White graduates the FBI Academy in Quantico only to find herself thrown into an urgent serial killer case. Women are turning up dead while camping in a remote national park in West Virginia. Yet the park is vast, and no connection can be found between them.

At the same time, Mackenzie receives a call from Nebraska urging her to come home. After many years, a new clue has surfaced about her father’s murder. The case no longer cold, Mackenzie desperately needs to help solve it.

But the FBI’s killer is ratcheting up, and there is no time for distraction as more women turn up missing in the psychological game of cat-and-mouse that follows. This killer is more diabolical—and smarter—than Mackenzie could have imagined. As she goes down a road she fears to travel—deep into her own psyche—she finds a double twist waiting for her that even she could not expect.

A dark psychological thriller with heart-pounding suspense, BEFORE HE COVETS is book #3 in a riveting new series—with a beloved new character—that will leave you turning pages late into the night.

Blake Pierce

Before He Covets (A Mackenzie White Mystery—Book 3)

Blake Pierce

Blake Pierce is author of the bestselling RILEY PAGE mystery series, which includes six books (and counting). Blake Pierce is also the author of the MACKENZIE WHITE mystery series, comprising three books (and counting); of the AVERY BLACK mystery series, comprising three books (and counting); and of the new KERI LOCKE mystery series.

An avid reader and lifelong fan of the mystery and thriller genres, Blake loves to hear from you, so please feel free to visit www.blakepierceauthor.comwww.blakepierceauthor.com (http://www.blakepierceauthor.com) to learn more and stay in touch.

Copyright © 2016 by Blake Pierce. All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior permission of the author. This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return it and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictionally. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. Jacket image Copyright andrey_l, used under license from Shutterstock.com.

BOOKS BY BLAKE PIERCE

RILEY PAIGE MYSTERY SERIES

ONCE GONE (Book #1)

ONCE TAKEN (Book #2)

ONCE CRAVED (Book #3)

ONCE LURED (Book #4)

ONCE HUNTED (Book #5)

ONCE PINED (Book #6)

MACKENZIE WHITE MYSTERY SERIES

BEFORE HE KILLS (Book #1)

BEFORE HE SEES (Book #2)

BEFORE HE COVETS (Book #3)

AVERY BLACK MYSTERY SERIES

CAUSE TO KILL (Book #1)

CAUSE TO RUN (Book #2)

CAUSE TO HIDE (Book #3)

KERI LOCKE MYSTERY SERIES

A TRACE OF DEATH (Book #1)

PROLOGUE

Pam took a seat on the fallen log at the edge of the campsite and lit up a cigarette, energized after sex. Behind her, Hunter’s tent was set up in a dented dome shape. She could hear him snoring lightly inside. Even here in the woods, it was the same; here she was, awake and energized in the afterglow of their lovemaking, while he was dead asleep. Here in the woods, though, she didn’t mind so much.

She dug a little hole in the ground for the ashes of her cigarette, well aware that smoking in the forest during what had so far been a dry autumn was pretty reckless. She stared up into the sky, looking at the stars. It was a very cool night, as fall had staked its claim on the East Coast and dropped the temperatures significantly, and she hugged her shoulders against it. She wished Hunter’s tent had one of those netted tops where you could look out, but no such luck. Still, there had been something romantic about it – getting away from home, being alone in the forest. It was the closest to living together she’d allow until the idiot finally proposed. Given the night sky, the perfect weather, and their crazy chemistry, it was one of the happier nights she’d had.

She wanted to go back inside, to warm up against him, but first she needed to go to the bathroom. She edged into the woods and took a moment to get her bearings. It was hard to make out where she was headed now that it was dark; the starlight and half-full moon provided some light, but not enough. She studied the layout around her and was pretty sure she just needed to cut hard to the left to find the rest area.

She crept out a few feet further and went in that direction for about thirty seconds. When she turned around she could not see the tent.

“Damn,” she breathed, now starting to panic.

Get a grip, she told herself as she continued to walk. The tent is right back there and —

Her left foot caught on something, and before she was aware of what had happened, she was falling to the ground. She managed to throw her hands out at the last second, keeping her face from striking the ground. The wind went out of her in a solid little gasp and she pushed herself up right away, embarrassed.

She looked back to the log she had tripped over, angry at it in an almost childlike way. In the dark, the shape looked odd and almost abstract. She knew one thing for certain, though. It was not a log.

It had to be the night playing tricks on her eyes. It had to be some weird play of the shadows in the dark.

But as a cold fear crept over her, she knew it for what it was. There was no denying it.

A human leg.

And from what she could tell, that’s all it was. There did not appear to be a body to go along with it. It lay there on the ground, partially hidden by foliage and other woodland debris. The foot was covered in a running shoe and a sock that was soaked in blood.

Pam let out a scream. And as she turned and ran back through the black of night, she never stopped screaming.

CHAPTER ONE

Mackenzie sat in the passenger seat of a bureau-issued sedan with a standard-issue Glock in her hand – a weapon that was becoming as familiar to her as the feeling of her own skin. But today, it felt different. After today, everything would be different.

It took the voice of Bryers to break her from her mini-trance. He was sitting in the driver’s seat, looking at her in a way that Mackenzie thought was similar to the stare of a disappointed father.

“You know…you don’t have to do this,” Bryers said. “No one is going to think any less of you if you sit this out.”

“I think I do have to. I think I owe it to myself.”

Bryers sighed and looked out of the windshield. In front of them, a large parking lot was illuminated in the night by weak streetlights that were positioned along the edges and in the center of the lot. There were three cars out there and Mackenzie could also see the shapes of three men, pacing anxiously.