One Step Ahead, Audrey Walker [best book club books of all time TXT] 📗

One Step Ahead

Detective Robin Matthews Series - Book 2

Audrey Walker

Contents

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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

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Copyright

Copyright © 2021 by Audrey Walker

All rights reserved

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 work of fiction. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locations is purely coincidental. The characters are all productions of the author’s imagination.

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Prequel for FREE! Download now

Shelby Griffin Mystery Series:

Academy Assassin (a Prequel) for FREE

Shelby Griffin Series BOX SET

Sleepless Night (Shelby Griffin Book 1)

Sleepless Mind (Shelby Griffin Book 2)

Sleepless Street (Shelby Griffin Book 3)

Sleepless Hunt (Shelby Griffin Book 4)

Sleepless Shelby (Shelby Griffin Book 5)

Mark Fropp Series:

Fropp’s Identity Boxset (Book 1-5)

Act of Vengeance (Fropp’s Identity Book 1)

Act of Deception (Fropp’s Identity Book 2)

Act of Deliverance (Fropp’s Identity Book 3)

Act of Defiance (Fropp’s Identity Book 4)

Act of Destruction (Fropp’s Identity Book 5)

Robin Matthews Series:

The Butcher’s Head (Robin Matthews Book 1)

One Step Ahead (Robin Matthews Book 2)

The Child’s Plan (Robin Matthews Book 3)

Past Unveiling (Robin Matthews Book 4)

The Abandoned Child (Robin Matthews Book 5)

Chapter One

“You really thought you could run from me?” he whispered in her ear. “You really thought it was all coming to an end? Did you really think that I was gone?”

Robin shivered as she looked around the dim room.

“Who are you?” she whispered.

“You don’t recognize me?” the voice whispered. “Could it be possible? Have you really forgotten me so soon?”

“Or maybe,” his sinister yet silky voice echoed in the small room. “Maybe you thought I was gone. You didn’t think I was truly dead, did you?”

Robin screamed as the man stepped into the light. It just wasn’t possible. She had seen his severed head; he was supposed to be dead. And yet here he was, standing in front of her.

The Butcher.

“You’re dead!” Robin gasped.

“That’s what you thought,” he whispered. “I can never truly be dead. I cannot be killed! You got away from me once; you will not get away again!”

He started to laugh maniacally, and Robin shivered as tears fell from her eyes. It couldn’t be true; it couldn’t. It just couldn’t.

__

Robin woke up with a gasp, her heart throbbing in her chest and her ears ringing. Her eyes were blinded with bright light, and she closed her tired eyes.

“Robin?” She heard Abby’s voice. “Oh, Thank God! You are awake!”

Robin opened her eyes and found her sister peering down at her.

“What? Where am I?” Robin asked. Her head was throbbing, and she felt nauseous.

“In the hospital,” Abby said. “I am so glad Kyle got to you in time. Otherwise you could have died! Oh, Robin!” Her sister pulled her into a hug, bursting into tears on her sister’s shoulder. “I thought I had lost you.”

“It’s okay,” Robin whispered.

The door opened, and the Captain stepped in.

“Robin,” he said, looking much older than his age. “I am really glad that you got back safe.”

“How?” Robin asked, her throat parched.

“Kyle,” he said. “He received a call from an unknown number that told him you are in danger and gave the address. He rushed to find you and got there just in time. You had already lost a lot of blood.”

Robin reached out and touched her throbbing head, which was wrapped up in bandages.

“What call?” she asked.

“We don’t know,” he said. “It came from a burner phone, and we failed to trace it. We don’t know who he was or how he knew about you.”

Robin winced as her memories started to return, and she gasped, “There was a body there –”

“Yes,” the Captain said, sighing. “Another murdered woman. We found her hanging from the crane. Her severed head was lying nearby. The Executioner has been very active.”

“I don’t understand; who called Kyle?” Robin said. Her mind was racing, but she could barely think because of the throbbing ache in her head.

“Well, we are entertaining some possibilities,” He said. “But so far –”

“Who would know where I am?” Robin whispered to herself, her heart racing in her chest. “Who? Except for the killer.”

“Why would the killer want to save you?” Abby asked, looking shaken.

“Because he doesn’t want me dead,” Robin whispered. “Not yet, anyway. Not until he has completed whatever he has planned for me.”

“Oh, God,” Abby whispered, sounding horrified. A second later, Robin feels a pair of arms surround her as her sister pulled her into a hug. She sobbed into Robin’s shoulder, and slowly Robin hugged her back. For a minute, the two sisters just reveled in the comfort of each other as the Captain stood there shuffling his feet.

“Well, I am glad to know you are okay, Detective Matthews,” He said, looking uncomfortable. “We will have a formal discussion about this incident when you return. We will obviously have to file an official report about this.”

“I don’t think it can wait this long,” Kyle’s voice echoed from the doorway. He stood there, leaning against the door frame, his hands in his pocket and a stern expression on his face.

“Why did you go to that particular construction site?” Kyle asked. “How did you happen to be there at that particular time?”

“I –,” Robin stammered.

“Could it have anything to do with this note I found in your apartment?” He said, holding out the note that had led Robin there. “Where did you find this? And why was it with you, instead of being stored in evidence?”

“Jesus,” the Captain