Extreme Exposure (24 page)
Authors: Alex Kingwell
“Why do you say that?”
“There was a note. Don’t you have it?”
She played with a thin gold necklace around her neck, then her hand dropped to her lap. Her breasts, firm and round, molded to the thin fabric of her T-shirt. Swallowing hard, he looked away.
Anna said, “We don’t have all the case files yet, although we’ve seen a reference to a note she apparently left.”
“There’s no mystery. She didn’t want to stay.” She bit her lip, sighed. “It may be hard for you to believe, but I’ve spent a couple of decades trying not to think about Lisa Bosko. I have no idea where she went or where she is now.” She glanced at her watch.
He said, “Did you find out anything interesting? In the DNA?”
“Most of it was useless, if you must know. I don’t have any risk factors for inherited diseases. My chances of having a heart attack are slightly higher. And apparently I have a gene that makes me rebellious, although they couldn’t pinpoint the location.”
Not missing a beat, he said, “It’s on the long arm of chromosome seven, right next to the one for being uncooperative.”
She shot him a mock-sweet smile. “I see you’ve read the report.”
Ignoring the quip, he said, “Did you check for relatives?”
She cocked an eyebrow at him. “There was nobody close.” She looked at her watch again, then at Anna. “I have to go to work. I will contact a lawyer to ensure information about my DNA is kept private.”
His partner said, “We have no use for it. It will be deleted; you can be sure of that.” Anna stood up. “We want to show you something.”
Bosko shot her a withering look and stood up. “I really don’t care what you have got to show me.”
He walked to the tall metal cabinet, opened the door. On the top shelf was a clay sculpture of a woman’s head. It looked so much like Bosko—the oval face, high cheekbones, wide-set eyes, small mouth—it was as if she’d posed for it. A few things were off, the face too fleshy, the nose too short. But a chill ran down his spine at seeing it again.
At the door, Bosko reached for the handle, then glanced back. For a split second, her expression didn’t change, then she raised a hand to her mouth and the color drained from her face. She looked from his face to Anna’s, then walked slowly as if in a trance and stood in front of the cabinet. One shaky hand reached out to touch the sculpture but drew back.
Looking at him, her lips moved, but it was a moment before words emerged. “Why do you have a bust of me?”
He said, “You should sit down.”
“I don’t want to sit down. Tell me.” The words came out ragged, barely audible.
He said, “It’s a facial reconstruction, but it’s not you.”
“Who is it?” Realization dawning, she covered her mouth again. Shock had darkened her eyes to a coal black.
“It’s your mother.”
A big thanks to my family and friends for their encouragement and support. And to my editor, Dana Hamilton of Hachette Book Group, for taking me on and being such a great person to work with.
An award-winning writer of romantic suspense, Alex Kingwell is a former newspaper reporter, columnist, and editor, who much prefers spending her days making stories up. When she’s not writing, or stuck with her head in a book, Alex can be found running with her dog, obsessing over tribal textiles, or watching offbeat movies with her husband (not necessarily in that order). She lives on the Canadian Prairies.
Learn more at:
Twitter:
@AlexKingwell
Web:
AlexKingwell.com
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Contents
- Cover
- Title Page
- Welcome
- Dedication
- CHAPTER ONE
- CHAPTER TWO
- CHAPTER THREE
- CHAPTER FOUR
- CHAPTER FIVE
- CHAPTER SIX
- CHAPTER SEVEN
- CHAPTER EIGHT
- CHAPTER NINE
- CHAPTER TEN
- CHAPTER ELEVEN
- CHAPTER TWELVE
- CHAPTER THIRTEEN
- CHAPTER FOURTEEN
- CHAPTER FIFTEEN
- CHAPTER SIXTEEN
- CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
- CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
- A Preview of the Next Chasing Justice Book
- Acknowledgments
- About the Author
- Newsletters
- Copyright
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
Copyright © 2016 by Alex Kingwell
Excerpt from next Chasing Justice book copyright © 2016 by Alex Kingwell
Cover design by Brian Lemus
Cover copyright © 2016 by Hachette Book Group, Inc.
All rights reserved. In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the publisher constitutes unlawful piracy and theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), prior written permission must be obtained by contacting the publisher at [email protected]. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.
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First edition: February 2016
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ISBN 978-1-4555-6529-0 (ebook edition)
ISBN 978-1-4555-6531-3 (print on demand edition)
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