If she were honest with herself, she would have to admit she hoped the BDSM part of the email had been a typo. It had been a long shot, of course.
Telford nodded.
“Why me…exactly? I have no experience with BDSM, at all. And why is the state sending someone four hours away to Dark Falls to investigate the murder at a club? Why can’t local authorities handle it?”
Telford glanced away, tapping his pencil rapidly against the desk until he lost control and dropped it. He still wasn’t looking at her when he spoke. “We needed a woman, for one thing.”
“Uh-huh. I’m definitely not the only female detective you have. And I’m willing to bet Dark Falls has female detectives also.” Please, God. This could not be happening. Not Dark Falls. Not now. Not ever.
“Yes, but, you’re, uh…”
She groaned. “If you mention my looks or even insinuate I’m somehow better suited to this assignment than another woman because of them, I’ll personally strangle you.” She spoke through gritted teeth. She’d known Telford for five years. He knew her well enough to know she wasn’t serious. But dammit.
He was also one of the few people who knew exactly why an assignment to Dark Falls would put her on edge.
He cringed and met her gaze finally. “It’s not just because you’re…attractive. It’s also your age and the fact that I know you can do this.”
She narrowed her eyes at him. She’d let the statement about her looks go. He was squirming in his seat at the need to answer that question. She could see how age would be a factor, however. One she couldn’t ignore. “What about Belinda or Tammy? They’re young.”
“Belinda is in Denver in the middle of another case, and Tammy is on maternity leave.”
Shit. She’d forgotten about that. Nicole had been in Falling Rock, Colorado, working undercover on a case for the government. She excused herself from forgetting about Tammy’s baby because the child had been adopted. It wasn’t as if Tammy had been wandering around the department for nine months with a huge belly that reminded everyone daily about her upcoming parenthood.
Telford continued. “The victim was the twenty-year-old daughter of Governor Thompson.”
“Shit,” she hissed under her breath. That explained everything. The entire state would jump through hoops to solve that crime. Obviously, she wasn’t so far out of the loop that she hadn’t seen the young girl’s picture on the news a thousand times in the last few days, but she hadn’t realized her next assignment had been to solve the murder of Cora Thompson.
“Yeah. Now you understand why the state wants someone from Denver sent to help.”
She pushed to standing and set her hands on Telford’s desk, hating the question she had to ask, but doing so anyway. “Who’s the captain in Dark Falls on the case?”
“Eve Scanlon.”
“Does she know who I am?”
“I don’t think so. I didn’t tell her. She wasn’t there eighteen years ago.”
At least one thing was in her favor. She shoved off the desk and held his gaze. “I assume you need me there yesterday.”
Nicole had barely wrapped up the crime she was solving in Falling Rock late last night. She’d driven two hours to her apartment in Denver, slept three hours, showered, and arrived at the precinct by eight in the morning. It looked like she needed to drive straight to Dark Falls without going back to her place. Thank goodness she always kept an emergency suitcase packed in the trunk of her Honda Accord.
“Yes. They’re expecting you ASAP.”
She nodded and left his office without another word. There was little else to say, and she understood the urgency perfectly. Not that she considered any homicide to be more important than another. She took every case she was assigned as seriously as the next and made it her life. But, she wouldn’t lie to herself that she would have argued further about the need for her to be the one sent to this particular case if the victim had been anyone else.
The moment Telford mentioned the victim’s name, she’d known it was time to shut her mouth and get moving. Governor Kenneth Thompson was a well-respected and beloved man. The publicity alone was crazy. Every news station in the country was talking about this crime.
The death of the governor’s daughter was far more important than Nicole’s aversion to Dark Falls or her lack of knowledge about BDSM. She needed to suck it up. On both counts.
As Nicole rushed through the precinct, grabbing her purse and briefcase from her desk, she tried to remember what she’d heard on the news. How much did the public know? She’d seen Cora’s picture dozens of times. In fact, she was glad she’d turned the TV on that morning while she’d gotten ready to leave. She obviously didn’t have the file yet, and wouldn’t until she arrived in Dark Falls, but she recalled hearing the body had been located and the family was not taking questions at this time.
She took a deep breath as she unlocked her car and climbed inside. She had a thousand questions, but none of them would be answered until she got to Dark Falls.
What was glaringly obvious was that the media had not been alerted about the location or state of the body. In addition, whatever had prompted the Dark Falls police department to decide to send two people undercover to a BDSM club was most definitely not public knowledge as of yet.
Nicole palmed a Power Bar from the console and chose an upbeat radio station to listen to on the four-hour drive. However, as soon as she got on the interstate, her phone rang. The Bluetooth indicated it was her mother. Not a surprise. They hadn’t spoken in a few days.
“Hey, Mom,” she greeted as they were connected, cutting her music off temporarily.
“You’re driving.”
“Yep.” Her mother hated it when she talked on the phone while driving, even though she’d explained a dozen times that it was connected through the car speakers and hands-free.
“Where are you going?”
“Dark Falls.”
Her mother sucked in a breath. Not surprising. “Dark Falls. That’s…so far away.”
Nicole rolled her eyes. Only her mother would ignore the elephant that was Dark Falls and choose to point out the distance.
She surprised her, however, by adding, “You haven’t been back there since we moved to Denver, have you?” Her voice was soft, filled with concern.
“No. But it’s been almost two decades. I’ll be fine. I go where my boss tells me.” Nicole didn’t feel half as comfortable with this plan as she wanted her mom to believe.
A pause, and then her mother let it go. “Okay. How are you, hon?”
“I’m fine, Mom.”
“I don’t like it when you work such long hours.”
Nicole loved her mother. She did. But sometimes the woman could be exasperating.
“I hope you’ve made time for your therapist, dear. I know how you get busy and cancel your appointments.”
Nicole sighed, trying not to be too audible. After eighteen years, a name change, and thousands of hours of therapy, Nicole considered herself to be a more well-adjusted member of society than most people. “Mom…” she warned.
“I’m just saying. You know how you are when you get too tired.”
As if Nicole needed the reminder. By the time she had finished high school, she was stable enough to go off to college and then go on to the academy. Her immediate supervisors were aware of her childhood trauma and the fact that she had changed her last name to protect herself, but she had wanted to be a detective for most of her life, and she’d worked twice as hard as anyone she knew to make that dream a reality.
No one doubted her at work. She was professional in all things. Always. Every day. No exceptions. The secret she kept from nearly everyone alive was what happened to her at night in the dark. The nightmares had never subsided. Sometimes, she could go a few nights without waking up in a panic, sweating, and often screaming, but they always came back.
They made no sense. They were filled with sensations and feelings. Fear. Hunger. Cold. Thirst. Filth. Nothing s
ubstantial that would give anyone enough information to figure out what had happened to her. Even she did not know. After eighteen years, it was unlikely she ever would.
She realized her mother was still speaking, but she didn’t think she’d missed anything while her mind had wandered. “Are you sleeping?” her mother asked.
“Yes, Mom. I sleep fine.” It was a white lie. She didn’t sleep fine or often. But her mother would freak out if she told her. “How’s Dad?” Hopefully if she changed the subject, she wouldn’t continue to get the third degree.
“He’s good. Playing golf this weekend. As usual.” Her mother sighed as if this were a tragedy.
“That’s good. Keeps him young.”
“I suppose so. Well, I’m gonna let you go, hon. You need to pay attention to the road.”
“Thanks, Mom. Tell Dad I said hello.”
“Okay. Drive carefully.” Her mother hung up, and Nicole exhaled long and slow. She needed the next few hours of driving to relax her brain. She’d been operating at full-speed ahead for far too many weeks.
She assumed she would have to hit the ground running when she arrived in Dark Falls too. This was not going to be an easy assignment, and she didn’t imagine she would be getting much sleep in the near future.
If you’d like to continue reading Dark Nightmares, click here for purchase links.
Author’s Note
I hope you’ve enjoyed the Project DEEP series as much as I enjoyed writing it. It’s bittersweet that I must leave this world of cryonics and enter another. If you’ve enjoyed my writing and would like to try some of my other series, here are some suggestions:
If you’d like to try one of my Mixed Martial Arts series, I’d suggest Come.
Come (The Fight Club, Book 1)
If you’re interested in trying out one of my paranormal stories, I have recently released a new series called Arcadian Bears. This series is a spin-off from my most popular series, Wolf Masters.
Grizzly Mountain (Arcadian Bears, Book 1)
Also by Becca Jameson
Project DEEP:
Reviving Emily
Reviving Trish
Reviving Dade
Reviving Zeke
Reviving Graham
Reviving Bianca
Reviving Olivia
SEALs in Paradise:
Hot SEAL, Red Wine
Dark Falls:
Dark Nightmares
Club Zodiac:
Training Sasha
Obeying Rowen
Collaring Brooke
Mastering Rayne
Trusting Aaron
Claiming London
The Art of Kink:
Pose
Paint
Sculpt
Arcadian Bears:
Grizzly Mountain
Grizzly Beginning
Grizzly Secret
Grizzly Promise
Grizzly Survival
Grizzly Perfection
Sleeper SEALs:
Saving Zola
Spring Training:
Catching Zia
Catching Lily
Catching Ava
The Underground series:
Force
Clinch
Guard
Submit
Thrust
Torque
Saving Sofia (Kindle World)
Wolf Masters series:
Kara’s Wolves
Lindsey’s Wolves
Jessica’s Wolves
Alyssa’s Wolves
Tessa’s Wolf
Rebecca’s Wolves
Melinda’s Wolves
Laurie’s Wolves
Amanda’s Wolves
Sharon’s Wolves
Claiming Her series:
The Rules
The Game
The Prize
Emergence series:
Bound to be Taken
Bound to be Tamed
Bound to be Tested
The Fight Club series:
Come
Perv
Need
Hers
Want
Lust
Wolf Gatherings series:
Tarnished
Dominated
Completed
Redeemed
Abandoned
Betrayed
Durham Wolves series:
Rescue in the Smokies
Fire in the Smokies
Freedom in the Smokies
Stand Alone Books:
Blind with Love
Guarding the Truth
Out of the Smoke
Abducting His Mate
Three’s a Cruise
Wolf Trinity
Frostbitten
A Princess for Cale/A Princess for Cain
About the Author
Becca Jameson is a USA Today best-selling author of over 80 books. She is most well-known for her Wolf Masters series and her Fight Club series. She currently lives in Atlanta, Georgia, with her husband, two grown kids, and the various pets that wander through. She is loving this journey and has dabbled in a variety of genres, including paranormal, sports romance, military, and BDSM.
A total night owl, Becca writes late at night, sequestering herself in her office with a glass of red wine and a bar of dark chocolate, her fingers flying across the keyboard as her characters weave their own stories.
During the day--which never starts before ten in the morning!--she can be found jogging, floating in the pool, or reading in her favorite hammock chair!
…where Alphas dominate…
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Contact Becca:
www.beccajameson.com
beccajameson4@aol.com