Her Deadly End - A Murder Mystery - The Escape
A West Coast FBI K9 murder mystery thriller
Do you need a break from the real world? Are you exhausted by dumpster-fire news and wish for true justice in a world where justice is never guaranteed?
Here’s your escape hatch.
Scroll down to read the story. My challenge to you is to find the devious killer and bring them to justice before my detective does. Can you do it?
What you will get:
One chapter of the story dropped every Tuesday morning at 5AM PST
Short reads you can binge on a coffee break
Your thrilling adventure begins now. And it’s FREE right here.
HER DEADLY END: A Crime Thriller with a Twist
A brutal murder shatters the peace of Paradise Cove. As the body count rises, FBI Agent Tanya Stone and her K9 dog, Max, hunt for the twisted secret that lies beneath this small seaside town. But a serial killer is lurking in plain sight, ready to strike again.
A deadly game of survival has just begun and FBI Agent Tanya Stone’s next decision could cost her life....
What you’ll find in this serialized story on Substack:
A strong-minded detective & her faithful German Shepherd K9
A cold-blooded serial killer with a haunted past
A small seaside town & an affluent neighbourhood
Dysfunctional & toxic family dynamics
Betrayals, deceit, & psychological suspense
A closed circle of suspects. The killer could be anyone
Unexpected plot twists & an explosive ending
All Rights Reserved. Copyright ©Tikiri Herath
*There is no graphic violence, heavy cursing, or explicit sex in my stories. No dog is ever harmed, but the villains always are…
Previous Chapter Recapped:
Eveline Hart wakes in darkness in her bedroom. She feels drugged but hears an intruder in her room. A man appears from the shadows with a knife and demands to know where "they" are. When she refuses to respond, he ties her to a chair, hits her, and threatens to burn the house down if she doesn't answer his questions….
Her Deadly End - Chapter Two
The Escape
The intruder pulled off his right glove and threw it on the floor.
Eveline drew back in horror. She knew what would happen next.
Skin on skin hurt more than that soft wool glove. He learned that from his father.
The man cracked his knuckles and clenched his right hand into a fist.
Her eyes grew wide as she noticed the scar on the back of his hand. A glaring red heart burned into his pale skin. The wound had healed, but it was still gruesome.
So, he’s been branded too.
“Are you ready to talk?” he roared.
“No.”
He slammed his fist into her face. Her head flung back. She reeled. Stars danced in front of her blurred eyes. A metallic taste came to her mouth and blood trickled from her torn lips.
“Don’t you want to live, witch?” he shouted, raising his fist, ready to punch again.
She had known this day would come. She just hadn’t realized it would be this soon, but she was going to die, anyway. What did she have to lose?
“No.”
He hit her again.
And again.
Until she went numb.
With a furious hiss, he kicked the chair violently. It tilted back and crashed to its side, taking Eveline down with it. A searing pain shot through her weakened body like a lightning strike.
Then she blacked out.
She didn’t know how long she lay, oblivious to her surroundings.
When she came to, she found herself in a crumpled heap on the floor, still tied to the back of the chair. She lay quietly in that agonizing position, listening to him ransack the house.
“Where are they?” he hollered from somewhere in the dining room.
Something got smashed. The sound of shattering glass came soon after. Her hand-blown wineglasses, the beautiful set she’d bought in Prague, were now gone, she was sure.
She moved her arm and winced at the stinging pain. She felt something strange on her, like a snake had coiled around her.
The rope.
It had loosened when the chair had upturned.
Inch by inch, Eveline pulled at it, ignoring the pains shooting through her body. Soon, the knot came undone, and the rope fell to the floor.
She pushed herself up with shaking arms and glanced around.
A hurricane had passed through the living room. He was upstairs now, cursing loudly.
You’ll never find them there.
Eveline got to her feet and leaned against the wall, trying to catch her breath. Her heart was pounding with the effort as much as the terror she felt.
Holding on to the wall, she made her way toward the kitchen. Step by step. She passed the pantry, not daring to glance inside. Instead, she put a trembling hand on the smaller door next to it.
She stepped into the garage and closed the door behind her. Passing her dead husband’s Cadillac, she walked toward the Porsche SUV at the end. He used to yell at her for leaving her keys inside, but she only did it because she kept losing them.
Eveline pulled open the driver’s side door and crawled inside. She reached toward the cubby-hole and clicked it open. A sigh of relief went through her as she saw her old-fashioned revolver tucked inside.
Her husband had never known she kept it there. If he had found out, he would have confiscated it. She knew it wasn’t legal to carry it, especially loaded, but she always felt safer with it.
It took a minute for her to focus.
Foot on brake.
Turn on engine.
Open garage door.
The garage door had pulled up halfway when he came storming through the small door from the kitchen, screaming at the top of his lungs.
“Where the hell do you think you’re going?”
Eveline heard the sharp clank of the knife as it hit her back windshield. She jumped on the gas pedal. The Porsche propelled out of the garage, the top scraping the door that was still pulling up.
She rocketed down the driveway and onto the road, grasping the steering wheel like her life depended on it.
She only looked in the rearview mirror once. He was coming. His black pickup truck was gunning out of her driveway, heading in her direction.
She pressed on the gas, glad for her car. She had overheard her husband boast to a friend one day that it had five hundred horsepower or something like that. Whatever it was, she needed everything to beat the heavy-duty flatbed that was coming after her.
Her engine revved as she sped through the quiet streets of Paradise Cove.
She wiped the blood from her face, unsure where she was heading. Her instincts had taken over now and were guiding her toward the town centre.
It was still early and most of the town was asleep.
Paradise Cove was a quiet peninsula, inhabited by wealthy retirees and moneyed families who didn’t have to get up every day to work. The main street stores were opening, but there was hardly any traffic.
Cora’s Corner Café was just a block away. It was where she always picked up her morning latte.
Eveline was no longer thinking. She was on autopilot. She turned the corner, her wheels squealing on the asphalt.
That was when she spotted the boy. She was sure it was him, even with that goofy blonde wig. Her jaw dropped. Her hands clenched.
How did he get out?
That moment of distraction cost her.
One second, she was speeding down the street. The next, she had jumped the curb and was hurtling like a bullet toward Cora’s Corner Café.
To be continued next week….
Thank you for reading. Hope you enjoyed this chapter.
Question for you: Who did Eveline spot by the road right before everything went wrong? Who is he?
*Chapters drop on Substack weekly. If the next chapter isn’t up yet, hang on. It’s coming in a few days!
NOTE: Canadian / British spelling is used here as the author is Canadian. The final completed book in bookstores will have American spelling.
Click here to read more stories from the award-winning Canadian mystery thriller author, Tikiri Herath.