All the Pretty Faces Read Online Free PDF Page A

slowed, windows rolling down so the drivers could see what had happened. Horns began to honk, the traffic backing up.
    She didn’t like being in the spotlight. She tucked her hair behind her ear, straightened her clothing, and lifted her chin.
    An older couple rushed toward her, the man carrying her cell phone. “Is this yours, miss?”
    “Yes, thank you.” Josie took the phone with a trembling hand.
    The man who’d almost hit her coughed. “I’m sorry, I looked down for a second. You just came out of nowhere.”
    Because someone had pushed her into the street.
    Guilt and terror tinged the man’s voice. Josie squeezed his arm. “I’m sorry, sir. I slipped and fell, but I’m fine.”
    Someone shouted that they recognized her. Another voice yelled for her to leave town. Josie looked up to see who it was—maybe the person who’d shoved her into the street?
    The older couple hovered nearby. “Can we drive you somewhere?”
    She shook her head. “No, my car is in the parking lot. I’ll be fine. I’m sorry for causing trouble.”
    Anxious to escape before anyone else recognized her, she waved off everyone’s concern and darted in the direction of her car. Behind her, more horns blasted, and traffic resumed.
    Just as she reached the parking lot, footsteps clattered on the pavement behind her. Fear gripped her. She twisted around to see who was following her—two teenagers heading toward Cocoa’s Café.
    She sighed in relief, unlocked her car, and collapsed inside, her heart racing.

    The wind howled off the mountain, and twigs and leaves pelted Dane, a reminder that another winter had barely passed in Graveyard Falls and that the turbulent March winds and storms were setting in.
    Dane paced by the creek, one eye on the crime investigators, hoping they paid attention to details.
    He reached for his cell to phone Josie, but Sheriff Kimball strode toward him, and Dane held back. Kimball had helped with the Bride Killer case, but something about the man bugged Dane. He was too quiet, distant, as if he had secrets of his own.
    The midday sun slanted through the trees. Yet storm clouds rolled above, the sky an ominous gray. They needed to work the crime scene fast before the rain hit and destroyed evidence.
    “Six guests in the motel last night,” Sheriff Kimball said matter-of-factly. “No one saw anything.”
    He wasn’t surprised. This motel was run-down and off the beaten path. “Anyone seem suspicious?”
    The sheriff consulted his notepad. “Not really. Apparently there’s a garden club at the local church. Five out of those six guests were middle-aged women here to attend.”
    “What about the sixth?”
    Kimball gave a perfunctory glance toward the van in the lot. “Couple with two kids traveling through. Said their baby was up all night the evening before and they were dead asleep by nine o’clock.”
    Dane contemplated various scenarios. “Get the manager to open up the rooms that were vacant. The killer could have gotten inside one, stabbed the woman there, then waited until everything was quiet to dump her body.”
    All business, Kimball nodded. “I’m on it.”
    The sheriff hurried toward the motel entrance, and Dane went to confer with the lead crime investigator from the county, Lieutenant Ward.
    They’d met when Dane was working with the task force Agent Coulter had spearheaded. Having worked together on previous cases, Cal had recruited Dane as soon as he got the assignment. Dane was glad to have the seasoned investigator on the team.
    “Have you found anything?” Dane asked.
    “No. No signs of a struggle back here. Weeds are not mashed, no clothing fabric or weapon.”
    Had the killer disposed of the victim’s clothes or kept them? “Have your team search the trash Dumpsters and woods for the clothing. How about footprints?”
    Lieutenant Ward’s mouth slanted into a frown. “A partial by the bushes, but it’s not enough to cast.”
    Dane surveyed the woods, the parking lot, and