Page 1 of Four Cards Exposed

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Susan

Officer Susan Lopes suppressed a sigh of frustration as she caught sight of the dark blue minivan parked in front of the fire hydrant. Judging by its location, she was pretty sure the owners were in the ice cream parlor across the street—and clearly colorblind, too, since they’d managed to miss the markings on the floor.

Normally, Susan would have been only too happy to walk over and have a quick chat with the occupants of the vehicle.

She enjoyed meeting new people and, from the moment she’d joined the Sharp’s Cove Sheriff’s Office two years earlier, she’d known PR would be a big part of the job. And she loved it—loved knowing that she was doing her part to ensure Sharp’s Cove, the town she’d grown up in and loved, was both a safe and an enjoyable place for people to live in and visit.

But today, Susan had been on her feet all day. She had a blister the size of a dime on her heel—one she knew would likely look like a quarter by the time her shift was done. She’d hardly slept a couple of hours the night before. She was running on fumes.

Her hand went unconsciously to the pocket of her uniform, where she kept the parking tickets. She felt along the edge of the notepad with the pad of her thumb for a few seconds, then pulled her hand back with a small sigh.

She wasn’t so far gone that she didn’t realize her annoyance had little to do with the distance she’d walked today, or the badly parked out-of-state minivan.

A middle-aged man wearing a Best Dad in the Galaxy T-shirt, the words held up by a cute, sleepy-looking Baby Yoda, ran out the door, key fob in hand.

“Officer, I was just about to—“

Susan nodded, squaring her shoulders. “Please make sure you do, Sir. There’s a parking lot right behind this block.”

She had to smile at his obvious relief that he wouldn’t be getting fined.

“Thank you, Officer,” he said. He jogged off quickly, as if she might change her mind if he took too long.

Susan crossed the road again and went back to the patrol car.

She needed to sleep. At times, it seemed to her she hadn’t slept at all in the last six months, ever since she and Jessy Long had been drugged and kidnapped by Jessy’s stalker, who’d turned out to be her dead fiancé’s brother. The madman had taken them to a remote location, where he’d tried to burn Jessy, leaving Susan inside the trunk to die.

Susan would remember the terror of those minutes for the rest of her life—of waking up and breathing that stale, dark air, then kicking and kicking and kicking until her knees and legs were a mass of bruises. She’d managed to kick the tail light out, but even that hadn’t let in much air, and it’d been so hot inside the car … Susan had known, deep in her heart, that there was no way she could get out.

Jessy’s boyfriend, Fire Chief Darryl Berner, had saved them both. Then he’d gone inside the burning house again and almost died while he attempted to rescue the stalker. Susan looked down at the scars on her palms from dragging Darryl back out. Those scars would stay with her forever, but it wasn’t the scars that bothered her.

Her real problem was the recurring nightmare, which grew stronger every day, even though the madman who’d tried to kill them was long gone. Each night, she went to sleep, wishing only for a quiet, dreamless night. And, each night, she woke up shivering, her mind will with images of darkness and fire.

Susan sighed and looked down at her phone. There were still three hours left in her shift. She could call in sick, but then her boss, Sheriff Natalie Bowmann, would want to know what was going on, would want to make sure Susan was okay. And that wasn’t a conversation Susan was eager to have.

Since she wasn’t going to get any sleep anytime soon, she decided to stop by Holly’s Café for a cup of coffee. Coffee was Susan’s biggest pleasure slash addiction. If she wasn’t worried about her stomach, she could drink coffee all day. As it was, she tried to limit her intake to three or four cups. And Holly’s Café made the best coffee in town—strong and dark and spicy.

Susan stepped inside the café, inhaling the fragrant, nutty smell.

This is just what I need.

She stopped in her tracks as she noticed a familiar figure sitting in the corner booth. A frisson of fear went down her spine.

What’s the FBI doing here again?

“Special Agent Vasquez? Lorraine?” Susan asked, careful to keep her voice steady. “What are you doing in Sharp’s Cove?”

The FBI agent and her partner had been part of the task force created to bring Dr. Stephen Ford, Sharp’s Cove very own serial killer and rapist, into custody. They’d then also helped during Jessy Long’s abduction.

Susan looked around, half-expecting to see James Ramsay, Lorraine’s handsome, unflappable partner, coming up from behind.

Nope, nobody walking around who looks like he’s got a stick shoved up his behind.

The thought made her chuckle briefly, but she grew serious again as Lorraine got up to shake her hand.