Crushed Gardenias: Rae Hatting Mysteries

By Heather Osborne

Special Agent Rae Hatting has been sent to a small town in Colorado to investigate the disappearance of young girls from several surrounding states. What she finds is not at all what she expected. 

Initially submitted to the "Bloody Scotland" crime short story contest in 2014.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Heather Osborne
• Release date: Aug 21, 2014
• ISBN: 9781519976109

Book preview

You have to jump, now! She’s going to be back any minute. Grabbing a heavy crystal vase of flowers, she throws it at the window. The old glass shatters, and the vase falls to the floor with a thump. We can hear footsteps in the hall.

She snatches a blanket and covers the shards of glass before briskly shoving me through the window. I hit the ground with a thump. RUN! She disappears from the window to confront our captor.

I run and run until my legs are throbbing with pain. Branches sting my cheeks and legs as I dart through the dense underbrush.

***

Rae

Her piercing azure eyes were fogged over, staring into the abyss. The lowering sun glistened across their glazed membranes. She was dressed very much like the others, in delicate white garments adorned with gardenia flowers. After years of dealing with these cases, I could no longer smell that scent without associating it with death. Her blonde hair was