Shock: Shock, #1

By Marc Timms

Katie Boles finds her life turned upside when she finds a dead body on her driveway. The mysterious death is reminiscent of the work of a serial killer who terrorized Katie's hometown five years ago. The police arrested Katie's brother for the murders, but the trial and her brother's behavior left her with plenty of questions.

After a second killing nearby, Katie is afraid that the Shock Killer, the man who had forced her into hiding, was back to involve her in a second round of murders. Even more frightening is the fact that Katie might have to come face-to-face with her brother and learn the truth of the murders.

 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Marc Timms
• Release date: Jun 12, 2020
• ISBN: 9781393119180

Book preview

Chapter 1

Katie Boles heard the thump on her front porch. She was accustomed to the sounds of the night, here far away from the suburbs and neighbors’ pets. She appreciated the quiet out here. However, tonight above the soft rustle of the leaves in the wind, she heard something else.

This noise was different, human perhaps. Katie knew of no reason why anyone would be out here twenty-five miles from the nearest home. She would have to investigate to make sure everything felt right. Katie had made her life as far from the crowds as she could, but she’d drawn the line at not having reliable Wi-Fi, and by having one of her dad’s old rifles.

She smiled thinking of how her younger self would never have believed that a cabin in the woods would be her home. She decided to take her phone, but not the gun tonight. She didn’t want to be seen as overly cautious. Life had risks; she knew that.

Turning on the light outside, she saw a few scattered critters beat a retreat while the moths and insects drew closer to the light. She didn’t see anything on the porch, but she decided to take a look further from the house. She wanted to do this quickly before the party of bugs grew too dense around the lights. She didn’t have any desire to walk through a swarm of flying things.

Katie took her phone with her, and she flipped the device around to use it as a flashlight via an app. The light shone brightly across the lawn to the slope that led down to town. Nothing there.

She moved the light to the wood, but she saw no glowing eyes staring back at her as she would have expected with an animal.

The light caught something down by the mailbox about 50 yards from the house. She racked her brain, trying to remember if she’d picked up the mail today. She thought that letter from the state had arrived today, but out here, the days ran together. It might have been yesterday.

As she grew closer to the mailbox, the inert shape began to be more visible. The outline did not indicate a box, though Katie couldn’t remember any orders coming in. She sighed as she moved closer.

The figure appeared to be human from a few feet away, and Katie stopped. She’d grown wary over time about people. That was one reason why she’d moved so far away from the closest town. She didn’t want to have to deal with their comments and actions. This could be another person, pretending to be dead or injured to talk to her or harass her.

On the other hand, Katie knew that the person could be genuinely in need of help, and her desire to do the right thing, even after all this time, took control. She made her way slowly to the body, the man, who reposed on the driveway. Katie immediately noticed that the man blocked her driveway, which would have required her to move the body – or run over it –to