The Second Soulmate

By Valerie J. Long

Catherine Mallory was one of Frangeles’ best detectives, until the day that her partner was killed by an unlucky stray bullet. She quit her police job and started operating a forklift by day, serving drinks at night. Both jobs together pay her rent and her food and keep her from brooding over how she failed her teammate.

One day, though, she finds the dead victim of a violent crime, and her old job instincts kick in. She decides to investigate and interfere. She can’t know that this decision will lead her into deeper trouble than ordinary mortals could imagine.

• Language: English
• Publisher: eXtasy Books Inc
• Release date: Feb 26, 2023
• ISBN: 9781487436438

Valerie J. Long

Author of the Zoe Lionheart series (in German and English), living and writing in Germany.My english books have a separate smashwords profile (for being maintained by my publisher), see me again at http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/valjlong and http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/valariejlong

Book preview

Catherine Mallory is an ex-cop, storage worker, and waitress. Her life has become dull after she lost her partner and therefore quit her job. She likes dull.

Catherine Mallory was one of Frangeles’ best detectives, until the day that her partner was killed by an unlucky stray bullet. She quit her police job and started operating a forklift by day, serving drinks at night. Both jobs together pay her rent and her food and keep her from brooding over how she failed her teammate.

One day, though, she finds the dead victim of a violent crime, and her old job instincts kick in. She decides to investigate and interfere. She can’t know that this decision will lead her into deeper trouble than ordinary mortals could imagine.

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The Second Soulmate

Copyright © 2022 Valerie J. Long

ISBN: 978-1-4874-3643-8

Cover art by Martine Jardin

All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.

Published by eXtasy Books Inc

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Smashwords Edition

The Second Soulmate

By

Valerie J. Long

Dedication

For Catherine.

Chapter One

Two dark silhouettes stepped out of a shadowy passage ahead. Seven inches of metal reflected the dim light of one of the few working street lamps.

Cat shrugged and flexed her fingers. The side streets of Frangeles late at night were no place for a girl on her own. That was what Joaquin had always said, and Joaquin’s advice had usually been good.

But Joaquin was dead now, and Cat no longer cared. She wore shorts, boots, and a loose-fitting shirt. Her pockets contained a multicard, a lighter, and a lipstick she hadn’t used for years.

There was nothing to gain for the occasional street rat but trouble. Trouble everyone could easily have avoided—she by sticking to the main roads, them by staying out of her way.

The man with the blade stepped forward. All you got, now!

Yeah, exactly. Cat’s foot kicked the knife from his hand. Two quick strikes took the air out of his lungs, and a sharp hit with the edge of her hand almost shattered the other thug’s lower jaw.

She assumed the playful tiger stance and waited.

Her opponents glanced at her, made up their minds, and hurried away.

Once they had disappeared, Cat straightened herself and continued on her way.

Something made her pause before an old warehouse entrance.

The door stood invitingly ajar. She listened before she entered, but couldn’t hear anything. Her curiosity won.

The empty floor gave her no clue, either, so she slowly advanced along one side wall toward the rear end of the almost dark hall. A few cubicles there might once have served as office space, but now they were as deserted as the rest of the building.

Or that was what she initially assumed. Upon a closer look, the first cubicle wasn’t entirely empty. The floor was covered by a motionless body in a large puddle of fluid.

The man had to be dead. Nobody could still be alive with half of his throat torn out.

Cat didn’t give in to the upcoming feel of nausea but fought it down, refusing to add to the mess on the floor. She didn’t have to remember Joaquin’s advice in order to be cautious around a fresh victim.

The killer might still be close, hiding in a shadow or behind the next cubicle wall. Reflexively, she reached to her hip, where her gun holster used to be—in her former life.

She shook her head. No more.

Without a gun, it would be hard to fend off a determined killer. Her chances, if any, lay in close combat. So she decided to check out the next cubicle.

Empty.

The third and last one was empty, too, but with an open window. On its ledge she found a small drop of blood.

She couldn’t tell if it was the victim’s blood or the killer’s, but he had to have left this way.

Cat relaxed a little. Unless she dared to follow through that window, she should be safe, and she didn’t