Nearly Gone (A Grace Ford FBI Thriller—Book Four)

By Molly Black

With a string of unsolved murders up and down the Mississippi River, the FBI assembles a task force, assigning their best Minnesota field agent, Grace Ford, to partner with an agent from their Louisiana office. Despite their culture clash, the two must work together to traverse the country, crack the hardest cases—and to stop the next killer before it’s too late.

When a body is found frozen in the ice in a Minnesota lake, Grace must travel to the source of the Mississippi to unearth a killer’s motive—and to save the next victims before it’s too late.

“Molly Black has written a taut thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat… I absolutely loved this book and can’t wait to read the next book in the series!”
—Reader review for Girl One: Murder

NEARLY GONE is book #4 in a long anticipated new series by critically-acclaimed and #1 bestselling mystery and suspense author Molly Black, whose books have received over 2,000 five-star reviews and ratings.

A page-turning and harrowing crime thriller featuring a brilliant and tortured FBI agent, the Grace Ford series is a riveting mystery, packed with non-stop action, suspense, twists and turns, revelations, and driven by a breakneck pace that will keep you flipping pages late into the night. Fans of Rachel Caine, Teresa Driscoll and Robert Dugoni are sure to fall in love.

Future Books in the series are also available.

“I binge read this book. It hooked me in and didn't stop till the last few pages… I look forward to reading more!”
—Reader review for Found You

“I loved this book! Fast-paced plot, great characters and interesting insights into investigating cold cases. I can't wait to read the next book!”
—Reader review for Girl One: Murder

“Very good book… You will feel like you are right there looking for the kidnapper! I know I will be reading more in this series!”
—Reader review for Girl One: Murder

“This is a very well written book and holds your interest from page 1… Definitely looking forward to reading the next one in the series, and hopefully others as well!”
—Reader review for Girl One: Murder

“Wow, I cannot wait for the next in this series. Starts with a bang and just keeps going.”
—Reader review for Girl One: Murder


“Well written book with a great plot, one that will keep you up at night. A page turner!”
—Reader review for Girl One: Murder

“A great suspense that keeps you reading… can't wait for the next in this series!”
—Reader review for Found You

“Sooo soo good! There are a few unforeseen twists… I binge read this like I binge watch Netflix. It just sucks you in.”
—Reader review for Found You

• Language: English
• Publisher: Molly Black
• Release date: Sep 1, 2023
• ISBN: 9781094378749

Book preview

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N E A R L Y   G O N E

(A Grace Ford FBI Suspense Thriller—Book 4)

M o l l y   B l a c k

Molly Black

Bestselling author Molly Black is author of the MAYA GRAY FBI suspense thriller series, comprising nine books (and counting); of the RYLIE WOLF FBI suspense thriller series, comprising six books; of the TAYLOR SAGE FBI suspense thriller series, comprising eight books; of the KATIE WINTER FBI suspense thriller series, comprising eleven books; of the RUBY HUNTER FBI suspense thriller series, comprising five books (and counting); of the CAITLIN DARE FBI suspense thriller series, comprising six books (and counting); of the REESE LINK mystery series, comprising six books (and counting); of the CLAIRE KING FBI suspense thriller series, comprising five books (and counting); of the GRACE FORD FBI suspense thriller series, comprising five books (and counting); and of the PIPER WOODS FBI suspense thriller series, comprising five books (and counting).

An avid reader and lifelong fan of the mystery and thriller genres, Molly loves to hear from you, so please feel free to visit www.mollyblackauthor.com to learn more and stay in touch.

Copyright © 2023 by Molly Black. All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior permission of the author. This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return it and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictionally. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. Jacket image Copyright elegeyda used under license from Shutterstock.com.

BOOKS BY MOLLY BLACK

PIPER WOODS MYSTERY SERIES

SOMEWHERE SAFE (Book #1)

SOMEWHERE SANE (Book #2)

SOMEWHERE WHOLE (Book #3)

SOMEWHERE FAR (Book #4)

SOMEWHERE WRONG (Book #5)

GRACE FORD MYSTERY SERIES

NEARLY MINE (Book #1)

NEARLY SAFE (Book #2)

NEARLY FREE (Book #3)

NEARLY GONE (Book #4)

NEARLY HIS (Book #5)

CLAIRE KING MYSTERY SERIES

ONCE HE SEES (Book #1)

ONCE HE LONGS (Book #2)

ONCE HE TAKES (Book #3)

ONCE HE FEELS (Book #4)

ONCE HE KNOWS (Book #5)

REESE LINK MYSTERY

BEYOND REASON (Book #1)

BEYOND REACH (Book #2)

BEYOND REPAIR (Book #3)

BEYOND DOUBT (Book #4)

BEYOND NORMAL (Book #5)

BEYOND HOPE (Book #6)

CAITLIN DARE FBI SUSPENSE THRILLER

COME GET ME (Book #1)

COME FIND ME (Book #2)

COME TAKE ME (Book #3)

COME CATCH ME (Book #4)

COME SAVE ME (Book #5)

COME STOP ME (Book #6)

RUBY HUNTER FBI SUSPENSE THRILLER

IF I RUN (Book #1)

IF I TELL (Book #2)

IF I LIVE (Book #3)

IF I FORGET (Book #4)

IF I RETURN (Book #5)

KATIE WINTER FBI SUSPENSE THRILLER

SAVE ME (Book #1)

REACH ME (Book #2)

HIDE ME (Book #3)

BELIEVE ME (Book #4)

HELP ME (Book #5)

FORGET ME (Book #6)

HOLD ME (Book #7)

PROTECT ME (Book #8)

REMEMBER ME (Book #9)

CATCH ME (Book #10)

WATCH ME (Book #11)

TAYLOR SAGE FBI SUSPENSE THRILLER

DON’T LOOK (Book #1)

DON’T BREATHE (Book #2)

DON’T RUN (Book #3)

DON’T FLINCH (Book #4)

DON’T REMEMBER (Book #5)

DON’T TELL (Book #6)

RYLIE WOLF FBI SUSPENSE THRILLER

FOUND YOU (Book #1)

CAUGHT YOU (Book #2)

SEE YOU (Book #3)

WANT YOU (Book #4)

TAKE YOU (Book #5)

DARE YOU (Book #6)

MAYA GRAY MYSTERY SERIES

GIRL ONE: MURDER (Book #1)

GIRL TWO: TAKEN (Book #2)

GIRL THREE: TRAPPED (Book #3)

GIRL FOUR: LURED (Book #4)

GIRL FIVE: BOUND (Book #5)

GIRL SIX: FORSAKEN (Book #6)

GIRL SEVEN: CRAVED (Book #7)

GIRL EIGHT: HUNTED (Book #8)

GIRL NINE: GONE (Book #9)

CONTENTS

PROLOGUE

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

CHAPTER NINETEEN

CHAPTER TWENTY

CHAPTER TWENTY ONE

CHAPTER TWENTY TWO

CHAPTER TWENTY THREE

CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR

CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE

CHAPTER TWENTY SIX

CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN

CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT

CHAPTER TWENTY NINE

CHAPTER THIRTY

CHAPTER THIRTY ONE

CHAPTER THIRTY TWO

EPILOGUE

PROLOGUE

Salome Gruben knew she must be mad to go out at all in this icy weather. Even more so to go running, down by the lake, all alone, and as it was getting dark.

What had seemed like a good decision when she’d left home was now starting to feel like folly down at the lonely lakeside. She'd thought there would be other people training here, on this trail that was usually well used, that she'd meet fellow runners and they could share a quick hello and a supportive wave.

But there was only herself and her footsteps pounding over the frozen ground. She was shivering, and she felt very alone.

She clenched her feet and gritted her teeth, keeping her arms tucked into her side for warmth and not swinging freely as they should.

Her rich auburn hair was bundled up under a thick woolen hat that she knew wasn't going to come off. Not today, not on this run.

You're crazy, her housemate, Nolan, had told her half an hour earlier when she'd come downstairs in her running gear - with a parka over the top that she still hadn’t removed.

I have to train, she'd insisted. So what if there's a cold snap, and it should be springtime soon? It doesn't change the timing of my race. The Minnesota Marathon is still only a month away. And by then, it'll be warmer.

He shook his head. When passion becomes obsession, only bad can follow, he said darkly, swinging away toward the coffee machine and picking up his book.

Salome frowned as she whirled out of the front door. That was nasty of Nolan. It was a very dark thing to say. And now, she couldn't get it out of her mind as she pounded along the trodden and now icy pathway.

Only bad can follow.

Weirdly she felt as if she'd had a rash of that in her life recently. She'd had two unusually stressful events occur. Her car had been rear-ended at a stop street when the guy behind her had been careless, or texting, or some such reason. It was an expensive disaster that would cost her more than she'd expected, thanks to the insurance excess.

And then, she'd had the bad news about her sister. Jillian was only two years younger than her, and she'd called in tears to say she was going through a terrible divorce. She was twenty-eight. She'd only been married a year. Jillian's world was collapsing around her, and there was nothing that Salome could do to console her. She couldn't even go to be with her at short notice because Jillian lived in New Zealand, and the airfares there were astronomical, and Salome’s work was piling the pressure on. She was in the clothing industry, and spring – hello, what spring, she thought cynically – was the busiest time of the year.

Yup, it really had been a week from hell, Salome thought as she allowed her feet to move forward, = finding the easiest route, her body finally getting into the rhythm she'd been seeking. And they said bad things happened in threes. That was why she was feeling this sense of cold expectancy, as if Bad Thing number three was waiting for her.

Whatever it was, it wasn't helped by dark predictions from housemates who had a surprisingly accurate and almost psychic sixth sense about such things. She felt angry at Nolan for even saying that. It was as if his spoken words would somehow create a truth and make it happen.

It made the bleak, gray-and-white landscape here seem more foreboding than usual. It made her feel even more aware that she was very alone down here by the lake. And her problem was that whenever she started feeling spooked that way, she got this weird, obsessive certainty in her brain that she was being followed.

Now, suddenly, that fear flared in her mind.

She knew there was someone behind her. She knew there was, and no matter how hard she tried to tell herself otherwise, the hard, cold certainty remained.

There was someone there. Someone following. She was sure of it.

She did what was always the first disastrous action when she felt that way. She looked behind her. Slowing her running rhythm, she craned her neck around.

Okay, nobody is there, not yet. But could she hear something? Were there footsteps?

She sped up, thinking of the fact that she didn't even have her phone with her, only her fitness watch. Maybe she should have brought a phone. Just in case.

What if someone was following? What would she do?

It was so lonely down here and getting rapidly darker.

It's illogical, she told herself aloud. Nobody is following you. This is just what happens in your mind when you're stressed and having a bad day.

But she couldn't help it. She could hear the footsteps in her mind, closing in. Gasping, she increased her pace, breaking her rhythm, feeling that panic flare.

She glanced around again, hoping that this time she’d see more clearly and feel more reassured. But this time, there were consequences.

A hidden patch of ice was waiting, and her foot slid on it, and she felt herself fall, her body twisting as she tried to save herself. With her hands buried in her pockets, that was impossible, and she gasped in a scared breath as she went beyond the point of no return. She didn't want to come down on the icy trail, not now, not at speed and alone.

But she did. She fell hard, her body slamming down onto the frozen ground.

For a few painful moments, she lay there, breathing hard, her breath misting in front of her in fast puffs.

Great. Just great.

She clambered slowly to her feet, panting, wincing in pain. Gingerly she tested her limbs. Nothing seemed broken, she wasn't injured, but she'd have bruises for sure.

Still breathing hard, she dusted herself off, not that there was much to brush away because the ground was so hard and frozen.

It was almost totally dark now, and snow was threatening. She wasn't going to go further. She was going to retrace her steps now, walk home, get herself a hot drink and abandon the idea. At least bad thing number three had finally happened, and she could check it off the list, she told herself wryly.

As she turned, she saw a glimpse of bright, fluorescent yellow in the reeds that lined the path.

She hesitated, looking more closely, wondering what it was.

Her eyes widened. How bizarre. It was a yellow rubber duck, small in size, just a few inches long. Stuck in the reeds, as if someone had been out here in the snow and the ice, playing with it.

That was weird.

She was about to turn away when she saw what lay beyond.

An even darker shape in the darkness, but a distinctive one, that got her stomach clenching and her heart speeding up.

A shoe.

Attached to a leg.

And that leg was attached to a body.

Her breath hissed in, a horrified gasp.

It was floating, face down, in the icy shallows, with long brown hair spreading onto a piece of ice, a hand like a pale, limp crab in the water. And the rope was knotted around the wrists as if her arms had been tied behind her.

Bad Thing three had happened now, and it was worse than she’d ever imagined.

CHAPTER ONE

FBI agent Grace Ford took a deep breath of the surprisingly warm midmorning air. She'd left Minnesota during winter's last brutal surge, shivering her way into the airport terminal. Now, here she was in Arkansas, a state she'd never thought she'd visit again after what had happened so long ago.

After her mother had been murdered here.

Her mother had been staying in a cottage on the farm where her cousins lived. It was her annual visit to them. There wasn't much security around. Why would there be? It was on a large homestead, outside a peaceful town, in the middle of the countryside.

Inexplicably, the disaster had occurred. Now, she was back to find out more.

There were other reasons why she’d decided to make this trip, too. Personal reasons for needing to get away at this time.

Nearly two weeks ago, her boyfriend, Tyler, had arrived on her doorstep and proposed marriage. They’d been in the middle of a trial separation period. The proposal had come as an utter shock.

Not sure how she felt about it, given that their relationship had been stormy and there were reasons for the separation, Grace had hedged, saying she needed time to consider it. She’d told him she needed a fortnight to think about it.

She didn’t only need the time, she decided. She needed distance, too. And what better way to give herself some space from one hard decision in her life than by exploring some dark details that, until now, she hadn't dared to dig into?

After her mother’s murder, she'd lost contact with the Arkansas cousins. The family had split apart. She was back, unannounced, to see them.

She smoothed her long, brown hair back from her face. Then, put her sunglasses on top of her head. Yes, down here in Arkansas, sunglasses were actually needed. But she didn't want to arrive wearing them. It would be better to show her face and look approachable. She checked her outfit - she'd dressed with care before leaving the small hotel where she'd spent the night after arriving late in the evening yesterday.

Blue jeans, short boots, a turquoise top with a gray jacket over it. She wanted to look like she fit in with this casual farming society.

She headed up toward the main farmhouse, an attractive, double-story building that was surrounded by tall, established trees. Coming here was interesting because the peace of the place resonated strongly.

From the moment she'd heard about the murder, Grace - who'd been in her teens - had imagined the place to be rundown, dangerous, derelict, and full of threats.

She'd revised her opinions a few weeks ago, in the course of her job, when a murder investigation had taken her into Arkansas. And now, she was revising them further. This was a peaceful paradise, which made the murder even more mysterious.

Recently, Grace had found the courage to request the case file and relook at it. In one of the crime scene photos she'd requested, she'd seen a new clue that might possibly shed light on the mystery. It was that she was now here to ask about.

She walked up to the wooden porch, stepped up the three stairs, and knocked on the door.

As she did, she felt a sudden flare of nerves about how her arrival would be taken. Would her mother’s family be shocked? Would they be angry at her because it was her father who’d broken off contact?

Footsteps were approaching. Whatever they thought, she'd soon find out.

When the door was opened, she was