Truly Dead Read online

  PRAISE FOR NEW YORK TIMES AND USA TODAY BESTSELLING AUTHOR ANNE FRASIER

  “Frasier has perfected the art of making a reader’s skin crawl.”

  —Publishers Weekly

  “A master.”

  —Minneapolis Star Tribune

  “Anne Frasier delivers thoroughly engrossing, completely riveting suspense.”

  —Lisa Gardner

  “Frasier’s writing is fast and furious.”

  —Jayne Ann Krentz

  PRAISE FOR THE BODY READER

  “Absorbing.”

  —Publishers Weekly

  “This is an electrifying murder mystery—one of the best of the year.”

  —Mysterious Reviews

  “I see the name Anne Frasier on a book and I know I am in for a treat . . . I thought it was a very unique premise and coupled with the good characters, made for an almost non-stop read for me. I highly recommend this.”

  —Pure Textuality

  “The Body Reader earned its five stars, a rarity for me, even for books I like. Kudos to Anne Frasier.”

  —The Wyrdd and the Bazaar

  “A must read for mystery suspense fans.”

  —Babbling About Books

  “I’ve long been a fan of Anne Frasier, but this book elevates her work to a whole new level, in my mind.”

  —Tale of a Shooting Star

  PRAISE FOR PLAY DEAD

  “This is a truly creepy and thrilling book. Frasier’s skill at exposing the dark emotions and motivations of individuals gives it a gripping edge.”

  —Romantic Times

  “Play Dead is a compelling and memorable police procedural, made even better by the way the characters interact with one another. Anne Frasier will be appreciated by fans who like Kay Hooper, Iris Johansen and Lisa Gardner.”

  —The Best Reviews

  “A nicely constructed combination of mystery and thriller. Frasier is a talented writer whose forte is probing into the psyches of her characters, and she produces a fast-paced novel with a finale containing many surprises.”

  —I Love a Mystery

  “Has all the essentials of an edge-of-your-seat story. There is suspense, believable characters, an interesting setting, and just the right amount of details to keep the reader’s eyes always moving forward . . . I recommend Play Dead as a great addition to any mystery library.”

  —Roundtable Reviews

  PRAISE FOR PRETTY DEAD

  “Besides being beautifully written and tightly plotted, this book was that sort of great read you need on a regular basis to restore your faith in a genre.”

  —Book of the Month, Lynn Viehl

  “By far the best of the three books. I couldn’t put my Kindle down till I’d read every last page.”

  —NetGalley

  “A mix of dark humor, wit, psycho, suspense, paranormal, and a delicious crime thriller.”

  —Judith D Collins Must Read Books

  “An adrenaline rush.”

  —Lyon Editing Reviews

  “My favorite book from the Elise Sandburg series. Once again Anne Frasier kept me captivated from the beginning to the end.”

  —NetGalley

  PRAISE FOR HUSH

  “This is by far and away the best serial killer story I’ve read in a long time . . . strong characters, with a truly twisted bad guy.”

  —Jayne Ann Krentz

  “I couldn’t put it down. Engrossing . . . scary . . . I loved it.”

  —Linda Howard

  “A deeply engrossing read, Hush delivers a creepy villain, a chilling plot, and two remarkable investigators whose personal struggles are only equaled by their compelling need to stop a madman before he kills again. Warning: don’t read this book if you are home alone.”

  —Lisa Gardner

  “A wealth of procedural detail, a heart-thumping finale, and two scarred but indelible protagonists make this a first-rate read.”

  —Publishers Weekly

  “Anne Frasier has crafted a taut and suspenseful thriller.”

  —Kay Hooper

  “Well-realized characters and taut, suspenseful plotting.”

  —Minneapolis Star Tribune

  PRAISE FOR SLEEP TIGHT

  “Guaranteed to keep you awake at night.”

  —Lisa Jackson

  “There’ll be no sleeping after reading this one. Laced with forensic detail and psychological twists.”

  —Andrea Kane

  “Gripping and intense . . . Along with a fine plot, Frasier delivers her characters as whole people, each trying to cope in the face of violence and jealousies.”

  —Minneapolis Star Tribune

  “Enthralling. There’s a lot more to this clever intrigue than graphic police procedures. Indeed, one of Frasier’s many strengths is her ability to create characters and relationships that are as compelling as the mystery itself. Will linger with the reader after the killer is caught.”

  —Publishers Weekly

  PRAISE FOR THE ORCHARD

  “Eerie and atmospheric, this is an indie movie in print. You’ll read and read to see where it is going, although it’s clear early on that the future is not going to be kind to anyone involved. Weir’s story is more proof that only love can break your heart.”

  —Library Journal

  “A gripping account of divided loyalties, the real cost of farming and the shattered people on the front lines. Not since Jane Smiley’s A Thousand Acres has there been so enrapturing a family drama percolating out from the back forty.”

  —Maclean’s

  “This poignant memoir of love, labor, and dangerous pesticides reveals the terrible true price.”

  —O, the Oprah Magazine Fall Book Pick

  “Equal parts moving love story and environmental warning . . . B+.”

  —Entertainment Weekly

  “This is one of the loveliest books I have ever read, it reaches into the very heart of the word love and exemplifies its meaning with an unbelievable depth of understanding.”

  —Cover Me

  “While reading this extraordinarily moving memoir, I kept remembering the last two lines of Muriel Rukeyser’s poem “Kathe Kollwitz” (“What would happen if one woman told the truth about her life? The world would split open”), for Weir proffers a worldview that is at once eloquent, sincere, and searing.”

  —Library Journal Librarians’ Best Books of 2011

  “An unforgettable story beautifully told.”

  —Skokie Public Library

  “A brilliant memoir.”

  —The Local Social

  “This story of hardship and suffering, and love and hope pretty much stole my heart. An unforgettable story.”

  —Rhapsody in Books

  “She tells her story with grace, unflinching honesty and compassion all the while establishing a sense of place and time with a master storyteller’s perspective so engaging you forget it is a memoir.”

  —Calvin Crosby, Books Inc. (Berkeley, California)

  “One of my favorite reads of 2011, The Orchard is easily mistakable as a novel for its engaging, page-turning flow and its seemingly imaginative plot.”

  —Susan McBeth, founder and owner of Adventures by the Book (San Diego, California)

  “Moving and surprising.”

  —The Next Chapter Fall 2011 Top 20 Best Books List

  “Searing . . . the past is artfully juxtaposed with the present in this finely wrought work. Its haunting passages will linger long after the last page is turned.”

  —Boston Globe Pick of the Week

  “If a writing instructor wanted an excellent example of voice in a piece of writing, this would be a five-star choice!”

  —San Diego Union-Tribune Recommended Reads

  “Mesmeric.”


  —San Francisco Book Review

  “Her subtle exposure of our antiquated notions of ‘family farming’ in America will leave you disquieted.”

  —Zomppa

  “The Orchard is one of the most pivotal books I’ve ever read, irrevocably changing my view of the world.”

  —Book End Babes

  “A stunning memoir, ripe with victory and defeat.”

  —Raleigh Examiner

  “The truths she lays bare about the life of a farm and the farmers who work it are both simple and, dare I say it, profound.”

  —Madison Public Library

  “This book produced a string of emotions that had my hand flying up to my mouth time and again, and not only made me realize, ‘This woman can write!’ but also made me appreciate the importance of this book, and how it reaches far beyond Weir’s own story.”

  —Linda Grana, Diesel, a Bookstore

  “The Orchard is a lovely book in all the ways that really matter, one of those rare and wonderful memoirs in which people you’ve never met become your friends.”

  —Nicholas Sparks

  “A hypnotic tale of place, people, and of midwestern family roots that run deep, stubbornly hidden, and equally menacing.”

  —Jamie Ford, New York Times bestselling author of Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet

  ALSO BY ANNE FRASIER

  Hush

  Sleep Tight

  Before I Wake

  Pale Immortal

  Garden of Darkness

  The Body Reader

  The Elise Sandburg Series

  Play Dead

  Stay Dead

  Pretty Dead

  Truly Dead

  Nonfiction (as Theresa Weir)

  The Orchard: A Memoir

  The Man Who Left: A Memoir

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, organizations, places, events, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  Text copyright © 2017 Theresa Weir

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.

  Published by Thomas & Mercer, Seattle

  www.apub.com

  Amazon, the Amazon logo, and Thomas & Mercer are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc., or its affiliates.

  ISBN-13: 9781477819920

  ISBN-10: 1477819924

  Cover design by Cyanotype Book Architects

  CONTENTS

  PROLOGUE

  CHAPTER 1

  CHAPTER 2

  CHAPTER 3

  CHAPTER 4

  CHAPTER 5

  CHAPTER 6

  CHAPTER 7

  CHAPTER 8

  CHAPTER 9

  CHAPTER 10

  CHAPTER 11

  CHAPTER 12

  CHAPTER 13

  CHAPTER 14

  CHAPTER 15

  CHAPTER 16

  CHAPTER 17

  CHAPTER 18

  CHAPTER 19

  CHAPTER 20

  CHAPTER 21

  CHAPTER 22

  CHAPTER 23

  CHAPTER 24

  CHAPTER 25

  CHAPTER 26

  CHAPTER 27

  CHAPTER 28

  CHAPTER 29

  CHAPTER 30

  CHAPTER 31

  CHAPTER 32

  CHAPTER 33

  CHAPTER 34

  CHAPTER 35

  CHAPTER 36

  CHAPTER 37

  CHAPTER 38

  CHAPTER 39

  CHAPTER 40

  CHAPTER 41

  CHAPTER 42

  CHAPTER 43

  CHAPTER 44

  CHAPTER 45

  CHAPTER 46

  CHAPTER 47

  CHAPTER 48

  CHAPTER 49

  CHAPTER 50

  CHAPTER 51

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  PROLOGUE

  Savannah, Georgia

  The construction worker hefted the mallet, the momentum of his swing punching a hole in the wall, sending a shower of debris to the floor. He swung again, harder this time. One firm tug and a large section of drywall fell away. As the chalky dust settled, he peered inside the gap, looking for the copper pipes he’d been hired to remove, along with anything else of value that could be salvaged and sold before the house was torn down.

  “Gimme that flashlight,” he said, hand held out to his assistant, face in the dark gap. “Think I see something.”

  The flashlight was slapped into his palm, and his fingers closed around it. He flipped the switch and shot the beam inside the wall. It illuminated what appeared to be a grotesque mask until he panned the light down. Gasping, he stumbled backward, tripped over the mallet, and crashed to the floor, crab-crawling away in horror.

  CHAPTER 1

  Chicago, Illinois

  Detectives Elise Sandburg and David Gould stepped out of Chicago’s city hall. As they hit the sidewalk, video cameras and microphones were shoved in their faces. Local and national reporters scrambled for prime positions, hoping to catch a sound bite for the evening news.

  A lot had changed in the month since they’d been fired from the Savannah Police Department. After solving a high-profile case involving a Windy City spree killer, they now found themselves in the uncomfortable position of pseudo-celebrity.

  David gave the media what they wanted. He always gave them what they wanted. Throughout the murder investigation, he’d been the darling of the press, and they’d described him as witty and charming, playing off Elise’s “straight-man” persona. She thought the straight-man description a little severe, although she was more than okay letting the spotlight fall on someone else for a change. But David’s rabid fans left her concerned for her partner’s safety, while not the least surprised when a pair of red panties hit him in the head during a press conference.

  “All in good fun,” he’d said, dangling the lacy underthings from one finger.

  Now the case was over, solved, and the reporters were bidding farewell to their media sweethearts. News coverage would move on to someone else, hopefully shifting away from death and murder.

  “Can we get a photo of you both in front of city hall?” a reporter asked.

  “Maybe holding hands?” someone else suggested.

  The press was always trying to figure out their relationship. Were they more than partners? Did they have plans to get married? One reporter even went so far as to ask if they’d ever slept together.

  David planted his hands on his knees and bent at the waist, his dark tie dangling. “Jump on my back,” he told Elise.

  She stared at him.

  “Jump on my back. It’ll be a great shot.”

  Maybe it was all those annoying descriptions of her that did it. Serious. Somber. Or maybe it was the euphoria of the moment, of solving the case after the blow of getting fired back home.

  Dressed in her typical and somber black slacks and white top, Elise jumped on David’s back, arms locked around his chest as he supported her legs. Cameras clicked.

  Moments later, feet on the ground, she smoothed her shoulder-length hair and adjusted her top. She was pretty sure she’d regret the pose tomorrow. At least they worked for themselves now. They wouldn’t be called down the hall for a reprimand, and the mayor of Savannah wouldn’t chew them out from the other side of his desk.

  “Feels good, right?” David asked from behind the wheel of the rental car as they headed for the hotel to pack and finally take the vacation they’d put on hold for the Chicago job.

  Even though her excuse of being Savannah PD partners was no longer valid, she and David hadn’t had sex. The idea of being so intimate with someone still made her uneasy, and she kept imagining herself freaking out on him. Losing it. She kep
t thinking she should do a test run on some random guy just to see if she could tolerate sex after what Tremain had done to her. But sex with a stranger was stupid. She knew that.

  Her phone buzzed. Relieved by the interruption, she pulled it free of her pocket and checked the screen. The call was from Savannah medical examiner John Casper.

  “Got something going on down here you might find interesting,” he said. “A body has been found in a house scheduled for demolition.”

  “Tremain?”

  “I wish, but no.” His voice dropped. “I didn’t think about that being the first conclusion you’d draw. Sorry. No, the body was identified as Zane Novak.”

  She hit “Speaker” to include David in the conversation. “The boy who disappeared a few months ago?”

  “Yep. And this isn’t for public consumption, but the MO matches those child killings in Florida you’ve probably heard about.”

  “Asphyxiation as well as the method of disposal?” Elise asked.

  “Yep.”

  “Possibly a copycat?” David asked, thinking aloud.

  Or worse. “Maybe the Florida killer has moved to Savannah,” Elise suggested.

  “I had both thoughts,” John told them. “Another thing that’s probably just a weird coincidence—the house where the body was found used to belong to Frank J. Remy. Know who I’m talking about?”

  “The name sounds vaguely familiar.” Elise glanced at David. He was drawing a blank too. “But no. Not really.”

  “Convicted killer. Died in prison thirty-six years ago. And get this. Your father was behind that conviction.”

  Jackson Sweet? Now that was an odd coincidence, but then everything connected to her father was odd in some way or another.

  “What does Homicide say?” she asked.

  “Not much. No surprise, but I think Avery’s in over his head. And Lamont . . . You know how he is. Doesn’t listen to anybody but Lamont. Come home and I’ll update you on everything. I’d feel better if you and David were around. I could really use your input.”

  Not their case, but, like John, Elise didn’t have much faith in Lamont, the ex-FBI agent who’d taken over her position and had most likely been behind her and David’s firing.

  Not that being fired was a bad thing.

  She could see David was thinking what she was thinking. “We’ll be back today,” she told John. “See you soon.” She ended the call.

  David braked for a signal. “Come on. Admit it,” he said, focused on the red taillights in front of them. “You’re relieved.”