Girl, Vanished (An Ella Dark FBI Suspense Thriller—Book 5) Read online

  G I R L,

  V A N I S H E D

  (An Ella Dark FBI Suspense Thriller —Book Five)

  B L A K E P I E R C E

  Blake Pierce

  Blake Pierce is the USA Today bestselling author of the RILEY PAGE mystery series, which includes seventeen books. Blake Pierce is also the author of the MACKENZIE WHITE mystery series, comprising fourteen books; of the AVERY BLACK mystery series, comprising six books; of the KERI LOCKE mystery series, comprising five books; of the MAKING OF RILEY PAIGE mystery series, comprising six books; of the KATE WISE mystery series, comprising seven books; of the CHLOE FINE psychological suspense mystery, comprising six books; of the JESSE HUNT psychological suspense thriller series, comprising twenty one books; of the AU PAIR psychological suspense thriller series, comprising three books; of the ZOE PRIME mystery series, comprising six books; of the ADELE SHARP mystery series, comprising fifteen books, of the EUROPEAN VOYAGE cozy mystery series, comprising four books; of the new LAURA FROST FBI suspense thriller, comprising six books (and counting); of the new ELLA DARK FBI suspense thriller, comprising eleven books (and counting); of the A YEAR IN EUROPE cozy mystery series, comprising nine books, of the AVA GOLD mystery series, comprising six books (and counting); and of the RACHEL GIFT mystery series, comprising six books (and counting).

  ONCE GONE (a Riley Paige Mystery—Book #1), BEFORE HE KILLS (A Mackenzie White Mystery—Book 1), CAUSE TO KILL (An Avery Black Mystery—Book 1), A TRACE OF DEATH (A Keri Locke Mystery—Book 1), WATCHING (The Making of Riley Paige—Book 1), NEXT DOOR (A Chloe Fine Psychological Suspense Mystery—Book 1), THE PERFECT WIFE (A Jessie Hunt Psychological Suspense Thriller—Book One), IF SHE KNEW (A Kate Wise Mystery—Book 1), MURDER (AND BAKLAVA) (A European Voyage Cozy Mystery—Book 1), LEFT TO DIE (An Adele Sharp Mystery—Book One), and A MURDER IN PARIS (A Year in Europe—Book 1) are each available as a free download on Amazon!

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

  Copyright © 2022 by Blake Pierce. 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 Andreas Gradin used under license from Shutterstock.com.

  BOOKS BY BLAKE PIERCE

  RACHEL GIFT MYSTERY SERIES

  HER LAST WISH (Book #1)

  HER LAST CHANCE (Book #2)

  HER LAST HOPE (Book #3)

  HER LAST FEAR (Book #4)

  HER LAST CHOICE (Book #5)

  HER LAST BREATH (Book #6)

  AVA GOLD MYSTERY SERIES

  CITY OF PREY (Book #1)

  CITY OF FEAR (Book #2)

  CITY OF BONES (Book #3)

  CITY OF GHOSTS (Book #4)

  CITY OF DEATH (Book #5)

  CITY OF VICE (Book #6)

  A YEAR IN EUROPE

  A MURDER IN PARIS (Book #1)

  DEATH IN FLORENCE (Book #2)

  VENGEANCE IN VIENNA (Book #3)

  A FATALITY IN SPAIN (Book #4)

  ELLA DARK FBI SUSPENSE THRILLER

  GIRL, ALONE (Book #1)

  GIRL, TAKEN (Book #2)

  GIRL, HUNTED (Book #3)

  GIRL, SILENCED (Book #4)

  GIRL, VANISHED (Book 5)

  GIRL ERASED (Book #6)

  GIRL, FORSAKEN (Book #7)

  GIRL, TRAPPED (Book #8)

  GIRL, EXPENDABLE (Book #9)

  GIRL, ESCAPED (Book #10)

  GIRL, HIS (Book #11)

  LAURA FROST FBI SUSPENSE THRILLER

  ALREADY GONE (Book #1)

  ALREADY SEEN (Book #2)

  ALREADY TRAPPED (Book #3)

  ALREADY MISSING (Book #4)

  ALREADY DEAD (Book #5)

  ALREADY TAKEN (Book #6)

  EUROPEAN VOYAGE COZY MYSTERY SERIES

  MURDER (AND BAKLAVA) (Book #1)

  DEATH (AND APPLE STRUDEL) (Book #2)

  CRIME (AND LAGER) (Book #3)

  MISFORTUNE (AND GOUDA) (Book #4)

  CALAMITY (AND A DANISH) (Book #5)

  MAYHEM (AND HERRING) (Book #6)

  ADELE SHARP MYSTERY SERIES

  LEFT TO DIE (Book #1)

  LEFT TO RUN (Book #2)

  LEFT TO HIDE (Book #3)

  LEFT TO KILL (Book #4)

  LEFT TO MURDER (Book #5)

  LEFT TO ENVY (Book #6)

  LEFT TO LAPSE (Book #7)

  LEFT TO VANISH (Book #8)

  LEFT TO HUNT (Book #9)

  LEFT TO FEAR (Book #10)

  LEFT TO PREY (Book #11)

  LEFT TO LURE (Book #12)

  LEFT TO CRAVE (Book #13)

  LEFT TO LOATHE (Book #14)

  LEFT TO HARM (Book #15)

  THE AU PAIR SERIES

  ALMOST GONE (Book#1)

  ALMOST LOST (Book #2)

  ALMOST DEAD (Book #3)

  ZOE PRIME MYSTERY SERIES

  FACE OF DEATH (Book#1)

  FACE OF MURDER (Book #2)

  FACE OF FEAR (Book #3)

  FACE OF MADNESS (Book #4)

  FACE OF FURY (Book #5)

  FACE OF DARKNESS (Book #6)

  A JESSIE HUNT PSYCHOLOGICAL SUSPENSE SERIES

  THE PERFECT WIFE (Book #1)

  THE PERFECT BLOCK (Book #2)

  THE PERFECT HOUSE (Book #3)

  THE PERFECT SMILE (Book #4)

  THE PERFECT LIE (Book #5)

  THE PERFECT LOOK (Book #6)

  THE PERFECT AFFAIR (Book #7)

  THE PERFECT ALIBI (Book #8)

  THE PERFECT NEIGHBOR (Book #9)

  THE PERFECT DISGUISE (Book #10)

  THE PERFECT SECRET (Book #11)

  THE PERFECT FAÇADE (Book #12)

  THE PERFECT IMPRESSION (Book #13)

  THE PERFECT DECEIT (Book #14)

  THE PERFECT MISTRESS (Book #15)

  THE PERFECT IMAGE (Book #16)

  THE PERFECT VEIL (Book #17)

  THE PERFECT INDISCRETION (Book #18)

  THE PERFECT RUMOR (Book #19)

  THE PERFECT COUPLE (Book #20)

  THE PERFECT MURDER (Book #21)

  CHLOE FINE PSYCHOLOGICAL SUSPENSE SERIES

  NEXT DOOR (Book #1)

  A NEIGHBOR’S LIE (Book #2)

  CUL DE SAC (Book #3)

  SILENT NEIGHBOR (Book #4)

  HOMECOMING (Book #5)

  TINTED WINDOWS (Book #6)

  KATE WISE MYSTERY SERIES

  IF SHE KNEW (Book #1)

  IF SHE SAW (Book #2)

  IF SHE RAN (Book #3)

  IF SHE HID (Book #4)

  IF SHE FLED (Book #5)

  IF SHE FEARED (Book #6)

  IF SHE HEARD (Book #7)

  THE MAKING OF RILEY PAIGE SERIES

  WATCHING (Book #1)

  WAITING (Book #2)

  LURING (Book #3)
<
br />   TAKING (Book #4)

  STALKING (Book #5)

  KILLING (Book #6)

  RILEY PAIGE MYSTERY SERIES

  ONCE GONE (Book #1)

  ONCE TAKEN (Book #2)

  ONCE CRAVED (Book #3)

  ONCE LURED (Book #4)

  ONCE HUNTED (Book #5)

  ONCE PINED (Book #6)

  ONCE FORSAKEN (Book #7)

  ONCE COLD (Book #8)

  ONCE STALKED (Book #9)

  ONCE LOST (Book #10)

  ONCE BURIED (Book #11)

  ONCE BOUND (Book #12)

  ONCE TRAPPED (Book #13)

  ONCE DORMANT (Book #14)

  ONCE SHUNNED (Book #15)

  ONCE MISSED (Book #16)

  ONCE CHOSEN (Book #17)

  MACKENZIE WHITE MYSTERY SERIES

  BEFORE HE KILLS (Book #1)

  BEFORE HE SEES (Book #2)

  BEFORE HE COVETS (Book #3)

  BEFORE HE TAKES (Book #4)

  BEFORE HE NEEDS (Book #5)

  BEFORE HE FEELS (Book #6)

  BEFORE HE SINS (Book #7)

  BEFORE HE HUNTS (Book #8)

  BEFORE HE PREYS (Book #9)

  BEFORE HE LONGS (Book #10)

  BEFORE HE LAPSES (Book #11)

  BEFORE HE ENVIES (Book #12)

  BEFORE HE STALKS (Book #13)

  BEFORE HE HARMS (Book #14)

  AVERY BLACK MYSTERY SERIES

  CAUSE TO KILL (Book #1)

  CAUSE TO RUN (Book #2)

  CAUSE TO HIDE (Book #3)

  CAUSE TO FEAR (Book #4)

  CAUSE TO SAVE (Book #5)

  CAUSE TO DREAD (Book #6)

  KERI LOCKE MYSTERY SERIES

  A TRACE OF DEATH (Book #1)

  A TRACE OF MURDER (Book #2)

  A TRACE OF VICE (Book #3)

  A TRACE OF CRIME (Book #4)

  A TRACE OF HOPE (Book #5)

  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

  PROLOGUE

  Tessa rustled her key in the lock, not really concerned if it woke up poor old Jimmy, even at this ungodly hour. She should have known Jimmy would forget to put the trash out again. She was rapidly getting fed up with his mistakes. How hard was it to remember a simple task? Every Thursday night, wheel the trash out to the curb. That was it. She wasn’t exactly asking him to build a temple. While she was working her backside off at the hospital, Jimmy was probably sitting around, researching antiques, as he often claimed. Although in the next breath, he was always quick to say that he was winding down until retirement. Make up your damn mind, she wanted to tell him.

  Tessa stepped inside her house, deciding to leave the trash uncollected. Maybe that would teach him. Then again, maybe not. After twenty years of marriage, could you still teach an old husband new tricks?

  That was a question for another day. Right now, the question was what to do with the single hour she had before sleep beckoned. She kicked off her work shoes, opened the fridge and stared blankly at its contents, not taking a fancy to anything inside. She didn’t have the energy to make a sandwich. Was it going to be the classic berries and cheese? Or was that a bad idea? One of the other nurses once told her that cheese before bed gave you nightmares, and she didn’t need any more of those.

  Forget it. Decaf and trash television was the easiest route. She left the kitchen and walked into the living area, and there she sensed another soul in the room. She instinctively reached for the light switch but stopped herself from turning it on. She saw the silhouette of her beloved husband, passed out in the chair, crumpled blanket lying at his feet. Tessa sighed, realizing that an hour in front of the TV was a no-go. If she woke Jimmy up, he’d be a miserable trout until at least tomorrow afternoon. She didn’t need that.

  Forget it. May as well hit the hay. Tessa gently opened the living room door, careful not to disturb her snoozing husband, half out of genuine affection and half for the fact she’d get the bed to herself. She left her bag on the couch as a sign of her safe arrival back home. Not only that, but it might persuade Jimmy to spend the night downstairs and give her some peace too.

  Tessa hit the bathroom and rubbed off the little makeup she had on. She changed out of her uniform and brushed away the stale taste of twelve hours of giving instructions. Over the sink, she looked out of the window and admired the night. There was something about returning home in the early hours of the morning that really played havoc with the senses. While everyone else slept, you were on the front lines, keeping the world moving. It was enough to give weaker minds a hero complex.

  She sat down on the toilet as she re-applied her ponytail but stopped as she reached the third and final knot.

  A noise. Some kind of scratching. Or a rustling? It seemed to come from behind.

  Tessa jerked her head towards the windowsill and took a step back out of fear of what she might find. She glanced between the gaps in her lotion bottles, then found the culprit. A small box that once housed moisturizer had tipped over. When she reached out to grab it, she felt the draft from the window gap graze her fingertips.

  Jimmy had left the window ajar, again. She was sick of telling him about that. The breeze must have knocked the empty box over, and why was there an empty box here anyway? She couldn’t blame her husband for that. That was her doing.

  She pulled the window shut, sat down and returned to her pre-sleep ritual. She got the ponytail back in and then searched for the anti-wrinkle cream.

  But before she landed on it, the noise came again. Scratching, or crunching. It was difficult to place. Could it be the water rushing through the pipes? Maybe the toilet was acting up again? Suddenly, she jerked her hand back when the sound seemed to emerge right from her fingertips.

  Tessa rushed back to the door in panic. The noise became louder, more frantic. She didn’t know what it was, but she was certain it was the sound of something alive.

  Then, like a ghoul rising from the depths of hell, the source of the noise made itself known.

  A black smudge, fluttering and flapping, rose from between her lotion bottles and flung itself towards the bathroom light.

  “Agh, Jesus Christ,” Tessa yelled as she retreated out into the hallway. She peered through a gap, unable to take her eyes off the thing. Like a miniature dragon, the creature beat its wings furiously while it clashed with the glaring light: a battle that would only yield one winner. But it didn’t stop the beast from trying.

  What was it? A moth? One of those giant moths that had emigrated from down under and settled in Delaware of all places? Whatever it was, it looked like an omen of death. Big, furry, black as charcoal. Tessa pulled the door shut, trapping the beast inside her small bathroom. Those things made her feel queasy, and if the creature had to die so she could sleep, so be it.

  She had to laugh. She’d shut the window. If she’d have left it open, the thing might have had an escape route. Now it was her unwanted prisoner, and there was no way she was heading back in to face it.

  This was a Jimmy situation, she decided. He was the designated insect-kille
r in the house. That had been established from day one. Tessa headed back downstairs with heavy footsteps, hoping it would jolt Jimmy awake before she got there.

  It didn’t. The living room was still darkened but she made out Jimmy’s form sprawled in the same position as before.

  “Jim,” she said, slightly above a whisper. “Jimmy. Wake up.”

  Nothing.

  “Hey, Jim. We have a problem.”

  Nope. Dead to the world. Time to go nuclear.

  Tessa moved over to him and fondled his leg. He was cold, almost icy. She shook him again. “Jim, get up. I need you.”

  There was no muscle response, no reaction from his nerve endings. How could he sleep so deeply when she could be woken up by a cooing pigeon? Some people get all the luck.

  “Jimmy,” she said, louder this time. She squeezed his leg a little harder, digging in a portion of fingernail.

  Not a thing.

  Tessa felt the air leave her lungs. Her brow began to burn with sweat. This wasn’t normal, even for Jimmy.

  She grabbed his hand. Cold as winter frost. She shook him, enough to jerk anyone back to consciousness. There was nothing. Tessa grabbed Jimmy’s face with both hands, feeling cold flesh, rough skin and, to her dread, something wet.

  In the gloom, she saw something in Jimmy’s eyes. They looked shut, but there was a shine emanating from them, as though they were both tunnels leading directly to the afterlife.

  Her vision adjusted to the darkness in panic. Tessa jumped to her feet, her first thought being that she had thirty years of medical training to draw on. Her husband was fit and healthy. He had plenty more years left in him. This couldn’t be happening.

  Tessa rushed over to the wall and searched for the light switch with trembling hands. She found it, but her fingers wouldn’t let herself push it. Doing so would bring this horror to life, and something told her it was a moment she’d remember for the rest of her days regardless of how it played out.

  Light cast the room in bright yellow.

  Tessa’s hands shot to her mouth but did nothing to stop her screams.