Through the Darkness

Book Main Description:
Thanksgiving has come to the south and Lara hopes to spend a relaxing holiday with her family but her sister makes an unexpected announcement that changes everything. Renee had given a baby up for adoption. Thrown into an emotional tailspin, Lara must grapple with her own feelings over being adopted while helping Renee prepare for the sudden and unforeseen visit from the daughter she gave up seventeen years ago.

Through it all Lara has Brian, the dark handsome police detective that entered her life so unexpectedly, but their relationship hangs in the balance. The happiest time of year becomes a nightmare when Lara leaves, unable to accept the love he's offering. Brian has little time to consider it as he and Detective Ballard are on the hunt again this time for a serial killer. Solid evidence links a suspect to two murders and a kidnapping but not everything is as it seems and while Lara struggles through her own darkness Brian must find his way through an intricate web of lies before the killer strikes again.


Reader Alert!
Lara's journey continues. At home for the holidays she is dealt a precarious blow when she learns her sister gave a baby up for adoption. Overwhelmed with her own feelings about being adopted she could either make or break the young girl who has come to meet her mother. Detective Brian Hammond is on the hunt again, this time for a serial killer. Solid evidence links a suspect to two murders and a kidnapping but not everything is as it seems and while Lara struggles through her own darkness Brian must find his way through an intricate web of lies before the killer strikes again.

To My Readers: The Lara Martin series is semi-autobiographical dealing with personal experiences that I have overcome. Personalities of my main characters are based on people I know who have guided me, given me strength and sometimes grief but overall help Lara overcome self doubts to realize her full potential.

Book Excerpt:
She was carried to the car. The rain merely a mist sprinkled down onto her peaceful face dotting her unblinking eyelashes like unshed tears. The figure stumbled, shifted the heavy burden and walked on. The burden was a woman, a dead woman. Her arm having been jostled loose dangled, grey and lifeless, like a tentacle flopping out of water. Her head was cradled along with her legs and the woman's long amber curls swayed to the motion of each step. Diminutive footsteps echoed a forlorn sound on the gravel as muscles strained with the effort to hold her.
Her murderer wasn't very strong, even now the woman was slipping out of the flimsy embrace and barely made the final three steps before being dumped quite unceremoniously in the waiting trunk like a burlap bag of heavy potatoes – Thump! The woman's bare foot hung over the edge. Her toes still freshly polished in pastel pink, were the only thing still vibrant about her. It seemed all trace of her personality disappeared the moment her spirit had departed. When she'd been alive she'd been a real hellcat, arrogant and self centered. She fought back hard, snarling and spitting, but as she fought the life was being squeezed out of her, each breath more shallow than the next until the light faded from her eyes and she was gone.
Vile, loathsome thoughts still swirled– 'Stuck up whore!' and the thought of her alive caused the insidious heat to rise; anger as dangerous as poison enveloped them. If only she were alive so they could kill her again! 'Bitch!'
"Good bye, Katie."
The words hung in the air dripping with disdain like rain dripping from the leaves of trees. Her leg was jammed inside and the trunk shut with a snap. The car started up. It slowly exited the driveway moving quietly. Eerily, it was the only light on the street.
Twenty minutes later it pulled into a long narrow gravel drive and the lights turned off. With the weather unusually cold no one was out, not where they were. Without the fear of being discovered the trunk was opened. Footsteps......footsteps......pause. A sound? No human sound. More footsteps.
The body was lifted once again and the woman's head fell to the side. She was placed with precision exactly where she was supposed to be. Katie watched through sightless eyes, not feeling the fingers touching her or the cold earth under her legs. She stared past the dark silhouette to the water that lay as placid as a mirror.
"Katie's gone"– Did she move?
Dark eyes froze watching her...............no, she's dead.
Footsteps faded. The car started up and rolled away.
Katie sat ashen, her figure pale as a ghost in the rearview mirror getting smaller and smaller until she disappeared. No more Katie.