Plain Pursuit Read online

  She cupped his face with her hands and kissed his cheek. He grabbed her wrists in one of his and planted a firm kiss on her lips.

  After a moment, he pulled away, a question in his eyes. Anna couldn’t contain her smile.

  “Can I take that as a yes?” Eli asked.

  “Yes!” Anna threw her arms around his neck and squeezed. “I’d love for you to court me.”

  Red jumped up, resting one paw on Eli’s thigh and the other on Anna’s waist. Laughing, they both fluffed the Irish setter’s ears. “You want in on this, too, huh?” Eli asked.

  Red barked, then dropped down. Spinning in a tight circle, he settled back in at their feet.

  Anna pressed her cheek to Eli’s chest and he wrapped his strong arms tightly around her. The sweet scent of the crisp fall air filled her senses. She tried to memorize every detail of the glorious moment. I am truly blessed.

  Eli pressed a kiss to the crown of her head. He leaned back and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, leaving a trail of warmth under his touch. “Ready?”

  She nodded. “Ready.”

  * * * * *

  Keep reading for an excerpt from Tracking Justiceby Shirlee McCoy.

  Dear Reader,

  I am so excited to share Plain Pursuit, my first Love Inspired Suspense title, with you. It has been a dream of mine to write for Harlequin.

  At the 2011 Romance Writers of America conference in New York City, I heard the Love Inspired Suspense line was looking for more Amish stories. I had long been fascinated with the Amish after seeing an Amish gentleman and his buggy while on a family vacation when I was a little girl. I couldn’t fathom living without cars or electricity. What? No Happy Days or Laverne and Shirley?

  I came home from the conference and decided this was the perfect opportunity to learn more about that community. I read memoirs of former Amish, nonfiction and lots of blogs. I even took my two young daughters on a ride to an Amish community sixty miles south of my home near Buffalo, New York. The yummy Amish-made chocolates were the highlight of the trip.

  Through all my research, I learned the Amish lifestyle can differ from community to community. They live by a set of rules called the Ordnung. The rules cover things such as the style of buggy, the color of men’s shirts or whether or not the homes can have upholstered furniture. The leaders can change the rules, but they must be endorsed by the community in a show of unity. Plain Pursuit is set in a fictional town called Apple Creek, New York, allowing me the freedom to capture the feel of an authentic Amish community without being beholden to any one “real” community.

  I also learned the Amish have a strong propensity for forgiveness. This was never more evident than during the Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania, tragedy in 2006 when five young Amish girls were killed by a gunman. The idea of forgiveness is a running theme in Plain Pursuit. Eli is determined to find justice for his little sister, but he also must find forgiveness in his heart if he truly wants to find peace. Anna, too, must find peace after losing her brother in a plane crash.

  I hope you enjoyed your visit to Apple Creek.

  Live, Love, Laugh,

  Alison Stone

  Questions for Discussion

  Jesus’s parable of the servant who asked his master for forgiveness but then turned around and denied his fellow servant forgiveness (Matthew 18:21-35) is part of the Amish lectionary. The Amish believe firmly that they must forgive their fellow man if they want to be forgiven by God. Do you think if you were Eli, you could forgive the person who hurt your little sister?

  Have you ever been cross with someone who hurt you? What happened when you made a decision to forgive them? Did you feel relieved? At peace?

  Readers seem to be fascinated with the Amish lifestyle. Is there any aspect of their lifestyle that appeals to you?

  If you had to give up technology, what would you miss most? Do you see any advantages to giving up technology?

  Eli wasn’t forthcoming in telling Anna her brother was under investigation. She only found out when the sheriff mentioned it after she opened her brother’s apartment to him. Do you think it was wrong for Eli to keep this information from Anna?

  Samuel, Mary’s twin, lived with a lot of guilt over his sister’s disappearance. The last time he spoke to her, he had teased her. Do you make a habit of always parting with loved ones on good terms?

  Samuel needs to learn to forgive himself. Do you think it’s harder to forgive yourself or someone else?

  Do you think it’s possible for Eli to find a new church home after leaving the Amish? Have you ever had to find a new church home? What made you feel welcome?

  What happened to little Mary Miller that fateful night stayed shrouded in mystery in part because people were afraid to come forward. Have you ever been in a situation when it was difficult to come forward and tell the truth? What would you say to young people today about peer pressure?

  Anna grew up in a violent home. When Anna was a young girl, her father cracked when he realized his family was going to leave. As a result, Anna lost both parents that day. How do you think Anna’s life would have been different if her mother had decided to stay with her father?

  The Amish have a practice of shunning a person who has gone against Amish beliefs. They shun the offender in part because they don’t want him to be a bad example to the other members of the community and in the hopes the offender will mend his ways. We might call it “tough love.” Eli was never truly shunned because he left the Amish before he was baptized; however, he never overstays his welcome because his father fears he’ll be a negative influence, especially on his younger brother. Do you think this treatment is too harsh?

  People respond differently to their circumstances. Eli’s tragic past made him pull away from his faith, whereas Anna relied on her faith to get her through her tragic past. Why do you think people have different reactions? Is your faith strong enough to sustain you through dark times?

  We hope you enjoyed this Harlequin Love Inspired Suspense story.

  You enjoy a dash of danger. Love Inspired Suspense stories feature strong heroes and heroines whose faith is central in solving mysteries and saving lives.

  Enjoy four new stories from Love Inspired Suspense every month!

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  ONE

  Police detective Austin Black glanced at the illuminated numbers on the dashboard clock as he raced up Oak Drive. Two in the morning. Not a good time to get a call about a missing child.

  Then again, there was never a good time for that; never a good time to look in the eyes of a mother or father and see terror and worry or to follow a scent trail and know that it might lead to a joyful reunion or a sorrowful goodbye.

  If it led anywhere.

  Sometimes trails went cold, scents were lost and the missing were never found.

  Knowing that didn’t make it any easier to accept.

  Austin wanted to find them all. Bring them all home safe.

  Hopefully, this time, he would.

  He pulled into the driveway of a small, bungalow-style house, its white porch gleaming in exterior lights that glowed on either side of the door. Just four houses down from the scene of a violent crime and the theft of a
trained police dog the previous afternoon. An odd coincidence.

  Or maybe not.

  Two calls to the same street within nine hours? Not something that happened often in a place like Sagebrush, Texas.

  Justice whined, his dark nose pressed against the grate that separated him from the SUV’s backseat. A three-year-old bloodhound, he was trained in search and rescue and knew when it was time to work. Knew and was ready, even after the eight-hour search they’d been on earlier.

  Austin jumped out of the vehicle and started up the driveway, filing away information as he went. Lights on in the front of the house. An old station wagon parked on the curb. Windows closed. Locked?

  A woman darted out the front door, pale hair flowing behind her, a loose robe flapping in the cold night air as she ran toward him. “Thank God you got here so quickly. I don’t know where he could have gone.”

  “You called about a missing child?”

  “Yes. My son.”

  “The dispatcher said that you don’t know how long he’s been gone?” Austin had heard the call go out shortly after he’d left his captain’s place. Hours of searching for Slade’s stolen police dog, Rio, had turned up nothing but a dead-end scent trail and mounting frustration. Austin had been exhausted and ready to go home. Now he felt wired and ready to hit the trail again.

  “I thought that I heard Brady call for me, and when I walked into his room, he was gone. That was about ten minutes ago.”

  “Has he ever run away?”

  “No.”

  “Ever talked about it?”

  “No! Now, please, can you help me find him?” She ran back up the porch stairs, her bare feet padding on the whitewashed wood.

  Austin jogged after her, stepping into a small living room. Neat as a pin except for a small pile of Legos on a light oak coffee table and a college textbook abandoned on a threadbare sofa. No sign of the woman.

  “Ma’am?” he called, moving toward a narrow hallway that led toward the back of the house.

  “Here.” She waved from a doorway at the end of the hall. “This is my son’s room.”

  Austin followed her into the tiny room. Blue walls. Blue bedding tangled and dripping over the side of the twin mattress. Crisp white curtains. A blanket lay on the floor near the open window, the frayed edges ruffled by the wind.

  “How old is your son, Ms...?”

  “Billows. Eva. He’s seven.”

  Billows?

  The name sparked a memory, but Austin couldn’t quite grab hold of it. “Did you and your son have an argument about something? Maybe a missed curfew or—”

  “He’s seven. He’s not even allowed to be outside by himself.” Her voice broke, but her eyes were dry, her face pale and pinched with worry. A pretty face. A young one, too. Maybe twenty-three or four. Too young, it seemed, to have a seven-year-old.

  “Did you argue about homework? Grades?”

  “We didn’t argue about anything, Officer—?”

  “Detective Austin Black. I’m with Sagebrush Police Department’s Special Operations K-9 Unit.”

  “You have a search-and-rescue dog with you?” Her face brightened, hope gleaming in her emerald eyes. “I can give you something of his. A shirt or—”

  “Hold on.” He grabbed her arm as she tried to move past. “I need to get a little more information first.”

  “Find my son. Then I’ll give you whatever information you want.”

  “Unfortunately, without the information, I won’t know where to begin searching for your son.”

  “How about you start out there?” She gestured out the window.

  “Was it open when you came in the room?”

  “Yes. And the curtains were just like that. One hanging outside. Like, maybe...” She pressed her lips together.

  “What?”

  “It looks like someone carried Brady out the window, and Brady grabbed the curtain to try to keep from being taken. But I don’t know how anyone could have gotten into his room. The window was locked. All the doors and windows were locked.”

  He nodded. He could see the scenario she’d outlined playing out. The little boy woken from a sound sleep, dragged from his bed and out the window, grabbing on to whatever he could to keep from being kidnapped.

  He could see it, but that didn’t mean it had happened that way. Most children were abducted by family or friends, and most didn’t even know they were being abducted when it happened.

  “You’re sure everything was locked?”

  “Of course.” She frowned. “I always double-check. I have ever since...”

  “What?”

  “Nothing that matters. I just need to find my son.”

  Hiding something?

  Maybe. She seemed more terrified than nervous, but that didn’t mean she didn’t know something about what had happened to her son.

  “Everything matters when a child is missing, Eva.”

  Missing.

  Gone.

  Disappeared.

  The words just kept coming. Kept filling Eva’s head and her heart and her lungs until she wasn’t sure she could breathe.

  “Do you need to sit down?” Detective Black touched her elbow, his dark blue eyes staring straight into hers.

  “I need to find my son.” The words stuck in her throat, caught on the roof of her mouth, and she didn’t know if they even made a sound when they escaped through her lips.

  “I’m going to help you do that. I promise. But I need to know if there’s some reason why you were careful to keep your doors and windows locked. Someone you were afraid of.” His voice was warm and smooth as honey straight from the hive, and Eva might actually believe every word he was saying if she weren’t so terrified.

  “My parents were killed two years ago, but it had nothing to do with me or my son.”

  “The killer was caught?”

  “No.”

  “Is it possible—”

  “It’s not possible!” She nearly shouted, and Detective Black frowned. “I was estranged from my father when the murders occurred. There’s no connection between my life now and what happened to my parents.” She tried again. Tried to sound reasonable and responsible because she was afraid if she didn’t, the detective would linger in Brady’s room for hours instead of going to look for him.

  “Is Brady’s father around?” He leaned out the window without touching it, eyeing the packed earth beneath.

  Did he see anything there?

  She wanted to ask, wanted to beg him to get his dog and go after her son, wanted to go after Brady herself, run into the darkness and scream his name over and over again until she found him.

  “No,” she answered a little too sharply, and Detective Black raised a raven-black eyebrow.

  “You’re not on good terms?”

  “We’re not on any terms.”

  “When was the last time you and Brady saw him?”

  “Brady has never seen him,” she retorted. “The last time I saw Rick was six months before my son was born.”

  “Have you spoken to him on th—”

  “I haven’t had any contact with him since the day I told him I was pregnant. He’s not in my life. He’s not in Brady’s life. He didn’t want to be. He was married, okay? He and his wife moved to Las Vegas two months before Brady’s birth. That’s it. The whole story.” She’d been nineteen and foolish enough to believe every lie Rick had told. It didn’t hurt like it used to, but admitting it to the detective still made her blush.

  “Is there anyone else? A boyfriend? Fiancé?”

  “No. Just me and Brady. That’s all there’s ever been.” She swallowed hard and turned away. Holding back tears because crying wouldn’t solve her problems. Wouldn’t help her son.

  “When did
you last see Brady?”

  “I checked on him at midnight. Right before I went to bed. He was sleeping.”

  “You went to bed after that?”

  “Yes! I went to bed. I fell asleep. I thought I heard Brady call for me, and I went to his room. He was gone. Now, will you please go find him?”

  “I will. A soon as—”

  The doorbell rang and Eva jumped, her heart soaring with wild hope.

  Brady.

  Please, God, let it be him.

  She shoved past Detective Black, not caring about niceties. Not caring about anything but getting to the door, opening it, seeing Brady’s face.

  Only it wasn’t him.

  Her heart sank as she looked into the eyes of a uniformed officer.

  “Ms. Billows? I’m Officer Desmond Cunningham. We have a report of a missing child?”

  “My son. There’s already a detective here.”

  “He’s with our K-9 Unit. He’ll start searching for your son while I interview you.”

  Thank You, God. Thank You, thank You, thank You.

  She stepped back so he could enter the house, wishing she’d had time to straighten up the living room, put the sofa cover over her threadbare couch. A twenty-dollar Goodwill find that worked fine for her and Brady but wasn’t great for company.

  Such a silly thing to think about.

  Such a stupid thing when her son was missing.

  She pressed a hand to her stomach, sick with dread and fear.

  “He’s been gone for twenty minutes already,” she said, the horror of the words filling her mouth with the coppery taste of blood.

  “It takes a little time to get a search team mobilized, ma’am, but we’ll have plenty of people out here before you know it.” Officer Cunningham offered a reassuring smile, his dark eyes filled with sympathy.

  Seeing it there in the depth of his gaze was too difficult, made the tears she’d been holding back too tempting. She turned away, met Detective Black’s steady gaze.