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  L E F T

  T O

  H I D E

  (An Adele Sharp Mystery—Book Three)

  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 seven books (and counting); of the AU PAIR psychological suspense thriller series, comprising three books; of the ZOE PRIME mystery series, comprising three books (and counting); of the new ADELE SHARP mystery series; and of the new EUROPEAN VOYAGE cozy mystery series.

  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), and IF SHE KNEW (A Kate Wise Mystery—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 © 2020 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 Arm001, used under license from Shutterstock.com.

  BOOKS BY BLAKE PIERCE

  EUROPEAN VOYAGE COZY MYSTERY SERIES

  MURDER (AND BAKLAVA) (Book #1)

  DEATH (AND APPLE STRUDEL) (Book #2)

  CRIME (AND LAGER) (Book #3)

  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)

  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)

  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)

  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)

  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 MUDER (Book #2)

  A TRACE OF VICE (Book #3)

  A TRACE OF CRIME (Book #4)

  A TRACE OF HOPE (Book #5)

  CONTENTS

  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

  CHAPTER THIRTY THREE

  CHAPTER THIRTY FOUR

  CHAPTER THIRTY FIVE

  EPILOGUE

  CHAPTER ONE

  The team leader glanced
at the notification scrolling across his satellite phone. Vermisstes. Missing persons. The notification came direct from the BKA. A strange thing for the German intelligence agency to take an interest so quickly. Then again, these two weren’t the usual missing persons.

  The team leader adjusted the zipper on his faded red and green overcoat and gestured toward the three other members of his unit. Volunteers—all of them. Their logo in crisp black letters: Bergwacht Deutchsland. Mountain Rescue, Germany. They stomped through the snow in the fading evening. Only an hour left before they’d have to turn back. No sense searching at night and risking his team as well. A gorge dipped from slipping ravines on their left, and to their right, the mountain only protruded higher, threatening to pierce the clouds in their grayish gloom.

  The Bavarian Alps were a long and intricate mountain range. And two cross-country skiers as experienced as the missing persons were could cover a significant distance from the Wolfsschluct Resort in the time they’d been missing.

  Sasha, the local guide, pointed off into the distance. The team leader paused at the sound of an approaching buzz. He turned, chill wind cooling his exposed face as he regarded the orange helicopter whirring through the blue sky. An echoing hum from the chopper blades resounded in a continuous loop against the backdrop of mountains encumbered with snow.

  “Kapitän,” said Jerome, the youngest team member. He huffed a bit, approaching the team leader with quick steps, flicking snow as his boots plunged and lifted from the burdened trail.

  “Hmm?” said Luka Porter, the unit captain.

  Jerome leaned in, yelling to be heard over the chopper. “No more ski tracks. Scheisse! Think we should double back.”

  Luka regarded the young man and breathed, allowing a trail of vapor to twist up past his cheeks and probe toward the evening sky. He also responded in German. “Nein. We go back, you know what happens, then?” he asked, quietly.

  Jerome hesitated. “It’s—it’s growing dark, sir. Just that, I thought one of the rules was to return before nightfall.”

  Luka scratched at the stubble on his chin. He’d been roused early that morning without a chance to shave. These Vermisstes were important people. Underscored by the BKA agents who’d personally shown up at his home to drag him to the office beside the resort.

  “An hour,” said Luka. “Then back. But an hour more.”

  Jerome looked disappointed, but disguised it well enough. Both of them trudged through the snow along the trail, following Sasha as she led them along the trajectory of the last known direction the Italian couple had followed.

  “I hear… I hear they were wealthy,” Jerome said, gasping in between words now. Some of his eager energy was beginning to fade the deeper the snow became.

  Luka grunted again, limiting his words, saving his strength. “Twenty-four hours missing. In this weather, in November, wealthy or not, they’ll freeze all the same.”

  “Or worse,” Jerome muttered.

  Luke frowned but didn’t reply, doing both of them the favor of conserving their breath.

  Just then, Sasha held up a hand from further along the trail. The light trickle of snowfall had stopped and started a few times over the last few hours, disguising any further ski tracks they might have found. Yet Sasha motioned rapidly, drawing Luka’s and Jerome’s attention.

  “What is it?” Luka called out.

  Sasha was pointing toward the sky, and the two men followed the indicating gesture.

  A single beam of blue light extended faintly in the evening horizon, originating from the helicopter, but swishing and circling around a small grove of trees at the very top of the gorge, near the slope.

  “They found something!” Sasha shouted.

  Luka nodded and picked up the pace, feeling the sting of the cold now and the quick freeze of his breath vapor against his cheeks. He bowed his head, following Sasha’s footsteps as they rushed toward the grove. The Italian couple had set out skiing from the resort more than twenty-four hours ago. Yet, still, there was a chance they’d survived. Properly garbed, perhaps carrying shelter, they’d be in a bad way, but death wasn’t a certainty. Many of the people their Bergwacht unit was sent after ended up being recovered. Many, but not all.

  They neared the grove of trees, following Sasha, who had skis strapped over her shoulder. The snow here was too fresh, too light for skiing to be optimal. Luka frowned—so why was the helicopter indicating this grove?

  A scattering of coniferous larch and spruce trees circled the indicated beam of blue light, which only seemed to strengthen the more the evening darkened.

  “Lights!” Luka called.

  The other members of the search and rescue team hit their headlamps, and Luka withdrew his well-used one-hundred-thousand-lumen aluminum safety light. He clicked the switch and pointed the large flashlight toward the trees. Luka blinked a bit at the bright glare, like the headlights of a police vehicle. He nodded at the others to approach.

  Care was in order. Jerome, their law enforcement volunteer, drew his sidearm. One could never be too careful in the Alps. All sorts of creatures lurked in these mountains.

  “I see something,” Sasha called as she moved toward the trees. Snow crunched underfoot, suggesting new snowfall had been blocked, mostly, by the trees, leaving only residue and whatever had been dislodged from the branches.

  “Careful,” Jerome called, his weapon in his gloved hand.

  Sasha nodded but waved away the caution, stepping toward the indicated portion of the forest. She pulled up sharply.

  Luka could see it now too. It was hard to miss. Dark shapes against the snow. Dark stains.

  Jerome’s gun lowered slowly as they approached through the coniferous trees. Then the young volunteer cursed and his arms went limp. “Oh mein Gott,” he said, murmuring a quick prayer before crossing himself.

  Luka stepped past Jerome and came up level with Sasha, beneath a giant fir. He brushed aside an extended branch with one hand and stared into the snowy grove, his eyes fixed on the scene.

  “The tourists?” Sasha asked in a low, trembling voice.

  “Call it in,” Luka said, sharply. “Now.”

  He heard Sasha at his side fumbling with her SAT phone, followed by the quick beep of buttons in response. He listened to the helicopter still whirring overhead, like a vulture circling a carcass. Jerome tried to move closer, but Luka held out an arm, pressing back against the young man. “Don’t,” he said, quickly. “Can’t disturb it.”

  “What—what do you think did this?” Jerome murmured, staring.

  Luka returned his attention toward the grove, difficult as this was. He’d seen victims of animal attacks before, but nothing like this. Bear attacks weren’t common in the region—or, at least, hadn’t been in a long while. Recently, though, in the past few years, there had been a resurgence of brown bear sightings in the Alps.

  Now, the proof lay before him.

  Two bodies—at least, what remained of them. Bloody, frozen, scattered like impressionistic art in droplets and spray around the area. A few streaks had even speckled the trees. Pieces of human flesh also ornamented the ground. An entire foot was caught in a young sapling, the tree’s growth stunted by lack of sunshine.

  Bloody furrows and cuts laced the bodies. So much blood. Too much, suggesting the victims had been alive for a good portion of the carnage.

  Luka simply stared, arm extended, braced against Jerome as he listened to Sasha. “Yes… yes, is the agent still there? The one with BKA? No, Franz, no time—now. We—we think we found them.” A pause. A staticky voice on the other end. Sasha swallowed. “Dead,” she said. “Definitely dead.”

  CHAPTER TWO

  Another vibration on her desk. Adele glanced down and resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Angus. Again. He’d been texting her for three days now.

  She pushed her phone out of sight beneath a stack of papers balanced on a metal tray. Late. She’d pushed off the paperwork for too long already. Agent Grant, her supervising officer i
n San Francisco, was a patient sort, but even she was getting tired of Adele’s procrastination.

  In fact, her last comment had gone something like, “Stay the hell in your office. Lock the door, and don’t leave until you get the forms on my desk. Understand? Christ, Adele, I have bureaucrats breathing down my neck as it is.”

  Not the most comforting of words to have echoing in her head as she filled out the overdue forms. Adele wrinkled her nose and glanced at her empty mug. The faint odor of coffee hung on the air of her small office. Really, it was little more than a walk-in closet with an opaque glass door. Windowless, with a single desk and chair and an overhead yellowish light, it served well enough.

  She lifted another file, dropped it in front of her, and began flipping through the pages. Her eyes glazed as she did, and the hand holding the pen went limp, pressed against the desk. Only fifty more documents to go.

  The joys of corresponding between multiple agencies couldn’t be overstated.

  At last, she found the portion of the document requiring her attention and moved to fill it out.

  More vibrating.

  “Damn it!” she shouted, launching her pen at the stack of papers now shielding her phone.

  She grabbed the phone, lifted it, and read, “4 New Messages.” All of them from Angus. The handsome, curly-haired coder had broken up with her a few months ago. At the time, she’d thought they were on the verge of getting engaged.

  She glanced at the pile of folders, then at her phone. Then, quietly muttering to herself, she unlocked the screen and scrolled through Angus’s messages.

  Hey Adele, have a sec?

  A sec? Quaint. Cute. To the point.

  Don’t know if you got my last message. Can we talk?

  She scanned the times the messages were sent. Only two hours in between. Was it just her imagination, or was Angus getting desperate? What could he possibly want anyway?

  Adele, look—I’m sorry for how things ended. I’ve been thinking a lot. Do you think we could hash things out this week?