Scene of the Crime: Return to Bachelor Moon. Carla Cassidy

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      Chapter One

      “Tell me again what we’re doing checking out the whereabouts of an ex-FBI agent from the Kansas City field office?” FBI agent Andrew Barkin asked from the backseat of the car.

      FBI special agent Gabriel Blankenship slowed the car as they approached the city limits of the small town of Bachelor Moon, Louisiana. “We’re doing this as a professional courtesy, because the Kansas City office asked us to.”

      “A little over two years ago Sam Connelly was a respected FBI profiler before he came out here for a two-week vacation and fell in love with Daniella Butler, who owns the Bachelor Moon Bed-and-Breakfast,” Jackson Revannaugh drawled from the passenger seat. “Apparently true love won out over career climbing. Sam quit the agency, moved here and he and Daniella got married.”

      “Sam not only became a husband but also stepfather to Daniella’s daughter, Macy. And this morning we received a call from the manager of the bed-and-breakfast that all three of them are missing,” Gabriel said.

      “Unusual that we’d be sent out, since it hasn’t even been twenty-four hours,” Jackson observed.

      “According to the manager, they’ve been missing since last night.” Gabriel kept his gaze focused on the road ahead, knowing that the bed-and-breakfast was ten miles outside of the small town.

      His gut feeling was that this was all a wild goose chase, some sort of misunderstanding between the manager and the family she worked for. It was an hour and a half drive from their field office in Baton Rouge, and they hadn’t been dispatched to leave until past three that afternoon.

      Hopefully they could get this sorted out and he would be in his own bed, back in his comfortable ranch house in Baton Rouge, before midnight.

      He’d been surprised when Director Jason Miller had assigned two men to travel with him to check out this supposed disappearance, yet he had been grateful for the company of the men, who were not only good agents adept at processing crime scenes and sniffing out bad guys but were friends, as well.

      “There.” Andrew pointed ahead to a sign that indicated to turn right for the Bachelor Moon Bed-and-Breakfast.

      Gabriel made the turn, squinting against the bright hot sun. He drove on for three more miles and then turned again, following another sign leading into a lane that took them to their destination.

      “Nice,” Jackson said as a huge two-story house with a sweeping veranda surrounded by large trees came into view. On one side of the B and B, a big pond glittered in the overhead sun, and on the other side, a giant carriage house looked inviting with large pots of multicolored flowers along its perimeter.

      The employees must park in another area, and there must be no guests, Gabriel thought, for the parking lot in front of the house was empty. He pulled the car to a halt and shut off the engine. At the same time, the front door opened and a woman stepped out on the porch.

      With the sun sparkling off her short, curly blond hair, creating a halo effect, she looked like a slender angel. Her long bare legs exposed by a pair of white shorts and her shoulders by a pink tank top, she looked like a very hot angel.

      “Sweet,” Jackson muttered from the backseat.

      “On the job, not on the prowl,” Gabriel reminded his fellow agent, who had a reputation around the office as a ladies’ man. Still, he was shocked by the quick, visceral warmth that swept through him at the sight of her. Her eyes had to be blue, he thought.

      She started down the steps СКАЧАТЬ