Fatal Exposure. Gail Barrett

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      SILENCE IS HER ONLY PROTECTION

      Pulitzer Prize–winning photojournalist B. K. (“Brynn”) Elliot chronicles Baltimore’s grittier side with her lens—a talent cultivated from her years as a teenage runaway. A reclusive figure, Brynn lives under everyone’s radar...until a photo from her past plunges her into the crosshairs of powerful enemies.

      Detective Parker McCall has devoted fifteen years to trying to solve his brother’s murder, and with the release of a photo implicating Brynn as a potential suspect, he feels close to finding justice. Determined to get answers, Parker must ignore the inexplicable attraction he feels for the haunted beauty in the photo. And Brynn must decide if Parker will protect her or betray her in his hunt for a killer.

      Sweat glistened on her waxy face.

      Then her expression changed, her eyes filling with acceptance—the same resignation Parker had seen on his father’s face before he’d committed suicide.

      Denial rose inside him. Desperation screamed through his skull. He had to do something. He had to stop her somehow. But the slightest move, and Brynn would die.

      Her trigger finger moved. Knowing it was hopeless, Parker dived off the bed toward Brynn, flinging himself toward her with all his strength. But she was too far away.

      The gun went off, the suppressor silencing all but a quiet pop.

      Buried Secrets: Three murder witnesses, one deadly conspiracy

      Dear Reader,

      Desperate people do desperate things. Sadly, for millions of troubled teenagers, this often means running away from home. But life on the streets can be brutal, exposing these vulnerable children to dangers they never expected, making it difficult to stay alive.

      That’s the premise for my Buried Secrets trilogy. Fifteen years ago three desperate girls left their homes for different reasons, then banded together for protection on Baltimore’s treacherous streets. But their lives grew even more precarious when they witnessed a murder committed by a powerful man—who saw them watching. Terrified, they hid the evidence, changed their identities and went on the run to survive.

      Now fifteen years later, a chance photograph in the newspaper exposes their identities, blowing the lid off their secret past—and sending each on a journey more dangerous than they’d ever dreamed.

      I hope you enjoy their stories as they face down their pasts, confront enemies determined to silence them permanently and finally find the love they deserve.

      Happy reading!

      Gail Barrett

      Fatal Exposure

      Gail Barrett

       www.millsandboon.co.uk

      GAIL BARRETT

      always knew she’d be a writer. Who else would spend her childhood grinding sparkling rocks into fairy dust and convincing her friends it was real? Or daydream her way through elementary school, spend high school reading philosophy and playing the bagpipes, then head off to Spain during college to live the writer’s life? After four years she straggled back home—broke, but fluent in Spanish. She became a teacher, earned a master’s degree in linguistics, married a Coast Guard officer and had two sons.

      But she never lost the desire to write. Then one day she discovered a Silhouette Intimate Moments novel in a bookstore—and knew she was destined to write romance. Her books have won numerous awards, including a National Readers’ Choice Award and Romance Writers of America’s prestigious Golden Heart.

      Gail currently lives in western Maryland. Readers can contact her through her website, www.gailbarrett.com.

      MILLS & BOON

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      To Binnie Syril Braunstein,

      a woman with a generous heart.

      ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

      I’d like to thank the following people for making this story possible: Tom Beck, Chief Curator and Head of Special Collections at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, for answering my questions about photography; Lesley Gourley of Photohunter, whose phenomenal talent is matched only by her kindness; Wesley Wilson, Chief of the Enoch Pratt Free Library, for taking time out of his busy schedule to give me a personal tour of the library and helping me find a place to hide the film; Loni Glover, Karen Alerie and Mary Jo Archer for their invaluable input and support; and last—but definitely not least—an enormous and heartfelt thanks to Officer Robert Carusone of the Baltimore Police Department for not only answering my endless questions, but letting me tag along with him on patrol. Rob, you’re the best! Any mistakes are definitely my own!

      Contents

       Chapter 1

       Chapter 2

       Chapter 3

       Chapter 4

       Chapter 5

       Chapter 6

       Chapter 7

       Chapter 8

       Chapter 9

       Chapter 10

       Chapter 11

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