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Stock photos; not actual victims

 Catching Crimson

Suddenly, there's a nursing
shortage in Dallas.

Detective Danielle Ramos is still sorting out her life after the ordeal with her former co-worker turned serial killer, known as the "Pennyman”.  As she nears psychological closure of dealing with the case, she is assigned another murder investigation of a red headed nurse.  Danielle's new case is the first in a string of such murders in different cities in the Dallas area. 

 

While working on the task force to catch this madman who calls himself Crimson, she meets a small-town police officer who seems to be turning her personal life upside down. Will Danielle make a move toward Luke?  Would he accept such an offer?

 

Sergeant Chance Bynum is on the task force as well, and his personal life is beginning an upswing after meeting a captivating officer from another department. Could his involvement with this new flame compromise his work with the investigation?

 

Only time will tell as this new serial killer is obsessed with redheaded nurses. Danielle, Chance and the others on the task force must find out who Crimson is before he finds his ultimate target.

red hed blue shirt.jpg

© 2014 by Jim Howell.   Proudly created with Wix.com

Stock photos; not actual victims

Chapter 1

 

 DANIELLE’S DREAM

 

Danielle Ramos watched helplessly as the unseen man pointed the large caliber revolver straight at her face.  A brilliant light shone directly in the Dallas Sheriff’s Detective’s eyes - blinding her - and she had no idea who was doing this to her...or why.  Danielle had parted her lips to begin pleading when she heard the familiar clicking noise of the revolver being cocked.  The detective’s training and instincts told her to move to one side and duck simultaneously, but she was frozen to the floor, held by some force she had no control over.  And at that moment, she saw the flash of fire from the muzzle and heard the ear shattering blast.  Her life was over.

 

What!?  Somehow the man had missed, and she was still alive.  Was this some miracle, or could it have been intentional?  Surely not on either count, yet she didn’t feel a thing. As the ringing in her ears diminished, she caught the faint sound of something familiar yet almost surreal. The hushed sounds of a low chortle quickly rose to a high-pitched laughing that seemed non-human in some strange way.  The laughing continued and reached a pitch to an eeriness that reminded her of a witch’s cackle.  Her head was filled with the horrible noise which reached an intensity so high that Danielle covered her ears.  It was to no avail. Then in an instant……complete silence. 

 

That was the point Danielle awakened from her nightmare. Beads of sweat covered her forehead, and her dark hair was damp where it rested on the pillow.  She sat up quickly and felt the coolness of her hair as it brushed softly against the bare skin above her nightgown.  Danielle turned on the lamp beside her bed.  The soft glow was instantly comforting as she pulled the silky, soft pink gown rapidly back and forth from her body to give herself some relief from the perspiration that seemed to envelop her entirely. 

 

This was the third time in five nights she had been haunted by the same recurring scenario; gun in her face, gun goes off, then laughing, cackling, and finally - silence.  Why was this happening to her?  And why could she not control it?  As difficult as these questions were and had been, now was not the time to ponder over these issues.  She was tired…no, exhausted…and needed her rest. These were questions she would ask her therapist again day after tomorrow, if she could hold out that long. 

 

Danielle slid out of bed to get a drink and stumbled into the kitchen, shuffling her feet as she walked.  As she drank the water from the refrigerator, the coolness of it washed through her like melting snow.  The heavy-eyed detective leaned her arm on the open refrigerator door and strained to see the clock on the far wall which was barely illuminated with the indirect light. 2:35. She shook her head in silence and returned to her bed, desperate for the slumber that had eluded her for so many days. Danielle turned on her side and closed her eyes, but sleep did not come quickly or easily.  When she opened her eyes, the clock on her nightstand was clearly visible.  2:39. It was sometime later in the depths of the night when she finally drifted to sleep again, making it uninterrupted until the morning’s alarm.

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