Copper Eyes
What if you suspected the sergeant in your crime scene section was a serial killer? What if you thought you had the evidence to prove it, but didn't know whom to trust?
Danielle Ramos is a Dallas County deputy sheriff who left the El Paso Sheriff's Department to move forward with her life following her divorce. Her fresh start in Dallas is tempered with her beginning at the bottom of the department. Danielle quickly works herself up to detective again, a position she held in El Paso.
The detective's first murder case in Dallas County thrusts her into the world of a past serial killer who has decided after twelve years that now is the time to start killing again. Danielle is merely in the way. Now she must contend with a pushy crime scene sergeant and an ex-husband and confront her worst fears as she comes face to face with the serial killer.
After 12 years, it's time to
start killing again.
I thoroughly enjoyed COPPER EYES. I found the book to be a real page-turner that I had a hard time putting down! The story was well paced and absorbing. I am hoping for another to follow soon!
~ Jerry Hunter (retired deputy sheriff)
I give this book two thumbs up. Jim Howell was able to capture and keep the reader's attention the entire time. Every character played important roles throughout and after each chapter you find yourself fascinated with what's going to happen next. Most parts were very suspenseful and made it incredibly hard to put down with every page turn. If you're looking for a novel that is very informative while at the same time entertaining, look no further.
~ W. James
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You really did a great job in writing this; I did not want to put it down!
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~ B. Demarest
Prologue
Saturday May 23, 1992
Sheila lay helpless in the back floorboard of the car. The tape around her ankles was so tight she could not move her legs. Though she had not seen the demented face of the man who held her hostage, for twenty minutes she had been crying, sobbing and pleading with him to let her go. But tape over her mouth now muffled her sobs and with her hands also taped behind her back, she was helpless to do anything. In a futile attempt to free herself, Sheila twisted and turned her body, catching her hair in the metal screws connecting the seat to the floorboard. She felt the sharp pain in her scalp as some of the tangles were ripped from their roots, her muffled screams stifled by the tape and making her throat hurt. The smell of the car’s stale carpet assaulted her nose, and she closed her eyes, praying this was a nightmare from which she would soon awake and find herself safe at home—never to go out again.
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The car made a slow right turn and Sheila again tried valiantly to loosen any of the bonds that held her prisoner. She knew she did not deserve to die and tried to put such a horrible thought out of her mind but there was no reason that she could think of why she had been singled out for this horrific experience. But the truth was that she had been singled out; singled out from many others in her apartment complex. Normally there was little trouble at the Briar Ridge Apartments. A car would be burglarized now and then, or someone’s bicycle would get ripped off but there had been little to warrant any fears—genuine or otherwise—for concern by any of the occupants, let alone the women. Whoever held her now had done his homework well. He had obviously watched from afar and noticed only slight variations in her routines. Clearly, he knew she was not married and that there was no permanent man in her life, the ideal target.
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Sheila had not given a second thought to the car parked next to her and was oblivious to the madman inside; a maniac man of an intensity the like of whom had not been seen in Dallas for years. Noiselessly and without witness he had grabbed Sheila from behind just as she extended her arm out to unlock her car door. There was a brief struggle and a still-born scream in her throat, but she was no match for the unknown man’s brute strength and the pungent rag he placed over her mouth and nose. In an instant she was beyond the stage of lightheadedness and with a moan, fell limply into arms that heaved her into the back seat of a nondescript vehicle before driving away.