County Line
Authors: Bill Cameron
Tags: #RJ - Skin Kadash - Life Story - Murder - Kids - Love
When the steadfast Ruby Jane Whittaker drops out of sight, dogged ex-cop Skin Kadash sets out to discover what drove the woman he loves to leave her life behind so suddenly and without explanation.
The discovery of a dead man in Ruby Jane’s apartment and an attack by a mysterious stalker send Skin from Portland to California—and into a charged encounter with her one-time love Peter McKrall.
As questions mount and answers grow increasingly out of reach, Skin and Peter cross the country on a desperate journey deep into Ruby Jane’s haunted past—and toward an explosive confrontation which will decide their future.
COUNTY LINE
Bill Cameron
Published by
TYRUS BOOKS
an imprint of F+W Media, Inc.
4700 East Galbraith Road
Cincinnati, Ohio 45236
Copyright © 2011 by Bill Cameron
All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
This is a work of fiction.
Any similarities to people or places, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
eISBN 10: 1-4405-3112-9
eISBN 13: 978-1-4405-3112-5
This work has been previously published in print format under the following ISBNs:
978-1-9355-6235-1 (hardcover)
978-1-9355-6252-8 (paperback)
To K.D. James,
with thanks,
for Nash
And, always, to Jill
Table of Contents
About County Line
County Line Title
County Line - Copyright
Dedication
Part One - Skin
Chapter 01
Chapter 02
Chapter 03
Chapter 04
Chapter 05
Chapter 06
Chapter 07
Chapter 08
Chapter 09
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Part Two - Roo
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Part Three - Biddy
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Notes and Acknowledgments
About the Author
FWCRIME.com
PART ONE
April 2008
Skin
- 1 -
No One Home
To my credit, the first thing I don’t do is go stand in the street outside her bedroom window, iPod in my pocket and portable speakers raised above my head. Not that she has a bedroom window—nothing so prosaic for Ruby Jane Whittaker. The point is I show uncharacteristic restraint and so—lucky me—miss out on the chance to watch a man die.
I’ve been away a month. Ruby Jane called it a retreat, a chance to get my head screwed on at last after a long winter brooding and recovering from a bloody confrontation which left three dead and me with a near-fatal gunshot wound. She’s the one who found The Last Homely House, an out-of-the-way bed-and-breakfast at the Oregon coast esteemed for a breathtaking ocean view and the curative powers of its hot springs. When I asked if she’d chosen the spot because it sat in a cellular dead zone in a dale on a precipitous headland, she laughed and told me I’d have to hike into town if I wanted to call her. Doctor’s orders were for lots of walking, but despite repeated marches down the mountain, I managed to reach her only a couple of times during my sojourn, the last a couple of weeks earlier. She hasn’t picked up since.
Too long for me, maybe not long enough for Ruby Jane. She dropped me off, and had planned to pick me up again. But as radio silence lengthened, I arranged for an overpriced rental car instead.
I dial her cell before getting on the highway. She doesn’t pick up. During the drive to Portland—ninety-three-point-nine miles according to Google Maps—I keep my hand on my phone as though I can pull a signal from the air through the power of touch. By the time I’m negotiating the vehicular chop on Route 26 through Hillsboro and Beaverton, I’ve succumbed to the urge to redial at least twice as often as I’ve resisted. Doesn’t matter anyway. Every attempt goes straight to voicemail.
