Gone Black (36 page)

Linda Ladd
is the bestselling author of over a dozen novels, including the Claire Morgan thrillers. Linda makes her home in Missouri, where she lives with her husband. She has two adult children and two grandsons. In addition to writing, Linda works with preschoolers, administering diagnostic developmental tests, and is an avid reader and tennis player. She is currently at work on her next novel featuring Claire Morgan.

 

Learn more at lindaladd.com.

She suffered a terrifying coma. She survived a serial killer's
obsession. Now homicide detective Claire Morgan hopes to forget
the nightmare of her Missouri past in the city of New Orleans.
But when a body is discovered near her home,
her darkest fears come rushing back . . .

 

Surrounded by candles and skulls, the victim is bound to
an altar like a human sacrifice. More disturbing to Claire is
the voodoo doll in the woman's hands. A doll pierced with pins
and wearing a picture on its face. A picture of Claire Morgan . . .

 

Claire doesn't believe in voodoo. But she does believe in
the power of superstition to warp a person's mind and
feed a killer's madness. It is here, in the muddy bayous
where it festers, that Claire must face her fear head-on—
and meet the man who's marked her for death . . .

She can't remember why he chose her—or what he did to her.
But Detective Claire Morgan knows that something terrible
happened to her the night a deranged serial killer
escaped from the mental ward. Looking for pleasure.
Looking for pain. Looking for her . . .

 

Recovering in a lakeside resort, Claire hopes to sort through her
broken memories. But after suffering a temporary coma she can
barely remember her own lover, psychiatrist Nicholas Black.
Would she be able to recognize her abductor if she saw him again?
If he came back for more . . . ?

 

If only she could remember his face or his voice . . .
if only she could comprehend the evil in his mind
or the depths of his cruelty . . . if only she knew
just how close he is—to her and everyone she loves . . .

His doctors are the best in the world, his father one of the most
powerful men in the state. But they couldn't stop Mikey from
succumbing to his darkest demons—the ones inside his head.
The ones who told him it was time to end it all.

 

It should have been an open-and-shut case, especially since
detective Claire Morgan's lover, Dr. Nicholas Black, recognized
Mikey as a troubled former patient. Then Claire finds another
body in Mikey's home. Curled inside an oven, charred beyond
recognition, the method of murder mind-boggling . . .

 

Claire's only lead is a beaded bracelet, believed to ward off
the “evil eye,” around each victim's wrist. But by the time she
discovers what the dead were afraid of, she's trapped in a mind
game of her own—with a brilliant sadistic killer. And this time,
there's a method to the madness . . .

LYRICAL UNDERGROUND BOOKS are published by

 

Kensington Publishing Corp.
119 West 40th Street
New York, NY 10018

 

Copyright © 2016 Linda Ladd

 

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of the publisher, excepting brief quotes used in reviews.

 

To the extent that the image or images on the cover of this book depict a person or persons, such person or persons are merely models, and are not intended to portray any character or characters featured in the book.

 

PUBLISHER'S NOTE

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

 

LYRICAL PRESS is Reg. U.S. Pat, & TM Office.

LYRICAL UNDERGROUND and the Lyrical Underground logo are trademarks of Kensington Publishing Corp.

 

First electronic edition: January 2016

ISBN: 978-1-6018-3388-4

First trade paperback edition: January 2016

 

 

ISBN-13: 978-1-60183-389-1
ISBN-10: 1-60183-389-X