A
Tainted Mind
By: Tamsen Schultz
Blurb:
OBSESSED
with her job as a medical examiner and lead consultant with the FBI, Dr.
Vivienne ‘Vivi’ DeMarco is a woman running from her own demons. And finding the
remains of a body on the side of a road in rural upstate New York wasn’t part
of her plan.
FRUSTRATED that the ghosts from his past won’t leave him alone, Ian MacAllister makes for a reluctant Deputy Chief of Police of Windsor, New York. But as more victims are discovered, all women that bear a shocking resemblance to Dr. DeMarco, he knows he’ll need to call on all the skills he learned as an Army Ranger if he wants to keep her safe.
DENIED over and over again of the one thing he desires most, a killer may have finally reached his breaking point. The only question that remains is, will he take Vivi and Ian with him?
FRUSTRATED that the ghosts from his past won’t leave him alone, Ian MacAllister makes for a reluctant Deputy Chief of Police of Windsor, New York. But as more victims are discovered, all women that bear a shocking resemblance to Dr. DeMarco, he knows he’ll need to call on all the skills he learned as an Army Ranger if he wants to keep her safe.
DENIED over and over again of the one thing he desires most, a killer may have finally reached his breaking point. The only question that remains is, will he take Vivi and Ian with him?
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Excerpt:
“You
gotta be kidding me.” Ian crossed his arms and stared at the board. The newly
updated board of death. They’d started with eighteen women, three confirmed
dead and the other fifteen missing. The last time Ian had looked at the board,
Carly had eliminated five of the victims, bringing the number down to thirteen
women who fit the profile.
This
board had twenty-one women on it. Girls, some of them. And went back over
fifteen years.
“There
were a few earlier than this woman, or, uh, girl,” Carly corrected herself,
pointing to the first picture on the board. Amanda Corlis, seventeen, found
raped, strangled, and murdered in a summer resort town in southern Maine. She
was probably getting ready to go to college. “But they only had one or two
similarities so I didn’t include them,” she added.
“Shit.”
Ian ran his good hand over his face. “So, how many of these women are missing
and how many confirmed dead?” Ian couldn’t believe he was hearing those words
out of his mouth. This wasn’t Afghanistan, asking for “confirmed dead,” while
standing here in his small, quiet town was more than surreal.
“Ten in total are confirmed dead. The remaining eleven are missing, presumed dead,” Marcus answered. His voice sounded about how Ian felt.
“And do we have the files?” Vivienne asked.
“Ten in total are confirmed dead. The remaining eleven are missing, presumed dead,” Marcus answered. His voice sounded about how Ian felt.
“And do we have the files?” Vivienne asked.
Carly
nodded. “I was able to track down everyone I needed yesterday, and we have all
but one, but that one should be here today.”
They all stared at the board for a long, silent moment. Ian thought about turning to Vivienne and asking that she call in the Bureau. But as he studied the board, a pattern emerged in his mind. A plan.
They all stared at the board for a long, silent moment. Ian thought about turning to Vivienne and asking that she call in the Bureau. But as he studied the board, a pattern emerged in his mind. A plan.
“We
need timelines,” Ian said.
His
officers looked at him with a combination of curiosity and eagerness in their
expressions. Vivienne’s face said something more along the lines of “you know
what we need to do, now tell us.” That she didn’t bother to hide that little
bit of “I told you so” brought a faint smile to his lips.
“A couple of timelines. Of the women we know are dead, we need to know when they went missing and the estimated times of death,” Ian continued.
“To get an idea of how long he holds them,” Marcus interjected, speaking more to himself than anyone else.
“A couple of timelines. Of the women we know are dead, we need to know when they went missing and the estimated times of death,” Ian continued.
“To get an idea of how long he holds them,” Marcus interjected, speaking more to himself than anyone else.
“But
we also need to know more about where they were last seen. If they were seen at
a bar on Friday night and reported missing on Saturday, we’ll have a more
reliable sense of when the clock started ticking for them,” Ian kept talking.
“But
if they went missing from somewhere where it’s harder to lock down a time, like
if they went camping by themselves or something like that, then we need to take
that into consideration,” Carly added, catching on.
Ian
nodded. “We also need to know where they went missing from and where the bodies
were found. If there is any pattern there, it might give us an idea of how far
he takes them from the grab sites. And it might also help us know where to look
for the other women, depending on what we find.” Both Carly and Marcus moved
into action—pulling up their computers, calling off dates and locations,
examining the files.
“Ian?”
Vivienne’s voice held a note of concern.
He
swiveled his eyes from his officers to Vivienne. He could tell by the look on
her face that she’d seen the same pattern on the board he had. He gave an
almost imperceptible nod.
“And
folks, I hate to say this, but I think we need to work fast,” Ian added. Both
heads shot up. “When he started his spree, he went after about one woman a year
for several years,” Ian continued. “But in recent years, his attacks have been
getting closer and closer together. If all these women really are his victims,
a few years ago he went after two a year. Then there were the three in Boston,
all in one year. After that, it looks like there might have been a short break
for some reason, but he picked up again a little less than a year ago, and
since then he’s already gone after two, with Rebecca being the most recent.”
“What
does that mean? Other than the obvious, I mean,” Marcus asked.
“It
means that he is devolving,” Vivienne answered. “Whatever it is that’s driving
him is becoming more and more of an obsession. To the extent he’s losing
control over it.”
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Buy Links:
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Tamsen Schultz did a great job in the telling of this story and I will be adding her books to my TBR pile.
Author Info:
Tamsen
Schultz is the author of The Puppeteer and “American Kin” (a short story
published in Line Zero Magazine) and is a three-time finalist in the Pacific
Northwest Writers Association annual competition. She worked in the field of
international conflict resolution and co-founded a non-profit prior to
attending law school. Since graduating, she has worked as a corporate attorney
and, like most real lawyers, she spends a disproportionate amount of time
thinking about what it might be like to do something else. She lives in
Northern California in a house full of males including her husband, two sons, a
cat, a dog, and a gender-neutral, but well-stocked, wine rack. A Tainted Mind
is her second novel and her third, These Sorrows We See, is tentatively
scheduled for release in late 2013.
Author Links:
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Giveaway
I really like Marie Astor's Janet Maple series! It's not super scary, but certainly suspenseful imo :) Thank you!
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