When Ruth Butler escaped Texas for a sleepy seaside village in the south of England, it was to rescue her infant daughter from the perverted demon she had married. But after ten peaceful years her daughter Annie disappears.

Not far away, a madman has been trying in vain to turn back time. When Ruth turns out to be a dead ringer for his mother, the voices in his head haunt him day and night. The only way to stop his mother’s nagging is to kill her all over again.

Ruth must rely on her instincts and the ally she finds in an undercover detective who’s in town on unrelated business, but neither can search for Annie’s kidnapper openly. Nevertheless, the trail leads from a faceless body in Annie’s clothes to a smuggler’s cave, where the killer drains his victim’s blood an ounce at a time. But he’s got a special purpose for little Annie. He is patient. He will wait–until her mother comes to save her.

Deadly Thyme is created by R.L. Nolen, an eGlobal Creative Publishing Signed Author.

Deadly Thyme

   Jon swiveled at the muffled scream from where Ruth had been behind the desk. Quentin Malone, county magistrate, had Ruth in his grip. They leaned against the back wall. He stood not five feet away from them. He stepped closer.


   "You'd best stay where you are!" A strange woman's voice rang out. Then a man's voice, "Mother, stop! Don't make me do it this way."


   "Fool!" the woman's voice screeched. "Can't do anything without losing it." 


   Jon saw the gun and froze. "Mr. Malone, you can't get away."


   "No?" Malone, of the distinct penguinesque nose, held the gun under Ruth's ear with one hand and gripped her tightly in a strangle hold with the other. "Looks like we have you all where we want you."


   For all his training, Jon could do nothing against bullets. "You don't have to do this. We can help you."


   Malone jerked Ruth around like a rag doll. The metal gun barrel clicked against an earring. "Bullets enough for all. Who first?"


Chapter 50