Every Missing Girl


 Contents
 
 Title Page
 Dedication
 Chapter 1
 Chapter 2
 Chapter 3
 Chapter 4
 Chapter 5
 Chapter 6
 Chapter 7
 Chapter 8
 Chapter 9
 Chapter 10
 Chapter 11
 Chapter 12
 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
 Chapter 42
 Chapter 43
 Chapter 44
 Chapter 45
 Chapter 46
 Chapter 47
 Chapter 48
 Epilogue
 Acknowledgments
 Also available by Leanne Kale Sparks
 Author Biography
 Copyright
 
 
 
 Guide
 
 Cover
 Start of Content
 Title Page
 Dedication
 Chapter 1
 Prologue
 Acknowledgments
 Copyright
 
 
 
 Pagebreaks of the print version
 
 Cover Page
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 EVERY MISSING GIRL
 A KENDALL BECK THRILLER
 LEANNE KALE SPARKS
 
 
 
 For family who are best friends and best friends who are family. It is the best of both worlds.
 
 
 
 CHAPTER
 
 1
 Friday
 FBI SPECIAL AGENT Kendall Beck knew she’d been to one too many crime scenes when in the midst of the bloodiest she’d walked into lately—this one in a convenience store—she wondered who had the tedious job of washing off all the blood smeared on the cellophane of a five-pack of Donettes. Or did they throw all the blood-splattered items away because, well, they were covered in blood? Maybe they put them on a clearance rack. But did they then have to disclose they were part of a murder?
 Probably the best thing would be to send the tainted snacks back to the station with the patrol cops currently swarming the small store. None of them cared if the bag of Cheetos had some spatter on the front. Free food. No law enforcement officer would pass up gratis chips and donuts.
 Mmm … donuts … What she wouldn’t give for a jelly right about now.
 “Can I help you?” a cop asked, sidestepping around her as she stood in the middle of the doorway.
 “Yeah.” She flashed her badge. “Can you point me to who’s in charge of the investigation?”
 The cop peered around the store and pointed to a man at the end of the checkout counter. “There he is, dark suit, talking to the balding old guy.”
 Kendall didn’t need to see the lead investigator’s face to know it was Adam Taylor. The two had met and worked together on a case, one near and dear to Kendall’s heart—the murder of her best friend. During the investigation, Kendall and Adam had grown close, and she counted him among her tight-knit posse of confidants.
 “Thanks.” She signed the crime scene log and strode toward Adam and one of his sidekicks, Saul Chapman.
 “Don’t think for one fucking second that catching this case means you won’t be helping me move,” she said by way of greeting as she sidled up next to Adam.
 “Oh, goody, they sent you.” He gave her a sideways glance. “I’ve been looking forward to your wit and charm all morning. What took you so long? Decide on a bubble bath before coming in?”
 “Full-body massage with a hot Swede.”
 “How was it?”
 “Hard.” She tipped her head toward the body splayed on the floor in the middle of a large pool of blood. “What’s the story here?”
 “Dead guy,” Saul said, pointing out the obvious.
 Kendall wrinkled her nose. “I don’t do dead guys. I do kids.”
 “Got one of those too.”
 “Dead?” Kendall hated starting any day with a dead body, but a dead kid made it ten times more revolting.
 “No,” Adam said. “But potentially a missing one.”
 “Elaborate.”
 “Bad Guy”—he pointed to the splayed body—“was trying to rob the store. Apparently had the child with him. There was another customer at the back of the store by the coolers, minding his own business. He hears a ruckus at the front of the store. Bad Guy is demanding money from the cashier, who grabs for a gun under the counter and aims it at Bad Guy. Things go sideways, Bad Guy gets a shot off, cashier goes down. Bad Guy kicks cashier’s gun out of the way and puts another round in cashier’s head.”
 “Meanwhile”—Saul picks up