Close Her Eyes

CLOSE HER EYES AN ABSOLUTELY HEART-RACING CRIME THRILLER AND MYSTERY NOVEL LISA REGAN BOOKS BY LISA REGAN Detective Josie Quinn series Vanishing Girls The Girl With No Name Her Mother’s Grave Her Final Confession The Bones She Buried Her Silent Cry Cold Heart Creek Find Her Alive Save Her Soul Breathe Your Last Hush Little Girl Her Deadly Touch The Drowning Girls Watch Her Disappear Local Girl Missing The Innocent Wife Close Her Eyes Available in Audio Detective Josie Quinn series Vanishing Girls (Available in the UK and the US) The Girl With No Name (Available in the UK and the US) Her Mother’s Grave (Available in the UK and the US) Her Final Confession (Available in the UK and the US) The Bones She Buried (Available in the UK and the US) Her Silent Cry (Available in the UK and the US) Cold Heart Creek (Available in the UK and the US) Find Her Alive (Available in the UK and the US) Save Her Soul (Available in the UK and the US) Breathe Your Last (Available in the UK and the US) Hush Little Girl (Available in the UK and the US) Her Deadly Touch (Available in the UK and the US) The Drowning Girls (Available in the UK and the US) Watch Her Disappear (Available in the UK and the US) Local Girl Missing (Available in the UK and the US) The Innocent Wife (Available in the UK and the US) CONTENTS Prologue 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 Chapter 49 Hear More from Lisa Books by Lisa Regan A Letter from Lisa Vanishing Girls The Girl With No Name Her Mother’s Grave Her Final Confession The Bones She Buried Her Silent Cry Cold Heart Creek Find Her Alive Save Her Soul Breathe Your Last Hush Little Girl Her Deadly Touch The Drowning Girls Watch Her Disappear Local Girl Missing The Innocent Wife Acknowledgments In loving memory of Ann Bresnan PROLOGUE Her flesh burned away like tissue paper. The smell hit her first, even before the pain. Some part of her mind had already closed down, trying to protect her, but she knew it wouldn’t be enough to shut out the agony that was coming. A thin coil of smoke rose from the apparatus he had used. He tossed it aside, metal clattering against concrete. He gave a low whistle as he regarded his handiwork. Then he licked his lips, looking more satisfied than she had ever seen a human being look. As the pain struck her, first with a searing punch, and then in hot, intolerable waves that made her entire body shiver, he looked even happier. A glance at her hip revealed that it was no bigger than an index card. Gritting her teeth, she wondered how something so small could hurt so much. She had burned her hand once, getting it caught in a cloud of steam from a pot she’d been handling. It had been horrific. It seemed to go on for days, no matter what remedies she tried. But this… This was something else altogether. He paced back and forth before her as she writhed on the floor. She opened her mouth to beg him for something, anything. To untie her, to let her go, to splash it with cold water, at least. As if reading her mind, he knelt next to her and tangled his hand in her hair. His breath smelled like stale beer. He whispered into her ear, “You’re not going anywhere.” Now she wondered what else he was capable of, and whether or not she’d ever see the outside of this ONE A small explosion boomed from the direction of Josie Quinn’s backyard. From her place at the kitchen table, she heard an object thump against the outside of the house. Seconds later, there were shouts. The sooty smell of smoke filtered into the room. Josie’s twin sister, Trinity Payne, leapt up from her seat and ran to the back door, flinging it open. Josie followed, snatching up the small fire extinguisher that she and her husband kept next to their microwave. Thick gray smoke rolled through the open door as Josie and Trinity pushed outside. Josie held the nozzle of the extinguisher like a weapon, waving it back and forth, searching for the source of the smoke. On the edge of the small patio outside the kitchen door, flames rose from a mangled gas grill. Josie’s husband, Noah Fraley, backed away from it, covering his face with his hands, while Trinity’s boyfriend, Drake Nally, batted at the flames with his coat. On the grass, Josie and Noah’s Boston terrier, Trout, barked furiously, jumping nervously from side to side, but thankfully staying out of range of the fire. The once-chrome lid to the grill now lay in a blackened heap near Noah’s feet. Their home’s white siding bore a dark smudge the approximate length of the lid. “Get out of my way,” Josie said, nudging Drake aside. “Trin, get my dog, would you?” Lightning fast, Trinity shot across the patio and scooped Trout into her arms. Drake and Noah joined her on the grass, well away from the grill. Josie pulled the fire extinguisher’s pin and aimed the nozzle at the flaming grill. Spraying from side to side, and keeping even