On the Run

On The Run The Silencer Series BY: B.P Stevens Copyright © [2023] [B.P Stevens] – All rights Reserved This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any similarity to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. Free Gift! Sign up for my mailing list to receive this FREE exclusive copy of ( Bleeding Carpets ) as well as to be notified of any new releases, giveaways, contests, cover reveals and so much more Click here to sign up for my newsletter Description With the clock running out, can Emma Pepper prove she’s being framed, or will she go down for a crime she didn’t commit? As her entire life in the NYPD comes to a screeching halt, Emma finds herself in the center of this small town thriller. After someone breaks into her home, leaving a single rose in their wake, Emma finds herself utterly alone with only twenty four hours to discover evidence to prove her innocence. As Emma scrambles to figure out the truth, she begins to uncover a deeper cover up than ever before. How far does this go? Who else is involved? And even worse, to what lengths would the people involved go to ensure that their secrets stay buried? In this police procedural thriller, Emma races against the clock and finds herself drawing ever nearer to finding out who the Silencer is… Before they silence her. Tables of Content Chapter One Emma was frozen in place. For the first time in her life, in the moment of action, she was slammed with absolute fear and indecision. She clung to her dog and felt the beginnings of a panic attack coming. As an officer, it had been so easy to compartmentalize cases and not think too much about them; but this was different. The Silencer had always been different for Emma, but it didn’t mean that she took the facts of the case home with her. She knew that she had to leave the things that troubled her at work exactly where they were meant to be left - at work. But he had broken into her home now. This was no longer a simple situation anymore. No longer was it about the realities of Emma being in one bubble and the Silencer, whoever he was, being in a different world. He had been in her place of rest. Her safe haven. He had broken in and ransacked everything, taking her desktop with him as well. He must have been looking for the flash drive. Emma remembered literally the night before grabbing the drive and debating backing it up to the desktop, and now she was incredibly grateful that she didn’t. The Silencer would have had his hands on it now, but whoever they were, narrowly missed the opportunity to get their murdering hands on the secrets of the NYPD because of one choice Emma made. For what felt like the first time in a long time, Emma finally felt like she was the one in charge. Thinking thoughts like that made her feel stronger, made her feel more in charge, and more capable. It allowed her to control her breathing, and it allowed her to finally assess the situation through the eyes of a detective instead of a victim. The death grip she had on her dog wasn’t going to loosen, though. That was a fact. This wasn’t something that she could handle herself. She would have to call the cops and file a report, hoping and praying that if the piece of crap went through all the trouble of breaking into her house and trashing it, that he at least left behind a shred of DNA to use. But where would she stay until CSU was done with her place? Where would she live? How would she work while they handled everything? Everyone at the precinct hated her. Normally, Emma would have called up Brooke and crashed at her place. Brooke loved Muffin - Emma’s dog - and would certainly have welcomed the company. Now, Emma imagined that if she called Brooke, she would be laughed at. She tried to focus on her breathing, thinking more about the things she could do now instead of thinking about the things she couldn’t do. Sure, she couldn’t call Brooke to stay at her place, but she could get a hotel. She had plenty of savings, and she could easily find a pet-friendly one that would accept her and Muffin. She packed some clothes - the essentials - before she left, but she almost felt dirty imagining putting on anything that was in the same house as the Silencer. There was never a sexual component to any of his crimes, but Emma would always wonder what he did to her clothes. To her drawers of undergarments, if he even did anything. Of course, assuming that he did something was a little brazen, and Emma had to remind herself that she was safe. But was she? What if he was still here, watching her? What if he was hiding somewhere? A part of Emma itched for this to be true. She wished and prayed that he was hiding in a closet somewhere so that when he jumped out, she could shoot him point-blank and end it all. She loosened her hold on Muffin only to grab her gun again. She’d cleared the house and found no one, but that didn’t matter. He could still be hiding. He could be watching. He was a serial killer. Heck, Emma could only assume that the son of a gun was a ‘he’ anyway. What if it was a woman? Did it even matter? Emma again forced herself to breathe. She talked to herself; to breathe in and out over and over again until the room stopped spinning and she put her gun to the side. She rested her chin on Muffin’s head