Winter's Rescue

WINTER’S RESCUE WINTER BLACK SERIES SEASON TWO: BOOK TWO MARY STONE Copyright © 2023 by Mary Stone All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. Created with Vellum This book is dedicated to all the mommas out there, who love fiercely and still feel like they're never doing enough. CONTENTS Description 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 What’s Next? Winter Black Series by Mary Stone Acknowledgments About the Author DESCRIPTION Nice girls finish last. Bad girls finish dead. When Private Detective Winter Black-Dalton receives a slew of messages from a mother desperate to protect her children after a traumatizing divorce, she takes the case without hesitation. Not only is it a welcome distraction from unpacking boxes, but Winter hopes to assuage the guilt still fusing her to her past. She should have known better. A crayon drawing of guns and "nakid notty girls" by her client’s five-year-old daughter hints at the wealthy and powerful father’s depraved activities. When the man in question warns Winter off the investigation, he reeks of cunning. But she has no hard facts, only impressions. And with no FBI badge to open doors, she needs to get creative. But the more Winter investigates, she fears something far more sinister lurks beneath the surface. And when local call girls mysteriously disappear, Winter must risk it all to save other young women from the same fate. The mystery and suspense continue with Winter’s Rescue, the second book in the Winter Black Season Two series, a thrilling ride that will make you realize things aren’t always as they seem. Sometimes they’re much worse. 1 Bridget Augusta had never intended to take her clothes off for a living. But one thing she learned in her nineteen years on Earth was that life was full of surprises. Like now. Here she was…alone…on a Saturday night…at a remote gas station near Middle of Dang Nowhere, Texas. Of course, she’d been in similar places for years. For a runaway, home was often anywhere and nowhere at the same time. Her life changed once she found work—such as it was—dancing at seedy dives. An offer to work at private parties for rich men eventually came along, and Bridget now had a place she could legitimately call home. It had been a while since she kissed her old life goodbye. She liked money and planned on never being without it again. And for the moment, her clothes were firmly in place. Which was a good thing, since an icy January wind whipped off the adjacent highway. She held back her long brown hair with one hand and pulled her coat closer with the other while she watched the gas pump numbers tick nearer to full. “C’mon, c’mon,” Bridget urged, as if she had the power to do anything but wait for the tank to fill. Finally, the pump chimed, and she spared a hand to remove the nozzle from her Volvo. She pulled her coat tight again as she headed to the station to collect her receipt—this was a business expense, after all. “Maybe next time, I’ll get a nice hotel room instead of heading home after work.” Her clients rarely offered her lodging once her job was done, even if they did offer lots of other opportunities. She had rules, though, and never went for the offers, no matter how tempting. Plus, she’d been warned about watching out for guys who promised to take her away from all this. Safer and better to just head out on the road, even if it sometimes meant topping off the tank late at night. “Demands of the job, girl. You knew that when you signed up.” After getting her receipt, Bridget hurried back to the comfort of her warm car and reached for her sports drink. Only another half an hour on the road before she could crawl into bed and sleep. She started the engine and yawned before heading out onto the deserted highway. The lights guiding her to the interstate on-ramp were few and far between, but she was less than a quarter mile away. Damn. She took another sip, hoping it would help the dull headache crawling up the back of her head. She blamed her discomfort on the long night. The money she made dancing for the wealthy partygoers was great, but the groping, the encouragement to drink more than she knew was safe, and the endless invitations to go somewhere else always bugged her. Bridget was a dancer, not a whore, but men could never tell the difference. The dark expanse beyond her headlights added to her unease with the remote location. Maybe she should have pushed her car to reach Austin before stopping. As the road bent right, coming around the curve, the glare of flashing hazard lights caught her attention, and she let up on the gas a bit. A black Mustang coupe convertible sat parked on the shoulder. Someone leaned against the side of the car. It was dark and a long walk back to the gas station if this person was on empty or needed some other kind of assistance. Against her better judgment, Bridget slowed her car. Not too much, though. She was fully prepared to take off if it turned out to be a guy, or guys, but she’d become curious about who was stranded on