Cheryl Tardif - Submerged

“It’s time for me to let go of this,” he said.

He set the box in the fire pit. Removing a lighter from his pocket, he lit the kindling beneath the box and they stood a few feet away, watching it smolder, sizzle and burn.

“I spent a long time hiding from the truth,” he said. “I was good at that. Hiding things. Submerging myself in guilt.”

Rebecca took his hand. “You never have to hide from me.”

He kissed her again, pondering the complexity of fate. In his search to find Rebecca and her children, she had found him. And now the world opened to him with all its infinite possibilities.

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“ Submerged reads like an approaching storm, full of darkness, dread and electricity. Prepare for your skin to crawl.”

“From the first page you know you are in the hands of a seasoned and expert storyteller who is going to keep you up at night turning the pages. Tardif knows her stuff. There’s a reason she sells like wildfire—her words burn up the pages. A wonderful, scary, heart pumping writer.”

“Tardif once again delivers a suspenseful supernatural masterpiece.”

“From the first page, Cheryl Kaye Tardif takes you hostage with Submerged —a compelling tale of anguish and redemption.”

“Cheryl Kaye Tardif’s latest novel Submerged will leave you as haunted as its characters.”

A very special thank you to my longtime friend, Mike, without whom this novel wouldn’t be possible. Mike, thank you for sharing your own story of addiction, of how it affected your life, your marriage, your career and those around you. Your quiet courage is inspiring. And your life now proves there is a chance for redemption, if one lets go of old ways, grabs onto hope and rises to the surface.

Thanks to Sharon DeVries of Yellowhead Regional Emergency Communications Center, for all the invaluable information regarding emergency services and practices in the Hinton/Edson area. As with all fiction, sometimes truth has to be bent in order to fit a plot and to rev up the pace, so if there are any mistakes made, these are completely my own, though I do strive to create believable scenes and characters.

Many thanks to Laurent Colasse, president of ResQMe, and Melissa Christensen, for allowing me to use their product and brand in my story. I am hoping this will bring more awareness to this important safety device. And my sincere appreciation for their donation of a dozen ResQMe key chains, which will be given away during the launch of this book. You can learn more about this device at www.resqme.com

And to Christopher Bain, senior manager of product planning and development at BioWare ULC, a division of Electronic Arts Inc., for allowing me the use of their company name in this novel. www.bioware.com

Thanks to John Zur, a valued reader and fan of my novels, for allowing me to turn you into a character―and a good one, at that. I have plans for Detective John Zur, and I believe he’ll make another appearance in another novel sometime in the future.

Thanks to a very special teen fan, Gabbie Gros, who allowed me to immortalize her within these pages. Gabbie, I truly hope you realize you can be whatever you want to be. Your future is in YOUR hands. You are a gift to the world! Never, ever, forget that.

And thanks to fellow author, Luke Murphy, who won a contest I held a few years ago—one in which the winner supplied me with the first line of a new novel. The first sentence of the prologue is Luke’s, and I think you’ll agree it provokes gruesome images… and an elusive scent that might linger in your mind.

Cheryl Kaye Tardif is an award-winning, international bestselling Canadian suspense author. Her novels include Submerged, Divine Justice , Children of the Fog , The River , Divine Intervention , and Whale Song , which New York Times bestselling author Luanne Rice calls “a compelling story of love and family and the mysteries of the human heart…a beautiful, haunting novel.”

She is now working on her next thriller.

Cheryl also enjoys writing short stories inspired mainly by her author idol Stephen King, and this has resulted in Skeletons in the Closet & Other Creepy Stories (eBook) and Remote Control (novelette eBook).

In 2010 Cheryl detoured into the romance genre with her contemporary romantic suspense debut, Lancelot’s Lady , written under the pen name of Cherish D’Angelo.

Booklist raves, “Tardif, already a big hit in Canada… a name to reckon with south of the border.”

Cheryl’s website: http://www.cherylktardif.com

Official blog: http://www.cherylktardif.blogspot.com

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/cherylktardif

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Cheryl-Kaye-Tardif-novels/29769736630

You can also find Cheryl Kaye Tardif on Goodreads, Shelfari and LibraryThing, plus other social networks.

Copyright © 2013 by Cheryl Kaye Tardif. All Rights Reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission from the author.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. And any resemblance to actual persons, living, dead (or in any other form), business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

http://www.cherylktardif.com

FIRST EDITION eBook

Imajin Books – www.imajinbooks.com

February 26, 2013

ISBN: 978-1-926997-95-7

Cover designed by Ryan Doan - www.ryandoan.com

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