Jessica R. Patch - Cold Case Christmas

Secrets lie buried in ice...

One of them can kill her.

Home for Christmas after her long-missing mother’s body is found, nothing will keep Nora Livingstone from uncovering the truth about the cold case. Especially not Deputy Sheriff Rush Buchanan, whom she once loved and left. Even when threats become attempts on her life, Rush can’t dissuade her—but he will protect her. Because someone is determined to bury the truth…or bury Nora.

JESSICA R. PATCHlives in the mid-South, where she pens inspirational contemporary romance and romantic suspense novels. When she’s not hunched over her laptop or going on adventurous trips with willing friends in the name of research, you can find her watching way too much Netflix with her family and collecting recipes for amazing dishes she’ll probably never cook. To learn more about Jessica, please visit her at jessicarpatch.com.

Also By Jessica R. Patch

Fatal Reunion

Protective Duty

Concealed Identity

Final Verdict

Cold Case Christmas

The Security Specialists

Deep Waters

Secret Service Setup

Dangerous Obsession

Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk

Cold Case Christmas

Jessica R. Patch

www.millsandboon.co.uk

ISBN: 978-1-474-08658-5

COLD CASE CHRISTMAS

© 2018 Jessica R. Patch

Published in Great Britain 2018

by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF

All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, locations and incidents are purely fictional and bear no relationship to any real life individuals, living or dead, or to any actual places, business establishments, locations, events or incidents. Any resemblance is entirely coincidental.

By payment of the required fees, you are granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right and licence to download and install this e-book on your personal computer, tablet computer, smart phone or other electronic reading device only (each a “Licensed Device”) and to access, display and read the text of this e-book on-screen on your Licensed Device. Except to the extent any of these acts shall be permitted pursuant to any mandatory provision of applicable law but no further, no part of this e-book or its text or images may be reproduced, transmitted, distributed, translated, converted or adapted for use on another file format, communicated to the public, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher.

® and ™ are trademarks owned and used by the trademark owner and/or its licensee. Trademarks marked with ® are registered with the United Kingdom Patent Office and/or the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market and in other countries.

www.millsandboon.co.uk

Version: 2020-03-02

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The only sound was the snow crunching under their feet.

Nora leaned into Rush as they walked to the cabin.

Crack!

The gunshot sprayed the snow a foot from them.

Someone had been lying in wait, Rush realized. To get her. To get them.

“Run!” When Nora obeyed his command, he ushered her behind a tree.

Another shot fired, this one splintering the bark, and he fired back. Grabbing Nora’s hand, he hauled her into the woods with him.

When they’d made it deep inside, the firing stopped.

“Now what do we do?” Nora asked, her panting breath coming out in plumes in the cold night.

Either the shooter had given up...or he was tracking them quietly. Stalking them.

“We double back to the chalet and call for backup,” he told her.

But his deputy sheriff’s mind reeled with the potential danger. With a list of potential suspects. Someone had planned this attack carefully. Could be anyone. Nora’s mother had had a slew of deadly secrets...

And now one of them was out to get Nora.

Dear Reader,

When I think about Jesus, I think about how He was born into scandal. How many people believed that a young girl who was betrothed to another man really was carrying the Son of God? I’m sure there were whispers all His life about how His mother must have “stepped out” on Joseph. Yet Joseph married her anyway—thanks to a dream from God. He loved her amidst the rumors. I wanted to write about that.

Nora was born into scandal. She lived in that shadow for so long. Rumors. But not only did Joshua—her adopted father—love her as his own, God loved her as His very own. God loves you. You are His very own. No matter what your background, what you were born into or what happened to you that you had no control over. You can come out from under that shadow and live in the light through the sweet, healing love of Jesus. You can be free to be who you are meant to be in Christ.

I love to hear from readers. Please email me at: jessica@jessicarpatch.com and visit my website at www.jessicarpatch.com. Don’t forget to sign up for my newsletter, Patched In , to receive book news, sales and freebies while you’re there!

Merry Christmas,

Jessica

The name of the Lord is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe.

—Proverbs 18:10

To the lonely and fearful hearts. God sees. He knows. He loves you and is always for you. Stand firm in your faith and trust He’s working on your behalf. Perfect love casts out all fear.

As always, thank you to...

my brainstorming partner and rough draft reader, Susan Tuttle; my wonderful agent, Rachel Kent; and my brilliant editor, Shana Asaro. It takes a village to birth a book. Thank you for being my village!

Special thanks to: Michael Fagin at West Coast Weather for helping me with the forensic meteorology portion of the story. Any mistakes or stretches I made for fictional purposes are all on me! You were wonderful to talk to and provided a plethora of information. I appreciate your time in answering all of my questions thoroughly and professionally.

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

About the Author

Booklist

Title Page

Copyright

Introduction

Dear Reader

Bible Verse

Dedication

ONE

TWO

THREE

FOUR

FIVE

SIX

SEVEN

EIGHT

NINE

TEN

ELEVEN

TWELVE

THIRTEEN

FOURTEEN

FIFTEEN

SIXTEEN

SEVENTEEN

Extract

About the Publisher

A country a version of “Holly Jolly Christmas” played inside Chief Deputy Sheriff Rush Buchanan’s Bronco. His coffee steamed from the insulated thermos and sleet pelted his windshield. Blue lights flashed and cast eerie shadows over Shepherd Rock Lake. Wind jostled his vehicle as he slid his hands into his lambskin gloves. Nothing about this moment was “holly” or “jolly.”