Shirlee McCoy - Falsely Accused

Proving her innocence

means running for her life.

Framed for her foster brother’s murder, FBI special agent Wren Santino must clear her name—but someone’s dead set on stopping her from finding the truth. Her estranged childhood friend, Titus Anderson, comes to her aid...but standing by her puts him in the killer’s crosshairs, too. And unraveling a conspiracy may be the only way for either of them to survive.

FBI: Special Crimes Unit

Aside from her faith and her family, there’s not much SHIRLEE MCCOYenjoys more than a good book! When she’s not hanging out with the people she loves most, she can be found plotting her next Love Inspired Suspense story or trekking through the wilderness, training with a local search-and-rescue team. Shirlee loves to hear from readers. If you have time, drop her a line at shirlee@shirleemccoy.com.

Also By Shirlee McCoy

FBI: Special Crimes Unit

Night Stalker

Gone

Dangerous Sanctuary

Lone Witness

Falsely Accused

Mission: Rescue

Protective Instincts

Her Christmas Guardian

Exit Strategy

Deadly Christmas Secrets

Mystery Child

The Christmas Target

Mistaken Identity

Christmas on the Run

Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk.

Falsely Accused

Shirlee McCoy

www.millsandboon.co.uk

ISBN: 978-0-008-90637-5

FALSELY ACCUSED

© 2020 Shirlee McCoy

Published in Great Britain 2020

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.

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Wren Santino was the last person Titus would have ever expected to show up at his house. Finding her in his backyard just after midnight on a late winter night? He couldn’t have imagined that if he’d tried.

But she was there.

Pale faced. Bleeding. Handcuffed.

And being shot at.

He pulled his handgun from its chest holster as he

army crawled in the direction of the gunfire.

He slid through the shrubs that butted up against the underside of the deck.

“Don’t go after them,” Wren whispered, so close he knew she had followed silently.

“Them?” he replied.

“Two men dressed in Hidden Cove deputy uniforms. Both are armed. They shot Ryan. I think he’s dead. Don’t make yourself a target, Titus. Ryan has already been shot. I don’t want the same to happen to you.”

Dear Reader,

No matter how much we plan and plot our lives, we can find ourselves in surprising and oftentimes difficult circumstances. Relationships, health concerns, finances all have a way of weighing on our minds and causing us stress and worry. There are days when it may seem that our fear outweighs our faith, times when we can’t see the blessings through the pain. If you’ve had days when you struggle, times when you feel abandoned and lonely and hurt, if your life is nothing like you expected or planned, remember that you are not alone. God hears your prayers. He understands your pain. He is your ever-present help in troubled times. May you find comfort and hope in the truth of His love for you.

Blessings,

Shirlee McCoy

My soul melteth for heaviness: strengthen thou me according unto thy word.

—Psalm 119:28

To my children. With all my love. Today and always.

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

About the Author

Booklist

Title Page

Copyright

Note to Readers

Introduction

Dear Reader

Bible Verse

Dedication

ONE

TWO

THREE

FOUR

FIVE

SIX

SEVEN

EIGHT

NINE

TEN

ELEVEN

TWELVE

THIRTEEN

FOURTEEN

Extract

About the Publisher

This was wrong. All of it. The squad car speeding along the winding mountain road, heading away from town and deeper into the Maine wilderness. The blood dripping down her arm and onto the leather seat. The silence of the two deputies who had arrested her.

Deputies?

Special Agent Wren Santino wasn’t sure about that.

Not anymore.

They hadn’t used their police radios. Not to call for medical assistance for her or for the deputy who had been shot. Not to call in a location, call for backup or do as she requested and ask for the FBI Boston Field Office to be contacted.

She might not be an expert on much, but she knew law enforcement protocol, and, after nearly a decade working as a special agent for the FBI, she knew this was going down all wrong.

She shifted in the seat, the scent of leather mixing with the odor of stale vomit and sweat. Blood oozed from the bullet hole in her forearm and snaked around her wrist, sliding under the metal handcuffs. She should be heading to the hospital. Not the town’s small sheriff’s department. And Ryan? The deputy who had been shot? The closest thing to a brother she’d ever had? They should be life-flighting him to a trauma center.

The thought of him as she’d seen him last—lying in a pool of his own blood—made her even more desperate to escape.

She twisted her uninjured wrist, hoping the seeping blood would make it easy to slip her hand out.

But, of course, that wasn’t how cuffs were designed.

She knew that.

The same way she knew that she was in trouble.

She glanced out the back window. Her SUV was a dark smudge against the sepia tones of the forest behind it. She could still see Deputy Ryan Parker’s squad car, parked just behind the SUV, pulled a little crookedly onto a grassy area beside the road.