The Mother
BEVERLY BARTON
Prepare to lose sleep with this shocking and utterly engrossing thriller, for fans of Karen Rose and Karin Slaughter.The crime scenes are horrifying: the victims arranged with deliberate care, posed to appear alive despite their agonized last moments and the shocking nature of their deaths.For grief counsellor Audrey Sherrod it’s clear the murders are the work of a deranged serial killer. At first, the only link is the victims’ physical appearance. But then another connection emerges, tying them to a past series of horrifying crimes – crimes that hit all too close to home.As the truth is unravelled, its more twisted and terrifying than anyone could ever imagine.
Don’t Cry
Beverly Barton
Copyright
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
AVON
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First published in the U.S.A by Kensington Publishing Corp as Don’t Cry New York, NY, 2010
DON’T CRY. Copyright © Beverly Barton 2010. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, 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 HarperCollins e-books.
HarperCollinsPublishers has made every reasonable effort to ensure that any picture content and written content in this ebook has been included or removed in accordance with the contractual and technological constraints in operation at the time of publication
Beverly Barton asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Source ISBN: 9781847562487
Ebook Edition © DECEMBER 2011 ISBN: 9780007452460
Version: 2018-07-23
Dedication
To Billy, for a million and one reasons, but most of all
because he loves me
&
In memory of Pelham, Alabama,
Police Officer Philip Davis,
who lost his life in the line of duty, December 4, 2009
Contents
Cover (#ua7aa0ee6-b92d-5445-bbb8-62476870c8f7)
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Prologue
The Humpty-Dumpty night-light cast a soft, honey-white glow over the…
Chapter 1
J.D. Cass listened to his breakfast date’s end of the…
Chapter 2
Charlie Scott kept his arm clutched tightly around his wife’s…
Chapter 3
For most of her life—certainly after the car wreck that…
Chapter 4
Audrey had spent a restless night, tossing and turning, waking…
Chapter 5
After Audrey’s arrival at his home that morning, Mayor Don…
Chapter 6
Audrey disagreed with Garth. And not for the first time.
Chapter 7
Wayne Sherrod couldn’t get away from headquarters fast enough. He…
Chapter 8
After they had made love, while he held her close,…
Chapter 9