R.S. Guthrie - Detective Bobby Mac 02 - L O S T

L O S T

By

R.S. Guthrie

Copyright © 2011 by R.S. Guthrie

Amazon Edition

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the author.

This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Amazon and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Book art by Brent Dawson

Cover art: Pictures by iStockphoto

Author’s Note:

Most of the action in this novel takes place in the Idaho Panhandle near Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. Certain liberties have been taken in describing the city, its institutions, people, locations, history, etc. Most importantly, the references to all tribal language, traditions, beliefs, rituals, or any other references to the Coeur d’Alene Nation and/or its people (past or present) is entirely fictional. In fact, the entire world presented here is completely fictional, as are its characters, events, departments, legends, historical references, and other details. Any resemblance to actual incidents or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Praise for
Black Beast
,

Book One in the

Clan of MacAulay
series:

“Kudos to R.S. Guthrie!! I started reading Black Beast and from the first chapter I couldn’t wait to find out where the story would lead — a real pager-turner full of suspense and intrigue.”

Becky Illson-Skinner
,
Mystery Writers Unite

~ ~ ~

“R.S. Guthrie is a marvelous storyteller…The development of his characters is awesome. You feel you’ve known ‘Bobby Mac’ all your life.”

Kathleen Hagburg
, co-author of
Getting Into the Zone,

a Course and Workbook For The Mental Game
.

~ ~ ~

“[Black Beast] establishes Guthrie as a bona fide talent.”

Beth Elisa Harris
, author of the literary blockbuster
Vision
.

Acknowledgements:

I want to thank my de facto editor, Elise Stokes. You are a fantastic author in your own right, and I owe you a deep debt of gratitude for working painstakingly through the final drafts of this book in the eleventh hour, never complaining yet always remaining impressively sharp. You were honest in dispensing astute, crucial editorial advice—more importantly, you did so because you cared so much about my book and my writing. I am profoundly grateful.

Thank you to Becky Illson-Skinner, Trish Gentry, and my lovely wife Amy for proofing my book. As a writer, it’s amazing how many mistakes we leave in the wake of our creation. Each of you helped me to minimize mine.

Finally, to my readers. Without you, I would not write. You are the ears for which I compose my song. That you honor me by reading what I have written, giving me such wonderful feedback, and waiting patiently for my next book instills in me the greatest pride an artist can attain. These books are always, ultimately, for you.

For my readers.

To authors, you

are the lifeblood;

we admire no one more.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Preface

Prologue

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Epilogue

About the Author

Coming Soon

I don’t normally write a preface to my books, but I recently had a reader pick up the second book in a series and read it first. She loved the story but felt she would have enjoyed it more had she known the history of the returning characters better. I thought that was fair—once a writer has eight or nine books in a series, perhaps the need to inform the reader they are picking up book number four or five becomes less important, but when there are only two or three in the series, I decided it would be the proper thing to do to let you, the reader (or potential reader) know that this is the second in the
Detective Bobby Mac Thriller
series, so if you haven’t read the first one (
Black Beast
), you might consider it.

I do my best to give enough background story in any “series” book that a reader should be okay if they haven’t read the prior book(s), but I wanted to respect the woman who took the time to comment enough to put this preface in book number two of this series.

In fact, my editor, Russell Rowland, told me that Alfred Hitchcock distinguished Mystery/Thrillers by two different styles. The first was the traditional “whodunnit”. From page one the reader had no idea who the bad guy or gal was. I likened that to a boardgame of Clue. The second style he deemed “Suspense”. That would be where you pretty much knew (or thought you knew) who did what, but it was the
getting there
and the twists along the way that made the read a good one.

I tend to write the latter. I love twists. I also love putting something right in the reader’s face and daring them to believe otherwise. Because of this, however, I do work hard to make each book in a series capable (hopefully) of standing on its own as best it can.

For me, as a reader—and being a character-driven author—it is the relationships I develop with returning protagonists, ancillary characters, villains, etc. that make me want to read the books in order.

Whatever your preference, I certainly hope you enjoy
L O S T
as much as I enjoyed writing it. Cheers.

“
Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And when you look long into an abyss, the abyss also looks into you.”

~Friedrich Nietzsche

OVER TWO thousand children are reported missing every day, the largest percentage taken by family members. In other words, people they know: estranged fathers and mothers, grandparents, aunts, uncles, even siblings. In some of these cases we can sympathize, if not condone.

However, there are abductions every day that are not the act of a spurned ex or a frustrated grandparent. In these cases, the most innocent amongst us are taken by monsters; evildoers with no intention beyond causing harm to their victims. Too often, the harm comes in the form of torturous, unspeakable acts.

When we read about such heinous, willful disregard for young life—or for
any
life at all—we’d like to deny that the Universe could possibly contain such evil. Unfortunately, we all know that it does. What is more shocking to contemplate is where this evil exists—in other words, inside of
whom?
The church pastor? The manager at the supermarket? The nice teacher from the school down the street? How many times do we see people on the news, talking about yet another “average” neighbor being escorted from his or her home in handcuffs?

Amongst us at any given time, either feigning innocence or hiding undetected in the gray fog of the peripheral walks raw, consecrated evil. We break bread with these people. Invite them into our homes. Too often, entrust them with the care of our children.

The sane mind wants to know if it is possible for such evil to have evolved from within our own human ancestry. The answer is a complicated one. People are unique in this capacity; nowhere else in the animal kingdom do beasts wantonly torture and kill their own for no greater need than self-pleasure. Nowhere else do predators turn to evil for the sake of evil. Instances of death outside humankind are almost benign, so tied are they to nature’s will to survive. Food. Protection. Advancement. These are the motivators behind killing for other species.

So how is it that some human beings have evolved into pure specimens of evil? It is impossible to answer such questions without first engaging the possibility of evil as a force—an entity completely outside human existence; an external force in and of itself; a force as real as those in physics, except that this force is exerted constantly upon the human mind, heart, and, eventually, its very soul.

And, like the laws of any physical force, there must be an opposite. For there to exist such inordinate forces of evil, there must also exist counterbalancing forces of good. One cannot exist without the other.

So if we accept that there are forces of good and evil in the Universe, there is another unavoidable maxim:

It is on the game field of good versus evil that humans play out their finite existence.