Seal of Secrets (Driftwood Mysteries Book 1)

Seal of Secrets

After a painful divorce, Chloe Denhurst is trying to rebuild her life in the quiet coastal town of Driftwood, Oregon. But the fragile peace she has fought for is shattered when her adolescent daughter, Kaitlynn, is kidnapped by a dangerous predator who disappears without a trace.

Refusing to wait while the system moves too slowly, Chloe turns to Charley Whitehorse, a determined Native American police officer, for help. Together, they follow a trail of fear, betrayal, and hidden motives that leads Chloe closer to the man who took her daughter—and to a devastating secret involving someone she has begun to trust.

As the search intensifies, Chloe must rely on her courage, instincts, and fierce love as a mother to confront a truth darker than she imagined. Set against the haunting backdrop of the Oregon coast, Seal of Secrets is an emotionally charged crime mystery about justice, deception, and the lengths one mother will go to save her child.

Start reading Seal of Secrets, the first book in William J. Cook’s Driftwood Mysteries series.

Excerpt from the book

JUNE 20, 2016. Chloe imagined the sound the ten-pound boulder in her right hand would make striking the skull of the man from behind. Like that pumpkin, she thought. The one I smashed in the street when I was eight-years-old. My first and last act of Halloween vandalism. That sent a thrill of nausea through her weary frame. “Dear God. I'm actually contemplating murder.” Her whisper was swallowed by the empty house. Her eyes filled with tears.

You don't need cobwebs and decrepit furniture and secret passages to haunt a house, Chloe thought. This house had a FOR SALE sign out front and was empty except for all the major appliances, in buffed stainless steel. It was immaculately clean. It had an open floor plan, perfect for entertaining. A chef's dream of a kitchen, complete with double ovens, six-burner gas cook top, and a large center island, presided over the space. Broad skylights above made it bright and welcoming. Outside, it sported a new roof and a sparkling coat of paint. But it was way, way out in the woods, far from any helping hand, out of earshot of any cry for help, miles from any rescue. She had to face alone the monster who haunted this house, and he would be back soon.

The monster's name was Raven. A former cellmate of his had tattooed an enormous black bird across his back and shoulders, with its head on the back of his bald skull and its wings unfurled along both his arms. She shuddered at the thought of it. Raven had captured her and bound her with duct tape, but she had managed to escape. Now she wanted to run into the woods and hide, to make it back to the little mountain town several miles away, to call the police. But Raven had her daughter and her cell phone. I have to rescue Kaitlynn. I can't abandon her. She repeated those thoughts to herself like a mantra, her prayer invoking all that was holy to help her free her daughter.

She had scoured the house for weapons, to no avail, painfully aware that Raven could be back at any moment. The back bedroom held some blankets and pillows and a box of 9mm. cartridges for the Glock that Raven always kept tucked in his belt. The kitchen held only some cheap eating utensils, with nothing sharper than a butter knife. She had guessed that these were the few necessities that Raven brought with him, when he broke into houses for sale and in foreclosure, to find temporary shelter off the grid.

So, she had gone outside searching. The heavy branch that had fallen from the large oak tree would be too clumsy and ineffective. But one of the rocks that lined the sidewalk? She hoisted it and frowned as a centipede scurried away in the moist dirt. The rock was crude and primitive, but if she hid behind the front door, she might have the element of surprise on her side when Raven returned. She winced at the thought. That violence would be so personal, so far removed from shooting someone at a distance.