Good morning, ma’am. I’m Officer Cole Patton. Glad you want to be part of the new Pine Hills Police Department’s ride-along program. It’s the best way to see what a typical day is like, although if you’re expecting a lot of excitement, you might be disappointed. Pine Hills is a quiet town. Most of the time. Traffic tickets, rolling through neighborhoods making our presence known, serving papers. But you never know where a seemingly minor incident will lead.

There was this one time, not too long ago. A typical drizzly Oregon day, and I—being the newest hire—was stuck in the office, catching up on filing. Hazardous duty—those paper cuts are killer.

Anyway, I was glad when I got ordered to take a civilian complaint. Seems that a woman had just inherited the old eyesore Victorian house on Elm Street from an uncle she didn’t know she had, and she was taking stock of what it would take to make it livable when she found a message painted on one of the bedroom walls.

I WARNED YOU. NOW YOU’RE DEAD, it said.

The house had been rented after her uncle moved into a nursing home, but it was vacant for a good five years after that, and nobody on the force could explain the graffiti. Since it was a reddish-brown color, my boss sent me over to make sure it wasn’t blood.

And that’s how I met Morgan Tate. Turns out in order to claim the inheritance, she had to live in the house for a year. Lucky for Morgan, my dad has a contracting business back home, and I know my way around construction, so I volunteered to help fix up the house on my days off.

From the locked trunk in the attic to the dozens of boxes in the basement, the house was filled with secrets. Helping Morgan soon crossed over from a construction job to trying to unravel the secrets. Who wrote the message on the wall? Was it a prank, or had someone died? Was her uncle involved? What about the renters?

Let’s just say we both got more than we’d expected. A lot more.

Speaking of secrets, Morgan had plenty of her own, and she wasn’t big on sharing, at least not when we first met. She’d packed up and moved from Ohio to claim a house she’d never seen—to help give someone a better life, she said, but who? And why? Getting her to trust me took some doing.

Then again, I never shared my past with many people, either. Like what happened to make me become a cop even though my dad wanted me to be a partner in his construction company. Or why I tap my vest every time I put on my uniform, and every time I go on a call. Because you never know what you’re going to find, and even in a quiet town like Pine Hills, people have secrets they don’t want anyone to know about.

Hang on. I’m going to swing by the river. The high school kids tend to hang out there, and I want to make sure they’re not getting into anything more than typical kid mischief. Like the time I found two of them engaged in—but that’s another story for another time.

You can read more about Cole in Remaking Morgan, the sixth book in the “Pine Hills Police” romantic suspense series, released September 24, 2019.

There’s no escaping your past, no matter how deep you try to bury it.

Morgan Tate has spent over a decade trying to bury her past, hiding behind self-imposed barriers. When she inherits a house in Pine Hills, Oregon, she decides it’s the perfect time to pack up and start a new life. She arrives to discover her new home is a dilapidated structure, filled with mysteries and secrets, and she’s not sure she’ll be able to live in it as required by the terms of the trust. A threat painted on one of the bedroom walls sends her to the police, where she enlists the help of Cole Patton, a local officer. Working together, her barriers threaten to crumble. Can she reveal who she really is and let Cole into her life? But only as a friend. The last thing she’s looking for is romance.

Cole Patton changed his life’s direction to become a cop after losing his childhood sweetheart to violence, but he’s afraid he made the wrong decision. He fears that someday, even in the small town of Pine Hills, he might have to put his life on the line. If that happens, will he find the courage to step forward? When Morgan Tate shows up at the police station asking if someone can explain a threatening message in her new home, Cole is eager to help her discover the truth about her late uncle. The task seems simple and safe, and it doesn’t hurt that Morgan is an attractive woman. He’s not looking for a relationship but Morgan intrigues him. When she’s put in danger, can Cole be the cop he set out to be?

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About the author
Terry Odell began writing by mistake, when her son mentioned a television show and she thought she’d be a good mom and watch it so they’d have common ground for discussions.

Little did she know she would enter the world of writing, first via fan fiction, then through Internet groups, and finally in groups with real, live partners. Her first publications were short stories, but she found more freedom in longer works and began what she thought was a mystery. Her daughters told her it was a romance so she began learning more about the genre and craft.

Now a multi-published, award winning author, Terry resides with her husband and rescue dog in the mountains of Colorado. You can find more at her website.

All comments are welcomed.