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  HAUNTED

  (Book 4 in the Stripped Series)

  By

  Stacy-Deanne

  Copyright © 2018 Stacy-Deanne

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.

  All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.

  Readers: Thanks so much for choosing my book! I would be very appreciative if you would leave reviews when you are done. Much love!

  Email: [email protected]

  Website: Stacy's Website

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  Twitter: Stacy's Twitter

  Other titles by Stacy-Deanne Include:

  Bruised Series

  Tate Valley Sexy Suspense Series

  The Seventh District

  Dead Weight

  You’re the One

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  Want recommendations on great BWWM books and authors? Stop by BWWM Romance Books on Facebook and find some great reads!

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  Author’s Note:

  The Stripped Series is a spinoff of the Bruised Series featuring Dee, Winston, Lisa, Connie, Grayson, and Jake. The Bruised Series focused on Jake and Lisa while the Stripped Series focuses on Dee and Winston.

  If you haven’t read the Bruised Series and would like to check it out, the entire series is available on all retailers.

  Enjoy!

  CHAPTER ONE

  (One Month after Damaged Left Off)

  “Someone, help!” Jonathan Wild scrambled through the first floor of the Baltimore clinic pulling the bloodied, half-naked woman by her arm. “Help!” He pushed through the crowded waiting room and rushed to the nurse at the front desk. “She needs help now.”

  “What happened to her?” the nurse asked.

  “I was driving, and she ran out into the street in front of my car. A man was chasing her.”

  The nurse’s auburn eyebrows rose. “Can you describe the man?”

  “I only saw a glimpse of his face. He was about my height, white and had an evil look with empty eyes.” Jonathan rubbed the girl’s matted, dirty-blonde hair. “She said he tried to kill her.”

  The nurse ogled the woman. “What’s her name?”

  “I don’t know her damn name. Does it matter what? She’s bleeding to death.”

  “Okay.” The nurse hopped her fat ass out the chair and tromped from the counter. “Come with me, sweetie.” She took the woman’s shivering hand and led her from the room.

  Another nurse got a clipboard with a thick form. “If a crime happened we’re obligated to call the police.”

  “I already did and told them where I’d be.” Jonathan rubbed his forehead, realizing he’d gotten blood on his hands.

  “Are you okay?”

  “Yes.” He huffed and puffed holding his waist.

  “Are you related to her or—”

  “No.” He exhaled into his hand. “I saved her.”

  “Saved her?” The nurse readied her pen to write. “What happened?”

  ****

  “Mr. Wild?” A tall black man with caramel-brown skin and a pretty-boy smile approached Jonathan in the waiting room forty minutes later. “I’m Detective Emory Fitts.” He extended his large hand, his clothes hanging loose on his slender body. “Nice to meet you.”

  Jonathan looked him over as he shook his hand.

  A speck of white forced itself from Emory’s honey-brown eyes. “I work with Dee Quarter.”

  Jonathan tingled at the sound of Dee’s name. “I didn’t kidnap her like she says.”

  Emory’s low-cut hairline rose from his narrow forehead. “The young lady you saved is nineteen-year-old Candra Martel.”

  Jonathan watched a woman get a soda from the vending machine. “Will she be all right?”

  “I’m glad to say she will be.”

  Jonathan exhaled.

  Emory sat in the orange chair beside Jonathan. “She was stabbed over ten times.”

  “What?”

  “That’s why she was bleeding so much.” Emory clasped his hands, his sterling silver bracelet sliding on his wrist. “She was leaving her boyfriend’s house and the man you saw her with abducted her.” The creases in Emory’s cheeks flattened. “He took her to the woods and tried to kill her. She somehow fought back and ran. She’d been running for about ten minutes when you came across her.”

  “Jesus.”

  Emory leaned forward. “I’m investigating the Dania Shorter case. Heard of her?”

  “It’s been all over the local news. She was the eighteen-year-old who was brutally murdered by that maniac.” Jonathan rubbed his buzz cut. “What does this have to do with tonight?”

  “The prime suspect in Dania’s murder is Ro Chavis. Candra’s incident seems very similar to what happened to Dania. Dania was abducted in the same area Candra was and we speculate she was taken to the same woods where Chavis killed Dania. Chavis claims they went on a date and the murder happened after they parted ways.” Emory tapped his foot. “I gave him the benefit of the doubt until people said they saw Dania in Ro’s car hours after he claimed he dropped her off at home. Top that off with him not having a solid alibi for where he was during the time Dania was attacked, I knew he was lying.”

  “You think this guy tried to kill Candra?”

  Emory nodded. “If we can link him to Candra, it will be hard for him to deny that he’s not the same man who killed Dania. I showed Candra Ro’s picture.” He took out his phone. “But she can’t be sure of what he looked like. She says it was too dark, she was scared and things happened too fast. I’m hoping you can help.” Emory switched his phone to a photo of a white man with a hard, square face and protruding forehead.

  “My god.” Jonathan grabbed the phone. “That’s the man Candra was running from.”

  “That’s Ro Chavis.” Emory closed his eyes and a light smile appeared. “Mr. Wild, you have no idea how important you’ve just become to this case.”

  ****

  “Ooh.” Detective Dee Quarter dropped her fork, her stomach turning from the medium-rare beef tenderloin swimming in blood on her plate. “Goodness.” She held her thighs, fighting nausea.

  “Are you all right?” Winston Lewis chewed duck breast across the table.

  They sat on the terrace of her favorite restaurant because Dee loved watching the movements of the city while eating but nothing took her mind off the horrific murder scene she’d examined a few hours earlier.

  “Is your stomach upset or something?” Winston handed Dee her wineglass. “Maybe this will settle your stomach.”

  “I’m fine.” She cleared her throat. “What was I saying?”

  “You were talking about the Keng family.”

  “Winston, it was awful. I hadn’t seen a crime scene that gruesome in a long time.”

  Winston’s royal-blue eyes twinkled underneath the lights that brightened the night air. “The entire family was killed?”

  “Yes, Normand, Tabitha and their sixteen-year-old daughter Faith.” Dee sighed, propping her elbow on the table. “All shot to death multiple times in their beds while they were sleeping.” She nibbled on her fingernail. “We found no clues at all but it seemed like they were ambushed.”

  Winston chewed, his eyes widening.

  “Brutal crimes like this rarely happen in Little Korea.” Dee chewed the mushy green beans. “Normand ran a grocery store and Tabitha stayed at home. They were Jehovah’s Witnesses. Nothing out of the ordinary. Mr. Keng was shot so badly he was nearl
y decapitated.”

  “Dee.” Winston touched his stomach.

  “I’m sorry.” She chuckled, her long wavy weave blowing in the soft breeze. “Tonight is supposed to be about us and I’m bringing up work.”

  “Sometimes you got to leave it at the station.” He winked. “Take a lesson from me.”

  She faked a smile and cut into the beef, when she looked up, her eyes met Winston’s magnetic gaze.

  “What is it?”

  She slid her fork through the wine sauce. “He keeps calling.”

  “Jonathan?” He sat back, his gorgeous face contorting. “I told you to change your number.”

  “I’m not letting him run my life. He thinks he won’t go to prison but I’m not stopping until his ass is locked up.” Dee caught the gaze of the pointy-faced white woman at the next table. “Jonathan’s gotten away with things for too long and it ends now.”

  He nodded with tight lips. “Let me end it then you won’t need the courts.”

  “The last thing I need is you assaulting him again and making things worse.” She took his hand. “I love that you want to protect me but this is my battle, babe. I need to be the one who fights it.”

  He kissed her hand, his lips forming a frisky smile. “Let’s go to your place. Isn’t Lydia still out of town visiting Cam?”

  She nodded, grinning.

  “Then we’ll be alone.”

  “Detective Lewis. ” Dee looked at him from underneath her lashes. “You wouldn’t be trying to take advantage of me, would you?”

  He grabbed her from the table and gave her a passionate kiss that weakened her knees. “What do you think?”

  CHAPTER TWO

  The Next Day

  “It’s unimaginable what’s happened.” Sixty-year-old Hyeon Shim sat beside his wife Sora, on the suede, topaz-brown sectional, which brought warmth to the stuffy living room. “The Kengs were like family. In our faith, we consider all Jehovah’s Witnesses kin.”

  Dee sat on the turquoise ottoman while her partner Detective Connie Wilks checked out the photos on the fireplace.

  “Hyeon and I couldn’t believe what happened.” Sora’s high cheekbones sunk into her long face as her slanted eyes gazed upon the beige carpet. “I’d just spoken to Tabitha yesterday morning.” She lifted her head, her thin, jet-black hair stopped at her shoulders. “She seemed so vibrant and full of life and now she’s gone.”

  “How long have you been the minister at the church?” Dee asked, getting out her notepad.

  Hyeon’s face relaxed, his Asian eyes shrinking more. “We don’t call our places of worship ‘churches’. They’re Kingdom Halls and we refer to our ministers as ‘ministerial servants’. In our religion, we work as a group and the elders lead our faith.”

  Dee faked a smile, feeling a fool.

  “I’ve been at the Little Korea Kingdom Hall for thirty years,” Hyeon said.

  “That’s a long time.” Connie took a seat on the couch. “You must be dedicated.”

  “When you’re called on a mission by Jehovah, you have no choice but to fulfill it.” Hyeon smiled through paper-thin lips. “You can say the calling was instilled in me from my father.” He crossed his legs in white slacks. “He escaped from North Korea when he was nineteen and studying the faith is not allowed there. You can be killed for being a Jehovah’s Witness even to this day.”

  The brightness left Connie’s green eyes. “It’s amazing how your father chose his faith over even his life.”

  “My father was a very honorable man. When he came to Baltimore, he worked hard, opened his own jewelry shop and became one of the most revered citizens in the neighborhood. Everyone looked up to him because he’d lived through the harshness others had only heard about. He died ten years ago but I think of him every day.”

  “I see where you get your pride from.” Dee smiled. “Your father’s spirit’s in you.”

  “If it hadn’t been for Hyeon’s father there might not be a Little Korea in Baltimore.” Sora smiled. “It was because of him other Koreans migrated to the area and built this community.”

  Connie pushed her blonde hair behind her ears. “Is every member of your congregation Korean?”

  “Yes,” Sora said. “But we welcome people of all nationalities of course.”

  Hyeon looked at his wife. “It’ll be a long time before I get over what happened to the Kengs.”

  “Such a lovely family,” Sora said. “Faith was an A-student and only sixteen with a scholarship to Stanford already.” Her lips wiggled. “She was to study medicine.”

  “Hm.” Connie sighed.

  Sora switched her stare to her husband.

  “What?” Dee asked. “If you have something to say that can help us please do. That’s why we’re here.”

  Hyeon laid his wrinkled, yellow hand over his wife’s knee. “We don’t want to cause trouble where there is none.”

  “You don’t have to be afraid,” Dee said. “What you tell us will stay between us.”

  “Faith had an ex-boyfriend,” Sora said. “Normand and Tabitha couldn’t stand him because he was dangerous.”

  Connie bit her lip. “How?”

  “He’s in a gang,” Sora whispered. “We don’t know what they’re called but they wear a lot of blue.”

  “The K-Town Crips?” Dee squinted. “Also known as The Korean Town Crips. They’re a subset of the Baltimore Crips.”

  Hyeon’s breathing turned shallow. “The Kengs forbad Faith to have anything to do with this boy and he didn’t take that lightly.”

  Connie scrunched her face. “How in the world did someone of Faith’s caliber meet up with a member of the K-Town Crips?”

  The Shims shrugged.

  Dee positioned her pen to write. “What’s his name and where can we find him?”

  Sora’s long nose rose as her face twisted. “His name is Donn Cho, and he’s eighteen. He’s about five-nine, skinny, where’s blue suspenders all the time and has his hair shaved on one side and long on the other.”

  “There’s a skating park where the kids hang out,” Hyeon said. “He’s there a lot.”

  ****

  Dee and Connie arrived at the K-Town Sports Park, which sat in the heart of Little Korea surrounded by strip malls and other recreational facilities.

  The detectives made their way through the outdoor maze as kids from elementary school age to high school performed twists and turns on the concrete slopes that reached the clouds.

  “Jesus.” Connie shielded her eyes from the sun as a little Asian boy, around seven or eight, flew past the officers on his skateboard. “I’m getting nauseous just watching. Could you do that?”

  “Do I look like I know anything about skateboarding?” Dee watched a heavyset girl flip and then cruise on the concrete. “You go, girl.” She gave the girl the thumbs up. “Girl power.”

  The little girl smiled with her braces catching the sunlight.

  Connie followed Dee past the tables and benches saying, “A kid fitting Donn’s description shouldn’t be too hard to find if he’s here.”

  The kids howled as a boy on a yellow and black BMX bike, rode up the railing and into the air, shifted his front wheel and landed on the railing in perfect fashion.

  “Wow.” Connie clapped, chuckling. “These kids could show Tony Hawk a thing or two.”

  The BMX rider who appeared to be in his late teens or early 20’s, rode off the platform and into a smooth stop.

  “That was the shit, Donn!” Another boy patted the rider’s back. “Gotta show me that sometime.”

  “What do you know?” Dee rocked on her heels. “Is God smiling down on us or what?”

  “Excuse me?” Connie rushed toward Donn as he took off his helmet, revealing a half-shaved head. “Donn Cho?”

  He got off the bike. “Yeah?” The oversized, black T-shirt and baggy denim shorts swallowed him.

  “I’m Detective Connie Wilks.” She showed her badge. “This is Detective Dee Quarter. We’re homicide.”
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  Donn’s puny cheeks filled with air. “Is this about the Kengs?”

  “You were Faith’s boyfriend, weren’t you?” Dee asked.

  He hung his helmet on the bike, the tiny K tattoo flexing on his wrist.

  “We heard her parents made her dump you,” Connie said. “Also heard you weren’t too happy about that.”

  “Fuck, man.” He crossed his arms and leaned on the bike. “Her parents ain’t even know about us until a month into the relationship. I liked her, but she was always whining about them finding out. Her folks said she couldn’t see me and I was cool with it. Ain’t like I don’t have enough chicks to go around.”

  Dee rolled her eyes. “Don’t take this the wrong way but you don’t strike me as a big ladies man, Donn.”

  “How did you meet Faith?”

  “At this party.” He removed his bike gloves. “We clicked.” A smirk eased over his moist lips. “She was fine. I didn’t want no relationship or nothing. I was just trying to hit it but there was something about her I couldn’t shake.”

  “You were in love with her.”

  He avoided eye contact with Dee. “I’m sorry for what happened to her. She ain’t deserve that.”

  “What about her parents?” Connie’s hair blew in her face. “Did they?”

  “I didn’t do nothing to those people all right? I left Faith alone when they told me to. She’s the one who kept calling me.”

  “Interesting tat.” Dee pointed to his wrist. “Looks like a K-Town Crips tattoo.”

  “I’m not no Crip.”

  “Sure about that?” Connie asked. “Because the K-Town Crips wouldn’t like you false claiming, which would be what you’re doing if you have that tattoo and not a member.”

  “I have nothing to do with that murder and it’s none of your business if I’m a Crip or not.”

  “That murder scene was nasty.” Dee whistled. “Reminded me of a murder the K-Town Crips were accused of a few years ago. Ambushing seems to be their style.”

  “We don’t kill folks in their sleep.” He did a gang sign. “When we wanna kill you, we do it looking straight in their eyes.”