Cheryl Kaye Tardif

SUBMERGED

To my father, who has always supported me.

Praise for SUBMERGED

“Submerged reads like an approaching storm, full of darkness, dread and electricity. Prepare for your skin to crawl.”

—Andrew Gross, New York Times

bestselling author of 15 Seconds

“From the first page you know you are in the hands of a seasoned and expert storyteller who is going to keep you up at night turning the pages. Tardif knows her stuff. There’s a reason she sells like wildfire—her words burn up the pages. A wonderful, scary, heart pumping writer.”

—M.J. Rose, international bestselling author of Seduction

“Tardif once again delivers a suspenseful supernatural masterpiece.”

—Scott Nicholson, international bestselling author of The Home

“From the first page, Cheryl Kaye Tardif takes you hostage with Submerged

—a compelling tale of anguish and redemption.”

—Rick Mofina, bestselling author of Into the Dark

“Cheryl Kaye Tardif’s latest novel Submerged will leave you as haunted as its characters.”

—Joshua Corin, bestselling author of Before Cain Strikes

Acknowledgements

A very special thank you to my longtime friend, Mike, without whom this novel wouldn’t be possible. Mike, thank you for sharing your own story of addiction, of how it affected your life, your marriage, your career and those around you. Your quiet courage is inspiring. And your life now proves there is a chance for redemption, if one lets go of old ways, grabs onto hope and rises to the surface.

Thanks to Sharon DeVries of Yellowhead Regional Emergency Communications Center, for all the invaluable information regarding emergency services and practices in the Hinton/Edson area. As with all fiction, sometimes truth has to be bent in order to fit a plot and to rev up the pace, so if there are any mistakes made, these are completely my own, though I do strive to create believable scenes and characters.

Many thanks to Laurent Colasse, president of ResQMe, and Melissa Christensen, for allowing me to use their product and brand in my story. I am hoping this will bring more awareness to this important safety device. And my sincere appreciation for their donation of a dozen ResQMe key chains, which will be given away during the launch of this book. You can learn more about this device at www.resqme.com

And to Christopher Bain, senior manager of product planning and development at BioWare ULC, a division of Electronic Arts Inc., for allowing me the use of their company name in this novel. www.bioware.com

Thanks to John Zur, a valued reader and fan of my novels, for allowing me to turn you into a character―and a good one, at that. I have plans for Detective John Zur, and I believe he’ll make another appearance in another novel sometime in the future.

Thanks to a very special teen fan, Gabbie Gros, who allowed me to immortalize her within these pages. Gabbie, I truly hope you realize you can be whatever you want to be. Your future is in YOUR hands. You are a gift to the world! Never, ever, forget that.

And thanks to fellow author, Luke Murphy, who won a contest I held a few years ago—one in which the winner supplied me with the first line of a new novel. The first sentence of the prologue is Luke’s, and I think you’ll agree it provokes gruesome images… and an elusive scent that might linger in your mind.

Prologue

Near Cadomin, AB – Saturday, June 15, 2013 – 12:36 AM

You never grow accustomed to the stench of death. Marcus Taylor knew that smell intimately. He had inhaled burnt flesh, decayed flesh… diseased flesh. It lingered on him long after he was separated from the body.

The image of his wife and son’s gray faces and blue lips assaulted him.

Jane… Ryan.

Mercifully, there were no bodies tonight. The only scent he recognized now was wet prairie and the dank residue left over from a rainstorm and the river.

“So what happened, Marcus?”