Barely Missing (A Tessa Flint FBI Suspense Thriller—Book 4)

By Molly Black

When a string of victims are found suffocated by a lethal gas, an alarm clock eerily ticking down to their demise, FBI Agent Tessa Flint must race against time to stop a cold-blooded serial killer before it’s too late.

“Molly Black has written a taut thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat… I absolutely loved this book and can’t wait to read the next book in the series!”
—Reader review for Girl One: Murder
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BARELY MISSING is BOOK #4 of a brand-new series by critically acclaimed and #1 bestselling mystery and suspense author Molly Black, whose books have received over 2,000 five-star reviews and ratings. The series begins with BARELY SEEN (book #1).

The Tessa Flint series is an intense and riveting crime thriller that centers around a captivating and deeply troubled female protagonist. This gripping mystery series is filled with constant action, suspense, unexpected surprises, shocking discoveries, and propelled by a relentless speed that will have you engrossed in the story long into the night. Fans of Lisa Gardner, Teresa Driscoll and Karin Slaughter are sure to fall in love.

Future books in the series are also available.

“I binge read this book. It hooked me in and didn't stop till the last few pages… I look forward to reading more!”
—Reader review for Found You
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“I loved this book! Fast-paced plot, great characters and interesting insights into investigating cold cases. I can't wait to read the next book!”
—Reader review for Girl One: Murder
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“Very good book… You will feel like you are right there looking for the kidnapper! I know I will be reading more in this series!”
—Reader review for Girl One: Murder
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“This is a very well written book and holds your interest from page 1… Definitely looking forward to reading the next one in the series, and hopefully others as well!”
—Reader review for Girl One: Murder
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“Wow, I cannot wait for the next in this series. Starts with a bang and just keeps going.”
—Reader review for Girl One: Murder
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“Well written book with a great plot, one that will keep you up at night. A page turner!”
—Reader review for Girl One: Murder
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“A great suspense that keeps you reading… can't wait for the next in this series!”
—Reader review for Found You
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“Sooo soo good! There are a few unforeseen twists… I binge read this like I binge watch Netflix. It just sucks you in.”
—Reader review for Found You
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• Language: English
• Publisher: Molly Black
• Release date: May 21, 2024
• ISBN: 9781094396552

Book preview

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B A R E L Y

M I S S I N G

(A Tessa Flint FBI Suspense Thriller —Book 4)

M o l l y   B l a c k

Molly Black

Bestselling author Molly Black is author of the MAYA GRAY FBI suspense thriller series, comprising ten books (and counting); of the RYLIE WOLF FBI suspense thriller series, comprising six books; of the TAYLOR SAGE FBI suspense thriller series, comprising eight books; of the KATIE WINTER FBI suspense thriller series, comprising eleven books (and counting); of the RUBY HUNTER FBI suspense thriller series, comprising five books (and counting); of the CAITLIN DARE FBI suspense thriller series, comprising six books (and counting); of the REESE LINK mystery series, comprising six books (and counting); of the CLAIRE KING FBI suspense thriller series, comprising seven books (and counting); of the PIPER WOODS mystery series, comprising five books (and counting); of the GRACE FORD mystery series, comprising seven books (and counting); of the CASEY BOLT mystery series, comprising five books (and counting); of the JADE SAVAGE mystery series, comprising five books (and counting); of the TESSA FLINT mystery series, comprising five books (and counting); of the CLARA PIKE FBI thriller series, comprising five books (and counting); and of the ELISE CLOSE psychological thriller series, comprising five books (and counting).

An avid reader and lifelong fan of the mystery and thriller genres, Molly loves to hear from you, so please feel free to visit www.mollyblackauthor.com to learn more and stay in touch.

Copyright © 2024  by Molly Black. All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior permission of 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 it and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictionally. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

BOOKS BY MOLLY BLACK

ELISE CLOSE MYSTERY SERIES

BEHIND HER LIES (Book #1)

BEHIND HER SMILE (Book #2)

BEHIND HER SECRETS (Book #3)

BEHIND HER  GATES (Book #4)

BEHIND LOCKED DOORS (Book #5)

TESSA FLINT MYSTERY SERIES

BARELY SEEN (Book #1)

BARELY HEARD (Book #2)

BARELY FORGOTTEN (Book #3)

BARELY MISSING (Book #4)

BARELY ALIVE (Book #5)

JADE SAVAGE MYSTERY SERIES

ALL SHE FEARS (Book #1)

ALL SHE WANTS (Book #2)

ALL SHE REMEMBERS (Book #3)

ALL SHE NEEDS (Book #4)

ALL SHE HIDES (Book #5)

CASEY BOLT MYSTERY SERIES

BROKEN (Book #1)

FLAWED (Book #2)

BLEMISHED (Book #3)

DAMAGED (Book #4)

TWISTED (Book #5)

GRACE FORD MYSTERY SERIES

NEARLY MINE (Book #1)

NEARLY SAFE (Book #2)

NEARLY FREE (Book #3)

NEARLY GONE (Book #4)

NEARLY HIS (Book #5)

CLAIRE KING MYSTERY SERIES

ONCE HE SEES (Book #1)

ONCE HE LONGS (Book #2)

ONCE HE TAKES (Book #3)

ONCE HE FEELS (Book #4)

ONCE HE KNOWS (Book #5)

MAYA GRAY MYSTERY SERIES

GIRL ONE: MURDER (Book #1)

GIRL TWO: TAKEN (Book #2)

GIRL THREE: TRAPPED (Book #3)

GIRL FOUR: LURED (Book #4)

GIRL FIVE: BOUND (Book #5)

GIRL SIX: FORSAKEN (Book #6)

GIRL SEVEN: CRAVED (Book #7)

GIRL EIGHT: HUNTED (Book #8)

GIRL NINE: GONE (Book #9)

RYLIE WOLF FBI SUSPENSE THRILLER

FOUND YOU (Book #1)

CAUGHT YOU (Book #2)

SEE YOU (Book #3)

WANT YOU (Book #4)

TAKE YOU (Book #5)

DARE YOU (Book #6)

TAYLOR SAGE FBI SUSPENSE THRILLER

DON’T LOOK (Book #1)

DON’T BREATHE (Book #2)

DON’T RUN (Book #3)

DON’T FLINCH (Book #4)

DON’T REMEMBER (Book #5)

DON’T TELL (Book #6)

KATIE WINTER FBI SUSPENSE THRILLER

SAVE ME (Book #1)

REACH ME (Book #2)

HIDE ME (Book #3)

BELIEVE ME (Book #4)

HELP ME (Book #5)

FORGET ME (Book #6)

HOLD ME (Book #7)

PROTECT ME (Book #8)

REMEMBER ME (Book #9)

CATCH ME (Book #10)

WATCH ME (Book #11)

RUBY HUNTER FBI SUSPENSE THRILLER

IF I RUN (Book #1)

IF I TELL (Book #2)

IF I LIVE (Book #3)

IF I FORGET (Book #4)

IF I RETURN (Book #5)

CAITLIN DARE FBI SUSPENSE THRILLER

COME GET ME (Book #1)

COME FIND ME (Book #2)

COME TAKE ME (Book #3)

COME CATCH ME (Book #4)

COME SAVE ME (Book #5)

REESE LINK MYSTERY

BEYOND REASON (Book #1)

BEYOND REACH (Book #2)

BEYOND REPAIR (Book #3)

BEYOND DOUBT (Book #4)

BEYOND NORMAL (Book #5)

CLARA PIKE FBI SUSPENSE THRILLER

REMEMBER THE FEAR (Book #1)

REMEMBER THE DEAD (Book #2)

REMEMBER THE LIES (Book #3)

REMEMBER THE SILENCE (Book #4)

REMEMBER THE PAST (Book #5)

CONTENTS

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

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

CHAPTER NINETEEN

CHAPTER TWENTY

CHAPTER TWENTY ONE

CHAPTER TWENTY TWO

CHAPTER TWENTY THREE

CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR

CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE

CHAPTER TWENTY SIX

CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN

CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT

PROLOGUE

Anna's eyelids fluttered open, and a gasp escaped her lips. Everything around her was a blur of shadows and shapes that did not belong to the cozy familiarity of her bedroom. Panic clawed at her chest as she started to realize that this was not her bedroom. The angles were wrong, the lighting to dim. Everything about her surroundings was wrong.

So where am I?

She tried to call up the memories of her last few hours. Her mind raced through the last memories of locking up her bookstore, the comforting scent of paper and coffee still lingering in her. That was the last thing she remembered. She’d been heading to her car, thinking of which new releases to feature on tomorrow’s display and then…

Well, then, she wasn't sure. Everything was a blur.

She attempted to rise, but her limbs felt impossibly heavy, as if weighed down by bricks. Yet at the same time, it felt like her legs were trying to float away from her body. It was an odd, disorienting feeling. A thin stream of light sliced through the darkness from beneath an unknown door, casting a weak glow on the floor that did little to illuminate her surroundings. But it was the first solid bit of light she could make out among the gloom.

She squinted, trying to piece together the room's vague contours, her heart pounding against her ribcage like a drum. The silence of the space was oppressive, only disturbed by a faint ticking sound that seemed to be coming from everywhere and nowhere simultaneously. It gnawed at her already frayed nerves, each tick a reminder of time passing, of moments lost in this unidentified place. Anna strained her ears, hoping to catch some clue, some indicator of where she might be or who might have brought her here. But the steady tick was all that greeted her, its rhythm growing more maddening with every passing second.

As her eyes strained against the gloom, she could discern a ceiling above, low and pressing, suggesting the room was small and confined. The walls appeared to close in on her, suffocating and deadly. Anna's breathing quickened, her shallow breaths doing little to quell the rising tide of dread that seemed to be drowning her heart.

The worst part of all was not being able to remember anything. If she at least knew how she’d gotten here, maybe then she could make sense of things.

With monumental effort, Anna propped herself onto her elbows. Her head spun as if there was some weird spring inside of her neck rather than the top of her spine. The room remained stubbornly indistinct, details obscured by the lack of light. Yet, that incessant ticking drilled into her consciousness, a sinister metronome counting down to an event she was unaware of.

Tick…tick…tick…

It was then that she realized the source of the ticking wasn't just in her head—it was real. It was tangible, in the room with her. Each tick seemed to whisper secrets, hints of danger lurking somewhere in the darkness.

Tick…tick…tick…

Now that she heard it, the sound seemed dangerous. She thought of enormous spiders making their way across the floor, of things with pincers under the bed she was on. A bed that was in a totally strange and foreign place.

Anna's eyes had finally adjusted to the darkness, allowing her to scour the room for clues—for even the slightest hint that might anchor her to reality or hint at how to escape this nightmare. The first thing of substance she noticed was an old wooden table to her right. A shape rested on the table—a stark silhouette against the pale sliver of light from under the door. After a moment, she could make out what it was: an old-fashioned alarm clock, the face pointed toward her. And though she could not see the hands, she understood, at least, where the maddening ticking noise was coming from.

The clock’s steady ticking resonated in the stillness of the room, each tick a step closer to…to something. She didn’t know how she knew this, but the tick…tick…tick certainly had her thinking of a countdown.

She moaned in the darkness and again tried sitting up. In doing so, she realized that she was tied down. There were ropes across her chest and over her knees, not too tight but tight enough to keep her from moving.

She stared hard at the clock but could not make out the time…not that it mattered, she supposed. The sad fact of the matter started to settle over her with harsh clarity. She had been abducted. Every book she'd read on crime, and every mystery she'd solved within the confines of her cozy store had done nothing to prepare her for this. Fiction and no-fiction alike, none of it had fully prepared her for the visceral terror of being the actual victim. This wasn't a plot twist or a cliffhanger; this was real, and the protagonist's safety was far from guaranteed.

As more of her situation became clear, the sound of the ticking seemed to grow louder, clawing at her senses. She tried to steady her breathing, to think of a way out of this, but her mind spun fruitlessly, mired in dread.

Abruptly, the clock chimed out an alarm, a shrill declaration that tore through Anna's thoughts. She screamed in fright, the noise so sudden and bone-rattling. The sound was jarringly loud in the confined space, making it sound as if it was drilling directly into her head.

In the wake of the ringing, another sound crept into her awareness—a faint hissing, barely perceptible yet unmistakably present. It was akin to the sound of gas escaping from a stove, a sound she knew well from so many mornings when her grandma put on a kettle for her morning tea. She had no idea what the sound truly was, but every instinct screamed to find an escape, to run. But it was all that she could do, even lift her damned head. She tried moving her foot but there was nothing; and even if she could, there was still the matter of being tied up.

The hissing continued, unrelenting, a sinister whisper within the room. Seemed to stretch and warp as the sound of the bell-like alarm and that slight hissing fought for dominance within the room. The dim light under the door seemed to flicker as if someone had passed along behind it.

Please…

She tried to scream it but it came out in just above a whisper.

And as the words came out of her mouth, she thought she knew what the hissing noise was. She thought again of her grandmother, and thought she might be right on the money. She could feel herself growing hazy, the world slowly dulling around her. Even the sharp tinge of fear and terror that had taken her was fading away.

Anna’s throat constricted, her chest heaved in an attempt to scream, to call for help that she knew would not come. She choked lightly, a soft and strangled sound that was swallowed by the noise of the alarm clock.

Each breath became a battle, her body fighting against a creeping numbness that threatened to engulf her consciousness. A wave of dizziness washed over her as the edges of her vision continued to blur and darken.

Deep in her mind, she knew she should be horrified…she knew this was it. But it was just as sim and as distant as her ability to move. The darkness at the edge of her sight spread, consuming her field of vision until there was nothing left but the piercing sound of the alarm — and then, even that was gone. 

After that, everything went black.

CHAPTER ONE

On most days, Tessa could easily recall the barrage of doctor visits from her childhood while her parents tried to understand what was wrong with their daughter. How had she sprained her wrist and not known it? How had she been stung by six yellow jackets and not be aware of it until her forearm had swollen to the size of a tire?

But as she ran the track located on the rear grounds of the Portland field office’s small training facility, it was the single appointment where she’d been tested for cardio that her mind fixated on. She’d been asked to run on a treadmill to see if her tolerance for pain applied to her cardiovascular system as well.

She thought of that treadmill as she ran the FBI practice track. Her shoes thudded rhythmically against the asphalt track, her breath steady but growing more laborious with each lap. In the lane next to her and slightly behind, Jake kept pace with her, his face set in a mask of friendly determination.

Last lap, Tessa, he called out, the lightness in his tone belying the competitive glint in his eyes. How about we make it interesting?

Tessa glanced sideways at him, her ponytail swinging in a way she knew was slightly cute. The corners of her lips twitched upwards in a semblance of a smile, acknowledging the challenge. She knew Jake's history, the way his body bore the testimony of past trials and tribulations, and yet here he was, pushing his own limits just as fiercely as she pushed hers. It was yet another area in which she’d come to highly respect him.

You’re on, Sullivan. she replied. 

She wasted no time, kicking up her pace right away. The rest of the world blurred into a mixture of green from the grass infield and the beige of the surrounding buildings as they both surged forward. Where Jake's movements were fluid, born of years of experience and overcoming pain and understanding the limits of his body, Tessa's were precise, honed by a lifetime of not quite knowing her own physical boundaries.

They were neck and neck as they came upon the final turn. An inability to feel pain did nothing to enhance speed and, as she was finding out, Jake was very fast. Tessa's lungs burned—the sensation a reminder that despite her peculiar immunity to pain, she still faced the same human limitations as anyone else when it came to exertion. It was a lesson she’d learned at that doctor’s appointment so long ago. However, with the wind slicing against her skin and the joy of competition pushing her, she found an