The Past Came Hunting

September 15, 2011
Bell Bridge Books $14.95
ISBN:  978-1-61194-048-0

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Shock made her numb.

It wasn’t possible. How had she missed the connection? She hadn’t thought of the man in years. The cop who’d arrested her, his name had been . . . Crandall.

Somehow Mel found the strength to look into his eyes. And when she did, she came face to face with what could only be a mutually shocked expression.

"You," she whispered.

"You," he replied.  

Fifteen years ago a young Colorado Springs police officer arrested a teen runaway accused of aiding a convenience store robbery and attempted murder.   She was innocent, but still served prison time briefly. Her testimony sent the real thief to jail for much longer.  Now she’s a young widow raising a son, and the man she put in prison is free and seeking revenge. She moves to a home in a new neighborhood—then learns that her next-door neighbor is the by-the-book officer who arrested her. Now he’s a Colorado Springs P.D. Lieutenant. Like it or not, he may be the only one who can protect her and her son from the past he helped create.

Finalist, 2007 RWA Golden Heart Contest, Contemporary Single Title as Walk Away Joe

What Authors are Saying about The Past Came Hunting:

"Donnell Ann Bell's debut novel The Past Came Hunting is a gripping read -- a tale of love, deceit and facing down the sins of the past.  A fast-moving and engrossing story, The Past Came Hunting will keep you up turning the pages.  A thoroughly satisfying read!" -- Jeanne Adams, award-winning suspense author

"A poignant and compelling story that mixes suspense and romance in a most satisfying fashion.  Melanie Norris struggles with her troubled past while trying to make a new life for herself and her son.  She must escape a vengeful murderer, wrestle with her own demons and try to reconcile her love for a man she's not sure can reciprocate.  Full of romantic tension and gripping suspense, I couldn't put it down." -- Mike Befeler, author of Senior Moments Are Murder

"Donnell Ann Bell has crafted a beautifully written story of love and redemption, with a sizzling suspense at its core.  The Past Came Hunting is a page turner!" -- Kylie Brant, national bestselling author

"Taut, tense, cinematic and suspenseful...I couldn't turn the pages fast enough.  Surprising, original, and full of heart, The Past Came Hunting is a winner!" -- Hank Phillippi Ryan, Anthony, Agatha and Macavity winning author

Reviews

"…one of the best I have read of it's genre in a long time… If you only read one romantic suspense book this year make it this one and you won’t be disappointed I certainly wasn't." -- Kerry Sullivan, Musings of a Bookworm

"To quote Casablanca "Of all the gin joints in the world, you had to walk into mine.” This is what I found to be the premise for The Past Came Hunting,since Mel Norris buys her first house on her own, in a new city, next door to the cop who arrested her fifteen years ago… This is delicious conflict, which played beautifully throughout an unlikely love story." -- Lynne Marshall, Lynne Marshall Blog

"Donnell Ann Bell has crafted a beautifully written story of love and redemption, with a sizzling suspense at its core. The Past Came Hunting is a page turner!" --Kylie Brant, national bestselling author

"Donnell Ann Bell's debut novel The Past Came Hunting is a gripping read - a tale of love, deceit and facing down the sins of the past. A fast-moving, and engrossing story, The Past Came Hunting will keep you up turning the pages. A thoroughly satisfying read!" - Jeanne Adams, award-winning suspense author

Excerpt

1995

If Melanie Daniels had learned anything in her one month stay at the El Paso County Jail and its court system, it was you didn’t have to have sex to know that you’d been screwed.  She sat handcuffed and shackled, the lone passenger in a white transport van, trussed up like a Thanksgiving turkey. . .waiting. 

Everywhere she looked she saw guard towers, 18-foot-chain link fences and razor wire.  Not exactly her choice of décor for the place she would now call home.

What was it the public defender had said when the judge gave her five years?  It could have been worse?

Shaking with rage, Mel was too pissed to cry.  Five goddamn years.  When she stepped out of this facility again, she’d be twenty-three years old.

The deputy returned carrying a clipboard.  With him, a female prison guard, matching him in girth and in height, took the paperwork and signed the release.  Of no more importance than a used piece of furniture, Mel knew better than to smile or to try to talk to these people. 

Not that she wanted to make friends with these scrubs or these dykes.  God knew she’d met more than enough cops to last her a lifetime.  Particularly one son of a bitch she would never forget.

They ordered her to remove her orange jumpsuit, and a strip search later, the guard deloused her with a type of body powder, then took her to another section of Intake.

"This will be your last private shower for a while," the woman said, but not unkindly.  "Five minutes."

Humiliated at such animal treatment, Mel was grateful she was at least allowed to go inside alone.  Hair wet, she emerged from the tepid water, dressed in coarse green khaki pants and a gold rod T-shirt, then faced her jailer. 

The guard grasped her arm and said, "Time to go." 

The two-story structure had a hospital smell about it, and as she glanced around, Mel could have sworn that her escort shuddered.  Mel swallowed painfully.  If the guard was afraid, what would happen to her?  "The women in this place," Mel asked. "What did they do?"

"This is a Medium-Multiple Custody Facility," the guard said.  "The women here have been convicted of everything from drug distribution to prostitution to chopping up their significant others."

It was Mel’s turn to cringe.  Her entrance to the ward was met as though someone had put out a call to Western Union.  Cell windows slid open.  Faces peered out.  Many of the convicts boldly came out of their units.  Even the guards walking around the first floor and two-story walkways seemed to take interest in her. 

Lifting her chin, she challenged each one of them with a return stare.  They would not get to her.

"Well, lookie here," one woman in desperate need of a dentist cackled from her cell.  "If that’s not the purdiest little baby girl.  What’d you do to get in here, baby girl?"

"Knock it off, Rita," one of the guards said.

"Don’t mean no harm.  She is purdy.  Don’t you think she’s purdy, Lorraine?"

Whoever Lorraine was shouted out, "They’re all purdy…for a while."

 A black woman from the second floor blew her a kiss and said, "See you later, sweet cheeks," before a guard promptly ordered her back inside her cell.

"They’re such bitches," Mel said through clenched teeth and started to pull away. 

Manacle-like fingers bit into her arm.  "Do not engage."

They reached the end of the corridor and Mel said, "I’m not afraid of them, you know."

Her keeper unlocked her cell and the metal door clanged open.  Glaring at Mel as though at any second she would rip her head off, her jailer’s voice turned threateningly low.  "You’d better be afraid.  Look at me.  Right now.  I don’t ordinarily give advice, but I’ve read your report.  It says your mom is gone, and maybe it’s because I’ve got a daughter your age that I’m even talking to you.

"So listen up, because I won’t waste further words on the likes of you.  Do not engage.  You cannot win.  You are pretty, and the convicts in here will make it a game to take that from you." 

The guard extended an arm, leaving Mel no choice but to step inside. 

Another shiver seemed to pass through the older woman’s body.  "Fight them, you’ll end up in solitary or a body bag.  Keep your head down, you just might survive this place." 

She moved to shut the steel door, then shook her head sadly.  "Frankly, I don’t see that happening."