Chapter 1
It was a dark and stormy night. Silver-white lightning slashed the sky, while thunder rumbled menacingly overhead. Wild winds whipped through the trees, bringing down branches and filling the darkness with leaves. Despite it being Halloween, it was no night to be out in the elements, yet Charlie Thorne had no choice. Somewhere behind him was a contingent of police giving chase.
It had been a spur-of-the-moment decision.
For weeks, Charlie had been depressed. Arrested for a crime he hadn’t committed and awaiting trial, he’d spent the better part of his time incarcerated pining for his partner, Ellis. In their fifteen years together, they hadn’t been separated for more than a week and their enforced separation was a source of constant torment for Charlie as it was, he knew, for
