In the Still of the Night by Callie Hutton… A ‘Friday the 13th Story’

Hello and welcome to the eighth of my posts about a brand new series of 13 suspenseful “Friday the 13th” short stories, each by a different author.

Today, I am happy to share Callie Hutton’s “In the Still of the Night” – Now available for pre-order…releasing Nov 13.

Fun Fact:

My daughter works Security at our local zoo and provided a great deal of information and facts for the story.

Blurb:

It was supposed to be just another overnight shift at the zoo where Holly McCabe worked…until she discovered something more dangerous than lions and tigers lurked in the darkness.

Holly McCabe works the overnight shift at the local zoo. She likes the peace and quiet but never forgets that the only thing separating her from the dangerous animals surrounding her is a fence, a moat, or a sheet of unbreakable glass.

What Holly doesn’t know is that on this night, a greater threat lurks in the darkness at the zoo. Someone who has revenge in mind. Someone who wants to kill her. But first, like the great cats on display at the zoo, he will play with her.

Excerpt:

Her last stop was the stingray touch pool where she checked the water temperature then headed back to the office.

It was nice and quiet without Rebecca offering her worries about her health and her boyfriend, usually in that order. Holly pulled out the lunch she’d stored in the refrigerator the night before. She often made extra food when she and Brad actually had dinners together and boxed the leftovers up in meal-sized containers for lunch.

She’d finished her report, eaten her meal, and played four hands of solitaire on her computer and, still, Rebecca had not returned from her rounds.

Holly picked up her radio. “Rebecca, what’s your twenty?”

No response to her request for the woman’s location. Holly tried again. Nothing. She shrugged and returned to a new solitaire game. Rebecca had probably forgotten to turn her radio on. It would not be the first time.

Another twenty minutes went by and still no Rebecca. Holly glanced at the clock on the wall. One-fifteen. Holly had paged her on the radio several times. Unless her radio was not working, or her cart’s battery was dead, she should have called her or been back by now. There was also a possibility that she’d run into trouble.

With a combination of annoyance and unease, Holly left the office and grabbed the cart she’d parked over an hour before. She rode to the back area of the zoo, following the path Rebecca would have taken.

Halfway through the rounds, at the very back of the zoo, she spotted something lying on the ground, in the middle of the roadway. From her approach, it was difficult to see what it was. It could have been an animal, but any escape from the confines of the zoo would have set off an alarm. There were wild animals, of course, who regularly found their way into the zoo.

The closer she got, the larger the object on the ground appeared. With her heart in her throat, Holly stopped the cart, climbed out and, with sweaty hands, held her flashlight up.

 

Bio:

USA Today bestselling author, Callie Hutton, is the author of more than forty-five historical romance books and historical cozy mysteries. She writes humorous and spicy Regency and Victorian with “historic elements and sensory details” (The Romance Reviews). With a million novels sold and translated into several languages, she continues to entrance readers with her heartfelt stories.

Find Callie Here: WEBSITE