The White Rat — C.J. West

Louisa Torres knows there's trouble at the sound of the first gunshot. The town has more than its share of violence, but gunshots are rare. Dr. Maxwell Baer offered her a life-changing deal decades ago. No matter how many strings he kept adding to the deal, it was the best thing that ever happened to her. The moment the doctor disappeared, that deal was in jeopardy, leaving her life hanging by a thread. Sheriff Watkins is the latest of a long line of sheriffs trying to keep control in the chaotic little town. His disappearance normally wouldn't be that surprising since school teachers and sheriffs rarely stay in town very long. But Sheriff Watkins and his daughter both disappear within days of each other. The duo had been in town less than two weeks and the Sheriff abandoned his SUV in the alley outside the doctor's office. The signs are too much for Louisa. She steals the SUV and leaves town.Agent Winslow arrives on the scene a day later with Agent Jennings who will do anything to make a name for herself and Agent Armstrong whose star is fading faster with every glass of bourbon he pours on the job. The ragtag team makes sense at first for a tiny little town like this. But it shouldn't be this hard to find a doctor and a sheriff in a town of four hundred people. As the search drags on, Winslow realizes that Doctor Baer has some powerful enemies back in Washington and whatever he has been doing to these people hasn't made him any friends here either.As the bodies begin to pile up, Agent Winslow realizes he'll be lucky to get out of Ketch's Basin alive.