The girl he wished, p.1
The Girl He Wished, page 1
T H E
G I R L
H E
W I S H E D
(A Paige King Mystery—Book Four)
B L A K E P I E R C E
Blake Pierce
Blake Pierce is the USA Today bestselling author of the RILEY PAGE mystery series, which includes seventeen books. Blake Pierce is also the author of the MACKENZIE WHITE mystery series, comprising fourteen books; of the AVERY BLACK mystery series, comprising six books; of the KERI LOCKE mystery series, comprising five books; of the MAKING OF RILEY PAIGE mystery series, comprising six books; of the KATE WISE mystery series, comprising seven books; of the CHLOE FINE psychological suspense mystery, comprising six books; of the JESSE HUNT psychological suspense thriller series, comprising twenty-four books; of the AU PAIR psychological suspense thriller series, comprising three books; of the ZOE PRIME mystery series, comprising six books; of the ADELE SHARP mystery series, comprising sixteen books, of the EUROPEAN VOYAGE cozy mystery series, comprising four books; of the new LAURA FROST FBI suspense thriller, comprising nine books (and counting); of the new ELLA DARK FBI suspense thriller, comprising eleven books (and counting); of the A YEAR IN EUROPE cozy mystery series, comprising nine books, of the AVA GOLD mystery series, comprising six books (and counting); of the RACHEL GIFT mystery series, comprising six books (and counting); of the VALERIE LAW mystery series, comprising nine books (and counting); of the PAIGE KING mystery series, comprising six books (and counting); of the MAY MOORE mystery series, comprising nine books (and counting); of the CORA SHIELDS mystery series, comprising three books (and counting); and of the NICKY LYONS mystery series, comprising three books (and counting).
An avid reader and lifelong fan of the mystery and thriller genres, Blake loves to hear from you, so please feel free to visit www.blakepierceauthor.com to learn more and stay in touch.
Copyright © 2022 by Blake Pierce. 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. Jacket image Copyright releon8211 used under license from Shutterstock.com.
BOOKS BY BLAKE PIERCE
NICKY LYONS MYSTERY SERIES
ALL MINE (Book #1)
ALL HIS (Book #2)
ALL HE SEES (Book #3)
CORA SHIELDS MYSTERY SERIES
UNDONE (Book #1)
UNWANTED (Book #2)
UNHINGED (Book #3)
MAY MOORE SUSPENSE THRILLER
NEVER RUN (Book #1)
NEVER TELL (Book #2)
NEVER LIVE (Book #3)
NEVER HIDE (Book #4)
NEVER FORGIVE (Book #5)
NEVER AGAIN (Book #6)
NEVER LOOK BACK (Book #7)
NEVER FORGET (Book #8)
NEVER LET GO (Book #9)
PAIGE KING MYSTERY SERIES
THE GIRL HE PINED (Book #1)
THE GIRL HE CHOSE (Book #2)
THE GIRL HE TOOK (Book #3)
THE GIRL HE WISHED (Book #4)
THE GIRL HE CROWNED (Book #5)
THE GIRL HE WATCHED (Book #6)
VALERIE LAW MYSTERY SERIES
NO MERCY (Book #1)
NO PITY (Book #2)
NO FEAR (Book #3)
NO SLEEP (Book #4)
NO QUARTER (Book #5)
NO CHANCE (Book #6)
NO REFUGE (Book #7)
NO GRACE (Book #8)
NO ESCAPE (Book #9)
RACHEL GIFT MYSTERY SERIES
HER LAST WISH (Book #1)
HER LAST CHANCE (Book #2)
HER LAST HOPE (Book #3)
HER LAST FEAR (Book #4)
HER LAST CHOICE (Book #5)
HER LAST BREATH (Book #6)
HER LAST MISTAKE (Book #7)
HER LAST DESIRE (Book #8)
AVA GOLD MYSTERY SERIES
CITY OF PREY (Book #1)
CITY OF FEAR (Book #2)
CITY OF BONES (Book #3)
CITY OF GHOSTS (Book #4)
CITY OF DEATH (Book #5)
CITY OF VICE (Book #6)
A YEAR IN EUROPE
A MURDER IN PARIS (Book #1)
DEATH IN FLORENCE (Book #2)
VENGEANCE IN VIENNA (Book #3)
A FATALITY IN SPAIN (Book #4)
ELLA DARK FBI SUSPENSE THRILLER
GIRL, ALONE (Book #1)
GIRL, TAKEN (Book #2)
GIRL, HUNTED (Book #3)
GIRL, SILENCED (Book #4)
GIRL, VANISHED (Book 5)
GIRL ERASED (Book #6)
GIRL, FORSAKEN (Book #7)
GIRL, TRAPPED (Book #8)
GIRL, EXPENDABLE (Book #9)
GIRL, ESCAPED (Book #10)
GIRL, HIS (Book #11)
LAURA FROST FBI SUSPENSE THRILLER
ALREADY GONE (Book #1)
ALREADY SEEN (Book #2)
ALREADY TRAPPED (Book #3)
ALREADY MISSING (Book #4)
ALREADY DEAD (Book #5)
ALREADY TAKEN (Book #6)
ALREADY CHOSEN (Book #7)
ALREADY LOST (Book #8)
ALREADY HIS (Book #9)
EUROPEAN VOYAGE COZY MYSTERY SERIES
MURDER (AND BAKLAVA) (Book #1)
DEATH (AND APPLE STRUDEL) (Book #2)
CRIME (AND LAGER) (Book #3)
MISFORTUNE (AND GOUDA) (Book #4)
CALAMITY (AND A DANISH) (Book #5)
MAYHEM (AND HERRING) (Book #6)
ADELE SHARP MYSTERY SERIES
LEFT TO DIE (Book #1)
LEFT TO RUN (Book #2)
LEFT TO HIDE (Book #3)
LEFT TO KILL (Book #4)
LEFT TO MURDER (Book #5)
LEFT TO ENVY (Book #6)
LEFT TO LAPSE (Book #7)
LEFT TO VANISH (Book #8)
LEFT TO HUNT (Book #9)
LEFT TO FEAR (Book #10)
LEFT TO PREY (Book #11)
LEFT TO LURE (Book #12)
LEFT TO CRAVE (Book #13)
LEFT TO LOATHE (Book #14)
LEFT TO HARM (Book #15)
THE AU PAIR SERIES
ALMOST GONE (Book#1)
ALMOST LOST (Book #2)
ALMOST DEAD (Book #3)
ZOE PRIME MYSTERY SERIES
FACE OF DEATH (Book#1)
FACE OF MURDER (Book #2)
FACE OF FEAR (Book #3)
FACE OF MADNESS (Book #4)
FACE OF FURY (Book #5)
FACE OF DARKNESS (Book #6)
A JESSIE HUNT PSYCHOLOGICAL SUSPENSE SERIES
THE PERFECT WIFE (Book #1)
THE PERFECT BLOCK (Book #2)
THE PERFECT HOUSE (Book #3)
THE PERFECT SMILE (Book #4)
THE PERFECT LIE (Book #5)
THE PERFECT LOOK (Book #6)
THE PERFECT AFFAIR (Book #7)
THE PERFECT ALIBI (Book #8)
THE PERFECT NEIGHBOR (Book #9)
THE PERFECT DISGUISE (Book #10)
THE PERFECT SECRET (Book #11)
THE PERFECT FAÇADE (Book #12)
THE PERFECT IMPRESSION (Book #13)
THE PERFECT DECEIT (Book #14)
THE PERFECT MISTRESS (Book #15)
THE PERFECT IMAGE (Book #16)
THE PERFECT VEIL (Book #17)
THE PERFECT INDISCRETION (Book #18)
THE PERFECT RUMOR (Book #19)
THE PERFECT COUPLE (Book #20)
THE PERFECT MURDER (Book #21)
THE PERFECT HUSBAND (Book #22)
THE PERFECT SCANDAL (Book #23)
THE PERFECT MASK (Book #24)
CHLOE FINE PSYCHOLOGICAL SUSPENSE SERIES
NEXT DOOR (Book #1)
A NEIGHBOR’S LIE (Book #2)
CUL DE SAC (Book #3)
SILENT NEIGHBOR (Book #4)
HOMECOMING (Book #5)
TINTED WINDOWS (Book #6)
KATE WISE MYSTERY SERIES
IF SHE KNEW (Book #1)
IF SHE SAW (Book #2)
IF SHE RAN (Book #3)
IF SHE HID (Book #4)
IF SHE FLED (Book #5)
IF SHE FEARED (Book #6)
IF SHE HEARD (Book #7)
THE MAKING OF RILEY PAIGE SERIES
WATCHING (Book #1)
WAITING (Book #2)
LURING (Book #3)
TAKING (Book #4)
STALKING (Book #5)
KILLING (Book #6)
RILEY PAIGE MYSTERY SERIES
ONCE GONE (Book #1)
ONCE TAKEN (Book #2)
ONCE CRAVED (Book #3)
ONCE LURED (Book #4)
ONCE HUNTED (Book #5)
ONCE PINED (Book #6)
ONCE FORSAKEN (Book #7)
ONCE COLD (Book #8)
ONCE STALKED (Book #9)
ONCE LOST (Book #10)
ONCE BURIED (Book #11)
<
ONCE TRAPPED (Book #13)
ONCE DORMANT (Book #14)
ONCE SHUNNED (Book #15)
ONCE MISSED (Book #16)
ONCE CHOSEN (Book #17)
MACKENZIE WHITE MYSTERY SERIES
BEFORE HE KILLS (Book #1)
BEFORE HE SEES (Book #2)
BEFORE HE COVETS (Book #3)
BEFORE HE TAKES (Book #4)
BEFORE HE NEEDS (Book #5)
BEFORE HE FEELS (Book #6)
BEFORE HE SINS (Book #7)
BEFORE HE HUNTS (Book #8)
BEFORE HE PREYS (Book #9)
BEFORE HE LONGS (Book #10)
BEFORE HE LAPSES (Book #11)
BEFORE HE ENVIES (Book #12)
BEFORE HE STALKS (Book #13)
BEFORE HE HARMS (Book #14)
AVERY BLACK MYSTERY SERIES
CAUSE TO KILL (Book #1)
CAUSE TO RUN (Book #2)
CAUSE TO HIDE (Book #3)
CAUSE TO FEAR (Book #4)
CAUSE TO SAVE (Book #5)
CAUSE TO DREAD (Book #6)
KERI LOCKE MYSTERY SERIES
A TRACE OF DEATH (Book #1)
A TRACE OF MURDER (Book #2)
A TRACE OF VICE (Book #3)
A TRACE OF CRIME (Book #4)
A TRACE OF HOPE (Book #5)
CONTENTS
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
EPILOGUE
CHAPTER ONE
Meredith Park couldn’t shake the feeling that she was being watched, as she slowly started to get ready to leave the restaurant at the Lexington Ren-Faire.
Which was silly, because of course she was being watched. Being watched was a large part of her job, there at the Ren-Faire. Even if she was actually just there to serve food and make sure that the kitchens didn’t overcook the roast suckling pig, she knew that she was as much a part of the act of the place as any of the performers there. Just looking around now, there were at least a dozen people watching her performance.
“I hope your meal was ok,” Meredith said, offering a smile to a young couple who had come in wearing their own interpretations of medieval dress, both of them wearing chainmail that looked like they’d put it together at home from loops of plastic and then spray painted it. She set the bill down for them and made her way around to the next table, gently working her way towards the exit. Meredith wouldn’t be able to leave until she’d cleared the last tables, checked her share of the tips, and made sure that the others were ok before she headed home.
It wasn’t easy, being a wench. That was Meredith Park’s official job title: serving wench at the court of King Arthur. Because apparently the people who ran the Lexington Ren-Faire thought that was the most period appropriate way to describe their staff members. Meredith wasn’t entirely sure that it was the job title she would have chosen for herself if they’d asked, but they hadn’t.
At the same time, though, Meredith had to admit that she loved working there in the restaurant of the Ren-Faire. She loved the enjoyment that people got from visiting, and she loved the enthusiasm that some of them showed. The cosplayers always loved to get involved, piecing together chainmail at home and sewing dresses that made the ones Meredith had to wear for work look drab by comparison. Some days, it was hard to tell the visitors from the people who worked there, although it helped that Meredith knew everyone who worked there. They all passed through the restaurant sooner or later.
Meredith bussed the last of the tables in her section, then handed over to the next wench on duty. She smiled and waved as she left the restaurant, in one last piece of performance. She always went home in her work clothes because no one there wanted to see the medieval servant who had just been providing their food come out in jeans and a t-shirt.
Meredith had majored in history at college, so taking a job at the local Renaissance Faire while she tried to work out what else she wanted to do with her life had seemed like a great option. And it was, just as long as Meredith didn’t pay too much attention to the portrayals of history on display there and just went along with the fun of the place.
For a start, King Arthur? If the mythical king had existed at all, he’d probably been an early medieval king in one of the small British kingdoms of the time; he had probably lived close to a thousand years before the Renaissance.
Then there was the wench’s costume that Meredith had been given for work. It had a great flounced skirt, a bonnet, and a corset that was more of a bustier, over a pale linen underskirt. By actual medieval standards, Meredith suspected that she was several layers of clothing short of authenticity; but at the Ren-Faire, showing off how one looked apparently counted for far more. It was about how impressed the patrons were, not whether everything fit with the latest historical papers.
Not that Meredith minded a little showing off, or the attention that got her here. She was five-ten, full-figured and blonde-haired, with deep blue eyes that were a little larger and more wide-set than most people’s. With her slightly rounded features and ready smile, it had been pretty much inevitable that she would end up as a wench.
Meredith had been briefly annoyed by that because a part of her would rather have been a knight, but there was a waiting list to become a knight, or a jester, or any of the entertainment jobs. Meredith had quickly found that she had a knack for cooking good food, and for serving customers. She’d even done extra research on medieval recipes, trying to find ones that would fit with modern tastes while still seeming authentic enough.
Meredith had quickly found herself in charge of a whole section in the restaurant, in what would have been a promotion to manager anywhere else. Here, of course, she was just called “chief restaurant wench,” but it was ok. The money was good, and the people she worked with were great. Ok, so they were occasionally a little strange, but wasn’t everyone?
Meredith headed out into the fair, taking in the early evening air. There were still plenty of people around, moving between tents and booths, old fashioned steam rides that were still about five hundred years too recent, and staff members who wandered the crowds juggling or tumbling, making fun of people for their strange modern dress or selling them snacks out of barrows.
Meredith had to admit that, in spite of the anachronisms, she loved it here. There was nowhere else she would rather work. Historical authenticity didn’t matter once you understood the joy a place like this brought to people when they visited. They came here and they went away smiling, pretty much regardless of who they were. There weren’t many jobs where Meredith could say that about the people she met.
She headed for the employee parking lot, taking off her bonnet as she went. It was still hard to shake the feeling of being stared at, but as Meredith glanced around, she couldn’t see anyone who was actually looking her way now. At least not any more than usual. She was just one more person moving through the crowds of the Ren-Faire. No one seemed to be giving her particular attention.
Meredith shrugged and kept going. If someone was staring at her, giving her unwelcome attention, so what? The Ren-Faire attracted its share of creeps as well as those people just there to enjoy themselves. There were always a few guys who just wanted to stare at women in old fashioned dresses, or who crowded around whenever one volunteered to be put in the stocks they kept in the main square. Guys who longed for things to be the way they’d been in some version of the past that only really existed in their own heads.
Meredith had learned to just ignore that side of things. The good definitely outweighed the bad, after all. She needed to get home, so she hurried on towards the parking lot. Her small Citroen was waiting there, sitting underneath the shade of a large beech tree to keep it cool. Meredith fished her keys out of the pouch on her belt that she had in place of a purse, meaning that she could keep things with her without having to break out of the dress code for the Ren-Faire.
_preview.jpg)
