(This is the Introduction to my newest book.)

A young boy doesn't come with instructions. He just comes with boundless love and an adventurous spirit. Or, so they claim.

Two Yamhill County vehicles hurtled down Highway 99 West. The ribbon of coal-black pavement led into Lafayette, a small unincorporated area perched atop Trask Mountain between the twin cities of McMinnville and Dundee. Their headlights shined like beacons in the darkness of the still night. Their windshields ran with water from the deluge falling around them. The wiper blades struggled to keep pace. Screaming sirens convulsed, and flashing blue lights illuminated the deserted motorway.

Enhanced by the Pacific Northwest Bell telephone company, the 9-1-1 call had been straight to the point:

"You better come."

"What's the emergency, sir?"

"They're all dead."

"Who's dead?"

"My entire family."

"Who is this?"

"Drew Larsen. I'm 13."

"What's your address there, Drew?"

"You know it already."

"How do you know that?"

"It appeared on your automated location identification screen when I called."

"Have you checked them for signs of life, Drew?"

"Trust me, they're dead."

"How do you know they're dead?"

"Because I killed them."

"You killed them? Drew, if this is a prank-"

"This ain't no prank. I'll be waiting for you at my house."

The cruiser's bright beams danced off the wet blacktop. The puddled asphalt blazed eerily. This further distorted the dusk. Behind the wheel of the lead vehicle sat a man of reason who dealt in cold, hard, facts. His overloaded mind wandered in and out of a fog of chaotic confusion. To him, the call he had received from Dispatch made no sense.

He deliberated, "Is it possible death is not a one-way journey? Can the deceased sometimes return?"

Detective Sean Darden knew his already full plate was about to explode. Twenty years earlier, in the not so far away town of Portland, he had been a young patrolman when a deranged killer terrorized that fair city. The events of those years seemed to have been pushed to the far dominions of his mind. Now, they flooded back.

A brutal massacre had occurred that gripped Portland in a state of panic. Like the radio call he was en route to answer, the killer claimed to have decimated his entire family. He spared none of them: not the father, not the mother, not the grandparents, not even the baby girl. The murderer turned out to be someone very close to him.

"The whole family? Check."

Nobody ever said the thankless job of being a lawman was easy. Darden enjoyed a good challenge, and this one further stretched the detective's competency. He always protected his own, especially his progeny. Lafayette was in the throes of a crime wave that would rattle the town to its core. The battle would soon commence.

"Sworn revenge? Check."

Still, a thirteen-year-old boy who claimed to have slaughtered his own family? The thoughts of what happened in Portland all those years ago were too coincidental. The odds of a copycat killer who replayed that scene too astonishing. Detective Darden knew it could only mean one thing. He shuddered. An icy chill raced up and down his spine. He prayed he was wrong.

"Preposterous!"

Upon Darden's arrival at 1389 Howell Street, dread settled over the fertile broad plain of the Willamette Valley. Oregon's famous Wine Country pulsated.

Cast of Characters:

Drew Larsen - Thirteen-year-old boy who confessed in a 9-1-1 call to the Police to murdering his family. The question remains, did he?

Detective Sean Darden - Lead responder to the 9-1-1 call about the deaths of the Larsen family.