At Any Cost: A Forensic Instincts Novel (Forensic Instincts, 9)

At any cost: Andrea Kane
A serial killer who takes us inside his mind and allows readers to witness a tragic and torturous death of a football coach. Blaming this coach for the death of his brother, the graphically depicted murder scene will leave you will nightmares and the chills. That was in the past and meet Aimee Bregman in the present who is chief marketing officer of CannaBD. A job that introduced her to Nick Colotti the founder who created this product and learned about it from Rita Edwell her mentor who helped her get the job, the contacts to help promote the product and Chris Maher an investor. His father is wealthy, and Chris is spoiled, enabled and famous and innovative Super Bowl Bites. You can find him on all the social media, and he was also a fiasco for Rita. But he might be the link to becoming a backer for the company, so Aimee agreed to meet with him, but Rita insisted on being there. The result is a meeting that turned violent, dangerous and let Aimee to hiring Forensic Instincts to protect her from Chris. The casual meeting between all parties became a verb shouting
match. But this was just the beginning as the purpose of this company was to highlight the beer at college campus parties and alumni events. Plus meet Travis her boyfriend. Things get dangerous and then Aimee is afraid when the police show up at her apartment when they find that Rita is gone; murder, disappearance and Aimee’s life is in danger. Forensic Instincts is smart, the members each have their own specialty and when meeting Casey and her team, Aimee soon realizes she is in the right hands.
As the case unfolds I will not share how they get their information but when Chris is killed, the realize that Rita played more of a part in getting rich students with poor grades into college, you learn that there was more to her than anyone realized. There is a serial killer out there who’s MO links back to the football coach more like Rita’s murder than Chris. The method of murder is the same for two but for Chris different. Dealing with the police Aimee and the team had to be careful how questions were asked and answered.
 All roads lead back to Pete Rice and his murder . the case was cold but when they met with the detective from the past things began to gel. The body was left in place, mutilated  and on first play for the police. This is a serial killer who wants attention, and yet there is no corpse to be found in Rita and Pete’s case, but Chris was different.
Ryan is their tech man who with the help of his AI friend Yoda uncovers information that will shake things up and allow them to learn more about Rita, her contacts, her bank account and the payoffs she was getting for helping these college students that might be failing stay in school. The obvious is both Rice and Rita worked for universities. Different schools and effort types of jobs but there was evidence of payoffs. Raya was brilliant an open the door by accessing her back records, her phone records might lead to a special direction.
Then different links come about, and Aimee becomes a target of this killer. Her boss and his father have shady ties to the mob and as you hear Victor and the killer tell you begin to wonder who is in charge, what Victor’s ties to this man are and where will this go from here. Replacing Rita is his goal and just what was her role you won’t believe as this leads back to the past, the deaths in the present are not done and finding out more about other victims will shock you.
Aimee was  filled in by Casey the president about the calls Rita received from unknown burner phones and how was someone tracking them. They explained to her that the killer was a serial killer. Her security was increased and yet Aimee was naive about people, relationships and life. At times she really does not understand the dangers and when she does she does not always process them when dealing with people she thought she could trust.
Then we learn about other victims and how they relate to the killer. A doctor, a newscaster, and a man who got road rage and was a victim too. All of the evidence somehow points to Rita and her connections to colleges, high personnel, the mob and someone who was paying her off to make sure that these students remained in school and their records wiped of anything negative.
Author Andrea Kane takes us into the world of corruption, the mob, police that are paid off and the mind of a sick killer whose voice we hear, whose movements we witness and will not stop until he takes down everyone and Aimee is now his next target but why you won’t believe. With Claire the clairvoyant using objects that Emma was able to get when visiting the colleges and from the home of Daniel Maher, we learn why she felt something when she about the murder eight years ago, how she was able to piece part of it together and how the past relates to the present when a killer wants revenge for the death of his brother and more.
Just who the killer is and why is Aimee the next victim you will witness what happens and who betrayed her and why. When it comes down to it the killer, FI, and even her boss will do anything to win AT ANY COST!