Croft Fallout

1. Auflage 2021
ISBN: 978-1-0983-9646-6
Verlag: BookBaby
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, Band 1, 380 Seiten

Reihe: Fallout

Detective Juliette Foret knows all about loss and having to start over. Her body bears the scars that come with a career dedicated to service of her community-and invisible wounds that haunt her dreams. Her new life in Georgia was supposed to be easy, to allow her time to heal, until her path crosses with that of a sadistic killer targeting the loved ones of the only infuriatingly irresistible man who has made her lose control. Prominent hotelier and Savannah's foremost eligible bachelor, Liam Lawrence Ward, will do almost anything to protect his family, including enduring the wrath of the enigmatic detective. His clandestine investigation into those believed to be responsible for stalking his future sister-in-law and setting fire to a building at the Savannah Sun Hotel and Resort lands him in hot water when bullets start to fly. FBI Senior Special Agent Maddison Stone has a personal stake in safeguarding her longtime friend-and former boyfriend-Liam. When his life is endangered, she makes it her business to step in and forms a joint task force to investigate the criminal gang deemed liable. Her uneasy alliance with Detective Foret, and the private security consultant hired to protect the Lawrence Wards, significantly complicates matters. Focused on planning her wedding to Emerson Lawrence Ward, celebrity Master Chef Simone Boudreaux had hoped that a Canadian jail would be the final stop for her abusive ex-husband. The last thing she expects is to be confronted by individuals from a past that she would rather forget. When danger lurks its ugly head, Simone is forced to grin and deal with it or risk everything and everyone she has come to care about. Fallout is the third book in the Savannah Sizzle series. The heroic characters are forced to face past demons and clash with powerfully connected foes or simply perish.

Alex Croft has lived and worked in healthcare in several countries, whilst traveling to many more. Drawing on life experience and exposure to different cultures, the author weaves aspects of psychology, medical treatment modalities, humanity, the power of conviction and intrigue into the story lines. A fan of different genres of fiction, the author incorporates elements of suspense, humor, romance, action, adventure and fantasy into contemporary writing to enhance the reading experience.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Croft, Alex

Leseproben

Chapter 1

Frustrated, Detective Juliette Foret reclined in her swivel office chair, closed her eyes, and exhaled deeply. “I understand... Thank you for letting me know, Sergeant.”

Shitballs, this investigation just got tanked. Foret discarded her cellular phone on her desk alongside her computer keyboard. Leaning forward, she rested her forehead on the palms of her hands and cursed under her breath. February had been a total bust and now March was not starting off any better. Not that I had high hopes.

Juliette clenched her jaw while blocking a traumatic anniversary from her mind—and the jarring text she received only minutes ago: ‘We are thinking of you and are here for you if you want to talk. Love, Mom & Dad.’

In truth, the first quarter of this year seemed all but bleak, filled with murder, mayhem, and pure madness. It had been two days since an arsonist set ablaze the pet hotel at the Savannah Sun Hotel and Resort. Ignoring the glaring fact that said building was destined for demolition to make room for a facilities expansion, only housed two injured wild raccoons at the time, and that her captain was convinced Foret was out of her mind for putting resources into this, she now lost her best chance at a lead.

Explaining all the twisted fragments to the conspiracy would make her seem like even more of a lunatic, and this on the eve of her first-year review on the job after transferring from Washington, D.C., no less. Two months out, this was decidedly not the time to rock the proverbial boat.

At least her captain had given permission of sorts for her to further investigate the pet hotel fire in her spare time, with strict instructions to present something more concrete if and when such evidence was uncovered.

Thus far, there were only disjointed puzzle pieces, the most tangible of which was Ned Coleman, an ex-convict who had earlier assaulted a photographer and took on his identity to get close to Celebrity Chef Simone Boudreaux. The purpose? To add ground macadamia nuts to her water bottle, all as part of a convoluted scheme to trigger an allergic reaction. This plot was executed during a promotional photo shoot for the charities that benefitted from the chef’s services donation of cooking meals at the local restaurant, Indulge, curiously also situated at the Savannah Sun Hotel and Resort. If not for the quick-witted actions of Emerson Lawrence Ward who placed the successful bid for the chef’s services at the annual fundraiser, and who also immediately administered epinephrine to her, she might have died.

Then there was the troubling preludial incident with a different man abseiling down onto the Michelin award winning chef’s apartment balcony in the middle of the night, leaving only a size twelve footprint, fear, and a commonly used climbing hook behind. Additionally, someone matching that same description had unlawfully entered and deliberately locked Boudreaux inside of Indulge’s frosty walk-in cooler by barricading the door. Not that the chef had officially filed complaints with the police...

Foret had by chance heard about the freezer incident while dealing with pesky trespassing paparazzi at the Savannah Sun Hotel and Resort. The detective had also struggled to drag the specifics of those other episodes out of the immensely private Canadian chef who had been recently relocated to Savannah to start afresh after finalizing her acrimonious divorce. Boudreaux’s multiple television appearances were partly driven by being left financially destitute after her thieving ex-husband-slash-manager-slash-business partner embezzled from her. She had been able to recover some of those siphoned off funds through lengthy court proceedings.

It had taken Foret a great deal of effort to earn Boudreaux’s trust and consent to discreetly investigate these matters. After all, Simone did not wish for anything to derail the imminent opening of her new flagship restaurant, Zest, especially not the harrowing prospect of a bloodthirsty ex-husband she had jailed being out on a menacing revenge spree.

From what Foret had discovered so far, a convicted felon, Devin Miller, had hired an imposter physician to convince a crooked Canadian warden that he was dying of terminal cancer. The accompanying large offshore payoff served as added incentive to fast-track commuting his sentence on fraudulent humanitarian and compassionate grounds. In light of this development, Simone Boudreaux’s ex-husband had been transferred to a nearby Vancouver-based medical facility, also rumored to specialize in appearance-altering plastic surgery, where he was most likely furnished with a new identity. From there, Miller had simply vanished.

Foret knew deep in her bones that an unhinged Miller was personally responsible for setting fire to that pet hotel the same night Boudreaux announced her engagement to hotelier Emerson Lawrence Ward. Juliette had watched the lovebirds’ relationship blossom over the past few weeks as she investigated the series of disturbing events.

Not that Simone knew anything about the rage-infused hate graffiti spray painted onto those burning walls licked clean by flames. The presumed target was Boudreaux’s pet beagle, Gigi, that was reported by the media to be staying there at the time. There was nothing more personal than killing someone’s beloved pet, well, except perhaps for murdering them or their close family members... and other loved ones.

Proving that Miller was involved, however, was a whole other matter. The shrewd man had cultivated extensive underworld contacts during his time in prison and was now a moneyman for the BP gang—short for Blackbeard’s Pirates. A trail of corpses could all be circumstantially linked back to him.

After a presumed week-long vengeance crusade in which Miller brutally murdered Simone’s lawyer and the lead detective working her case before, then ransacking her parents’ Vancouver home, he fled Canada. Not that Foret had any indisputable evidence supporting these assumptions or could tell her boss that, caught in cross-border diplomatic red tape, she had uncovered this information after enlisting the help of Olivia Lawrence Ward Hunt, who now worked for Saint Philip Neri Industries—or SPNI for short—a multinational private security firm.

Juliette had provided Olivia with information that led to the retrieval of stolen artwork belonging to the talented painter, Dylan McManus. The artist was not long engaged to Emerson’s younger sister, Victoria, who had ensnared Juliette into being photographed with the Lawrence Ward family during the opening exhibition of McManus’ work over the past weekend... mere hours preceding that arson attack. The hype surrounding Victoria and Dylan’s budding relationship had caused a paparazzi frenzy and lockdown at the resort with frequent law enforcement trips to arrest trespassers to boot, hence the detective being swallowed up in the unexpected Boudreaux maelstrom.

The past two weeks had been a roller coaster, forcing Juliette to repeatedly face off with none other than Liam Lawrence Ward, the infuriating man whom she had avoided like the plague since that humiliating December library romp. Mending that relationship had proven impossible. Not that she would admit to reliving the finer, pulse-pounding moments thereof in the dark of night... Liam had an uncanny ability to get under her skin, and their last skirmish while flames engulfed the pet hotel had stayed with her—like a lead brick in her gut. When he brought up that fateful December night, she had shut him down and nearly bitten his head off.

We’re done. Period. Stay out of my way, Liam.

Ironically, Liam was the only other person who knew that the arsonist was directly targeting Boudreaux, based on the crime scene pictures he took of the offensive graffiti as the building went up in smoke. Foret had asked him to keep this information confidential for the time being, rather than having the ensuing media shitstorm sabotage her investigation. Not wanting to see his family embroiled in another controversy on the front pages of the local newspapers again, Liam had agreed.

A lot of good that’s done me: I’m back to square one. This is one big, tangled mess.

“Rough day?”

The deep rumbling voice that followed a soft knock on her office door rolled over Foret like a freight train. She looked up to blink Liam Lawrence Ward into focus. Dressed in a tailored suit, he rested one broad shoulder against the doorpost, watching her. Damn. The man always looked as if he stepped off the cover of a fashion magazine, or when at the gym, a workout poster.

“You don’t give up, do you?”

“You leave me little choice, Detective, seeing you don’t answer or return my calls.”

She folded her hands on her desk. “I planned on getting back to you.” Eventually.

“If you say so.” He sounded skeptical as his eyes took in the stacks of folders on her desk.

“I honestly don’t have any fight left in me today.” It was the sad truth.

Liam pushed off from the doorpost. “I’m not looking to add to your burdens, Detective. I’m here in my capacity...