MISSING, ASSUMED DEAD
Prejudice, murder, insanity, suicide: Every small town has its secrets.
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Book Trailer
THE LAW IN MISSING, ASSUMED DEAD
The mystery involves lots of representatives of the law in one form or another. The Judge (see a word or two about him on this blog) and the fake Chief of Police have no interest in upholding the law. The only other police presence in the wilds of Malheur County are the Sheriff's Deputies that patrol the roads. There job more or less comes down to helping lost tourists and writing tickets for hunters without a license.
Lucky for Kam McBride, one of these fine representatiaves of law enforcement, comes to her aid when she's lost in the desert due to a flaky GPS system in her rental car. Mitch joins Kam in the search for her missing relative's murderer.
This excerpt shows how Kam and Mitch meet. Yes, they meet 'cute.'
Excerpt
The sky had turned a deeper blue as the
sun continued its trip behind the mountain ridge. The shadows
lengthened on the east side of the scraggly shrubs. The faint hum of
a car engine drew her eyes southward. “Good, I could use some
directions.” But she was alone on an otherwise empty road. Maybe
the approaching vehicle held a friendly soul, but it could just as
well carry a serial killer.
Using her shirttail as a hot pad, she
gingerly took hold of the door handle again and climbed back into the
car. Goose bumps rose on her arms when the still blasting air
conditioning hit them. She turned on the emergency flashers then
opened the glove box, looking for something to use as a weapon. “Ah
ha!” Kam pulled out a two-inch canister. “Pepper spray? Crap,
just hair spray, but that shit burns eyes. Better than nothing.”
She tucked it between her right thigh and the console to hide it from
view, her finger ready on the button.
The vehicle grew larger and revealed
itself to be a Ford Expedition SUV painted Oregon green. The lights
on its roof flashed blue and red for a moment then went off. “A
cop. Excellent.” On the other hand, she’d heard of guys who
decked out their rides to look like cop cars.
The SUV pulled up behind her and
stopped. After a long pause, the door opened. A man in khaki climbed
out and walked forward. He stopped behind the car and wrote
something, probably the plate number, on a pad. Aviator glasses hid
his eyes, but the rest of him looked pretty good. Tall. Well, maybe
not too tall. Slim and dark, just how Kam liked them. Watching him
approach, she wondered idly how he managed to keep the razor-sharp
creases in his uniform in this heat.
When he reached her side window, he
gestured for her to roll it down. Kam cracked the window a couple of
inches. She noted the badge and the Smokey Bear hat. “I don’t
think I was speeding, Officer.”
The man chuckled, showing fine smile
lines at the corners of his full mouth. He had great teeth. “No,
you weren’t, but I wondered if you might be lost. A lot of people
get themselves turned around out here.”
Kam gave him a rueful grin. “Yeah,
lost isn’t the half of it. I’m looking for Cork Hill Road.” She
hoped he was the real deal, but she sure as hell wasn’t opening her
door. Tin badges were easy to buy on eBay.
“License and rental agreement?”
“Sure.” She opened the center
console and pulled out the papers with her left hand, then shoved the
rental agreement through the two-inch opening. She couldn’t figure
out how to extract her license out of her purse without letting go of
the spray.
“Your license?”
“Why don’t you just direct me to
Cork Hill, or if that’s too hard, how about Rosewood.”
“I’d be happy to, miss, but I
really do need to see your license. Paperwork, you understand.”
Kam released a deep breath breath. She
stretched her arm across her body trying to reach her purse on the
other seat. She grabbed the strap and pulled it toward her. It
slipped out of her left hand. She automatically lifted her right to
grab it. “Shit!”
Instantly, the officer’s manner
changed. The smile disappeared, and he took a step back, pulling his
gun from his left-handed holster. “Drop the canister out the
window,” he ordered. “Do it now.”
Kam squeaked and threw her hands up.
The canister flipped out of her hand and flew at the windshield. It
bounced back and landed in her lap. “Now what?”
“Pick it up and push it out the
window. Slowly.”
“You already said that.” She picked
up the spray with two fingers and dropped it out the window. “Hey,
I don’t know if you’re a real policeman. Anyone can play cops and
robbers.”
“Please step out of the car. Use only
your left hand to unlatch the door and keep your right hand where I
can see it.” The barrel of his pistol never wavered from her torso.
“Take it easy. I’m opening the
door.” He stood outside the reach of the door’s swing. Kam
decided she’d rather fight outside the car, than be shot inside it.
She got out with her hands still raised.
“Now move to the rear of the
vehicle,” he ordered. When Kam obeyed, he took a step forward,
never taking his eyes off her, knelt, and picked up the canister.
Straightening, he glanced down at the canister then back to her. The
corner of his mouth twitched as he re-holstered his pistol. “Sorry,
but…hairspray?” He took off the aviators and smiled.
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