Devil in the Deadline (27 page)

32
.

  

A single rose

  

Th
under rumbled through a slate sky, soft rain pattering the roof as I limped to the coffee maker Sunday morning.

“Splenda and milk?” I asked, turning to the table where Kyle had his leg propped on the extra chair.

“However you take it is fine.” He smiled around a strip of bacon. Swallowing, he took the cup. “You didn't have to make me breakfast.”

“You got shot trying to save my life.”

“But I didn't. Save your life. And you still got hurt. I didn't even get you the story. You did that.”

I rolled my eyes. “Stop it. I've got a triple-banana-split scoop on Charlie this morning, and it'll get another layer when y'all get the weapons thing processed.”

“Way of Life canceled services this morning on account of the ATF crawling all over their property.” He grinned.

“Did you tell them to check the feed shed?”

The grin gave way to a laugh. “Could we interest you in agent training? That's where the money was. In the bags. See, in an operation like that, they deposit the cash a little at a time with their regular banking, and then withdraw it in odd amounts and pay the mob. So the taller stacks were the cash they needed to clean, and the shorter ones were what they already had. Mario Caccione was there last night to pick up the money.”

“I still can't believe it.” I shook my head. “You're a hero. Again. But I like my job. And I dislike guns.”

“Too bad, because I'm getting you one,” he said.

I laughed.

“I'm serious,” Kyle said. “This was the last near miss you get to have without a weapon.”

I fluffed the pillow under his leg, which had a shredded knee and a newly-sewn-up popliteal artery thanks to Don Mario (who was deader than dead. Shooting an ATF agent with four others present, not the smartest move. Especially when they weren't shooting at you to begin with). “Landers sent me Mathers's background—turns out, it was a thirty-something white guy. He just wasn't hiding in Shockoe Bottom.”

“You're a good detective, Nichelle.” Kyle caught my hand and smiled when I straightened up. “You're a better cook. And a pretty good nurse. How's your shoulder?”

He had one arm in a sling and a cast from hip to thigh, and he was worried about me. “I'm fine.” I extended my arm with some difficulty, thanks to various sutured layers of skin and muscle in my shoulder. “The stitches in my leg hurt more this morning. My real concern is what this is going to do to my wardrobe. They told me to keep the scars out of the sun for three months.”

“Now, that's a shame.”

I leaned on the edge of the table and picked up my coffee. “Overall, I'd say my weekend hasn't been half bad. Bob loved my story. Ordered me to take the rest of the weekend off. Girl Friday has been fired from the PD. Not that she's going to take her blog down, but at least she has to get her information like everyone else. Aaron said Mr. Galloway is coming for his daughter's body tomorrow—with her old boyfriend, who is paying for the funeral out of his ‘shop of my own' savings. And Picasso—whose real name is Aidan Caruthers—is out of jail and in an empty dorm room at RAU. Jenna got him into the art department as a teaching assistant.”

“Nice work, Lois.” Kyle nodded.

“I have exclusives lined up for a week. Landers picked up Deputy Buck's cousin this morning for trying to kill us Thursday. Got his plate number from the gas station video. He has a pretty good lead on the other murder, too. Seems Cecilia had a brother who was killed by a weapon she'd traced to this Mafia family through files at her law firm. They help cover up the money laundering. She had scans and a journal on her laptop, all ready for the authorities. And there's a guy in Mario's command who had it out for the retired cop who found the body. Landers thinks he killed her. Hopefully I'll have that story this week.”

“My team is dismantling the Caccione crime family. At least, we're trying to before someone steps up to take Mario's place.” Kyle winked. “That'll make a hell of a headline. And I'd say you have the inside track.”

“I'll take it.” I turned to refill my coffee.

“I'm glad you're okay.” Kyle's voice thickened and he cleared his throat. “You stepped outside yesterday and I was afraid I'd never see you again.”

“Back at you, friend.”

He shook his head. “I was scared when you left here the other night. And nothing scares me.”

I dropped my eyes to the floor. “I'm sorry, Kyle.” The words hung in the air, the double meaning not lost on him.

He sighed. “Who is that guy, Nichelle? No bullshit.” He had his cop face on, and I knew it was only a matter of time before he put Joey together with my “Mafia source” after yesterday. Maybe he already had, but I couldn't tell.

Strictly speaking, Mathers's death wasn't an ATF case, and I doubted the Fauquier Sheriff would have the guts to ask me much of anything after Deputy Buck almost got me killed. So I played stupid.

“We're sort of seeing each other, I think. But it's a new thing. I know next to nothing about him.” Every word true.

“I see.” He smiled, his eyes sad. “I want you to be happy.”

“And I want the same for you. Though Jenna's staff isn't exactly where I think you should shop for a girlfriend.” I picked up his empty plate and dropped it in the dishwasher, the single violet rose in the vase on the windowsill sending a spark through me when I stood. Darcy and the rose had been in the house when Kyle and I got home in the middle of the night. No note. No text. No call.

I closed my eyes, the roar of the gunshot that killed Mathers echoing in my ears for the nine hundredth time. Joey had killed someone. Right in front of me.

Still, I missed him. And needed to skirt the questions I knew Kyle had about what happened in the sanctuary. I suspected he knew it was Joey. But had he seen him? Could he prove it? Joey is a master of being unobtrusive, and Kyle was busy bleeding.

If I wasn't already crazy, this could very possibly hurl me over the edge.

Emily's words rolling in my head, I pasted on a bright smile and turned. “Let's get you settled with ESPN.”

Kyle hobbled to the living room, where I flipped on the TV and arranged sofa pillows under his bum leg.

“I'll check on you in a bit,” I told Kyle as I patted Darcy and turned for the hallway.

Perching on the edge of my bed, I opened the dresser, digging under folded unmentionables for a faded, yellowed piece of stationery.

A thousand questions whirled through my head, starting with “Why?” and ending with “Was my father's last name Brady?”

I threw a glance at the clock. Ten-thirty. The sun was up in Malibu.

My fingers flew across the keypad, and I punched talk before I could chicken out.

“Hello?” The voice sounded so much like my mom it stopped my breath.

“Hello?” she asked again.

I cleared my throat. “Um. Mrs. Clarke?”

“Yes?”

Time to grow up. Or start, anyway.

“My name is Nichelle. I—I'm your granddaughter.”

Reader's Discussion Guide

  

1. The story opens with a horrifying murder scene. Have you ever lived anywhere that a serial killer was active? How did the media handle the coverage of the case?

 

2. Nichelle has wrestled with her feelings for the guys in her life for a while now, but she's more drawn to one in this story. Who are you rooting for? Why?

 

3. Have you ever written a blog? How much responsibility do you think bloggers have to make sure their information is accurate, or labeled as opinion/conjecture?

 

4. Did Shelby behave the way you expected her to? Where do you think Nichelle's relationship with her will go from here?

 

5. Have you ever known anyone with autism? How did the differences in Picasso's thought patterns give him a unique ability to help Nichelle?

 

6. There are several new characters introduced and a few we learn more about. Which character (besides Nichelle) did you most enjoy reading about? Why?

 

7. Have you ever attended a megachurch, or known anyone who did? What was the experience like?

 

8. The story explores several themes revolving around power, money, and religion. How do you think the three intersect? Do you think the staff at Way of Life followed the teachings of Jesus?

 

9. Where do you think Kyle's investigation of the Caccione Family will lead?

About the Author

  

  

LynDee Walker's award-winning journalistic work has appeared in newspapers and magazines across the nation. Her debut novel,
Front Page Fatality
, was an Amazon and Barnes & Noble #1 bestseller, and was nominated for the Agatha Award for Best First Novel.
Devil in the Deadline
is the fourth in LynDee's Headlines in High Heels Mystery Series. The fifth arrives October 2015.

 

LynDee adores her family, her readers, and enchiladas. She often works out tricky plot points while walking off the enchiladas. She lives in Richmond, Virginia, where she is either playing with her children, working on her next novel, or admiring beautiful shoes she can't wear.

In Case You Missed the 1
st
Book in the Series

 

FRONT PAGE FATALITY

LynDee Walker

 

A Headlines in High Heels Mystery (#1)

 

Crime reporter Nichelle Clarke's days can flip from macabre to comical with a beep of her police scanner. Then an ordinary accident story turns extraordinary when evidence goes missing, a prosecutor vanishes, and a sexy Mafia boss shows up with the headline tip of a lifetime.

 

As Nichelle gets closer to the truth, her story gets more dangerous. Armed with a notebook, a hunch, and her favorite stilettos, Nichelle races to splash these shady dealings across the front page before this deadline becomes her last.

  

Read all about it at www.henerypress.com

In Case You Missed the 2
nd
Book in the Series

 

BURIED LEADS

LynDee Walker

 

A Headlines in High Heels Mystery (#2)

 

When an Armani-clad corpse turns up in the woods, crime reporter Nichelle Clarke smells a scoop. A little digging, and Nichelle uncovers a web of corruption that stretches all the way to Washington, D.C. Politics. Murder. And a dead lobbyist. It's everything Nichelle's ever dreamed of.

 

The cops are playing it close, the feds even closer, and Nichelle's afraid her boss will assign the story to the political desk any day. Her sexy Mafia boss friend warns her off the case, her TV rival is hot on her designer heels, an ambitious copy editor wants her beat, and victims are piling up faster than she can track them down. As Nichelle zeroes in on the truth, it'll take some fancy footwork to nab this headline before the killer nabs her.

  

Read all about it at www.henerypress.com

Don't Miss the 3
rd
Book in the Series

 

SMALL TOWN SPIN

LynDee Walker

 

A Headlines in High Heels Mystery (#3)

 

When a superstar athlete's son turns up dead in a tiny town on the Virginia coast, crime reporter Nichelle Clarke gets the inside scoop. But she quickly spies a gaping hole her inner Lois Lane cannot ignore.

 

Determined to unravel the mystery, Nichelle fights off paparazzi cameras and an unexpected rival. She uncovers an illegal moonshine operation, a string of copycat suicides, and a slew of closets stacked with more skeletons than slingbacks. Chasing a killer who's a breath from getting away with murder, Nichelle realizes too late the culprit has her number—and it might be up.

  

Read all about it at www.henerypress.com

Don't Miss Nichelle's Novella Adventure

DATELINE MEMPHIS featured in

 

HEARTACHE MOTEL

Terri L. Austin, Larissa Reinhart, LynDee Walker

 

DINERS KEEPERS, LOSERS WEEPERS by Terri L. Austin:
When Rose heads to Graceland right before Christmas, she gets all shook up: the motel is a dump and an Elvis impersonator turns up dead. Rose discovers missing jewels tie into the death and her suspicious mind flips into overdrive, questioning her fellow guests, the staff, and even a cute impersonator who keeps popping up. Will Rose be able to find the murderer and get home by Christmas day? It's now or never.

 

QUICK SKETCH by Larissa Reinhart:
Sassy Southern artist Cherry Tucker and her poker-loving boyfriend, Todd, pop into Memphis to help Todd's cousin who's been hustled out of his savings, right before Christmas. Staying at the shady Heartache Motel, Cherry can't tell a shill from a mark and fears everyone is playing them for chumps. Cherry and Todd quickly find themselves in a dangerous sting that could send them to the slammer or mark them as pigeons from cons looking for an even bigger score.

 

DATELINE MEMPHIS by LynDee Walker:
Nichelle thinks she's going home for Christmas. But a quick stop at Graceland proves news breaks in the strangest places. When the King's home gets locked down with Nichelle inside, she chases this headline into the national spotlight—and the thief's crosshairs. Christmas dreams of blue suede Manolos fade, and all Nichelle wants from Santa is to land the story before the thief cuts off her news feed for good.

 

Read all about it at www.henerypress.com