Not This Time
Authors: Vicki Hinze
Tags: #Fiction, #Christian, #Suspense, #Thrillers, #General
Praise for
Vicki Hinze
“Hinze has written a masterful, complicated tale of suspense that gains momentum with each turn of a page. Her writing flows surely, moving from one character to the next, one setting to another, with readers keeping the swift pace.”
—
Publisher’s Weekly
“[Hinze] keeps the pace brisk and the tension high. Don’t start reading too late at night—you may see 2:00 a.m.”
—
Crosswalk.com
“As expected,
Deadly Ties
filled my need for encouragement, and though it explored some rather disturbing issues, its consistent reminder of God’s omnipotence was a welcomed comfort.”
—
TheChristianManifesto.com
“Fans of Christian suspense will enjoy Hinze’s latest thriller.”
—
Library Journal
“Excellent characterization and a compelling plot draw the reader in and never let go. Perhaps most importantly, the novel addresses the universal question of the purpose of pain and the importance of faith when all hope seems lost. Evil is unapologetically painted black and bold, making the redemptive power of Christ seem all that much more powerful.
Deadly Ties
is absolutely magnificent.”
—
FictionAddict.com
“I literally couldn’t put down
Forget Me Not
by Vicki Hinze. The suspense kept me flipping pages until long after midnight, and I loved the plot twists. Highly recommended!”
—C
OLLEEN
C
OBLE
, author of
The Lightkeeper’s Bride
and the Rock Harbor series
“
Forget Me Not
took off like a bullet from a shotgun and gripped me all the way to the exciting end. With tight plotting, twists and turns, a sweet romance, and lots of action, I’ll be making room on my romantic suspense shelf for more books from Vicki Hinze!”
—S
USAN
M
AY
W
ARREN
, award-winning author of
Nothing but Trouble
Praise for
Not This Time
“Vicki Hinze’s new thriller,
Not This Time
, hones suspense to a razored edge. Riveting, relentless, and fraught with betrayals, here is a novel that cuts both to the bone and to the heart.
Not This Time
should be retitled
Not to be Missed
.”
—J
AMES
R
OLLINS
,
New York Times
best-selling author of
The Devil Colony
“In
Not This Time
, Vicki Hinze has created a tense, suspenseful story, peopled with vivid characters and set against a backdrop of deadly danger. I can always count on Vicki for an absorbing story I’ll remember long after I’ve closed the book, and
Not This Time was
no exception. Do yourself a favor and pick this book as your next read.”
—K
AY
H
OOPER
,
New York Times
best-selling author
“Vicki Hinze has created a ‘keeper’!
Not This Time
is engrossing, entertaining, filled with excellently drawn and very real people, and a story that keeps you turning the pages!”
—H
EATHER
G
RAHAM
,
New York Times
best-selling author
“Hinze paints her tale on a broad canvas, her writing expertly controlled, rich in imagination, deep in characterization. It’s a race against time and shadowy instincts, the narrative loud with surprises, the premise all-too-believable.”
—S
TEVE
B
ERRY
,
New York Times
best-selling author of
The Jefferson Key
N
OT
T
HIS
T
IME
P
UBLISHED BY
M
ULTNOMAH
B
OOKS
12265 Oracle Boulevard, Suite 200
Colorado Springs, Colorado 80921
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. N
IV
®.
Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica Inc.
TM
Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.
www.zondervan.com
.
The characters and events in this book are fictional, and any resemblance to actual persons or events is coincidental.
eISBN: 978-1-60142-275-0
Copyright © 2012 by Vicki Hinze
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
Published in the United States by WaterBrook Multnomah, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House Inc., New York.
M
ULTNOMAH
and its mountain colophon are registered trademarks of Random House Inc.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Hinze, Vicki.
Not this time : a novel / Vicki Hinze.—1st ed.
p. cm.—(Crossroads crisis center; bk. 3)
I. Title.
P
S
3558.I574N68 2012
813′.54—dc23
2011029988
v3.1
Contents
To Julee Schwarzburg
.
Thank you for helping me find my way and taking this journey with me
.
To my children. Thank you for the privilege of being your mother
.
And to my Heart, my Sunshine, my Rainbow, and the Angel Boy who to me
hung the Moon and Stars
.
I’ll love you all forever and forever, no matter what
.
1
Saturday, June 5 at 6:00 p.m., Seagrove Village, Florida
H
e was late.
The country club’s parking lot was nearly full, but Detective Jeff Meyers spotted an empty slot in the last of five rows. He parked and cut the engine, grabbed the invitation to Harvey and Roxy Talbot’s remarriage off the center console, and then rushed through the humid heat back to the main entrance.
Cold air blasted him in the face. He breathed deeply, relishing it. No doubt all the Crossroads Crisis Center staff were already out in the courtyard. He hated to show up for a classy event late
and
sweaty, but thanks to clashing factions at Ruby’s Diner over the coming mayoral election, there hadn’t been time to shower and change clothes.
Bypassing a grouping of sofa and chairs, Jeff headed toward the back of the building. With all its polish and gold-framed original art, the club was too elegant for his tastes, but the people were friendly enough to make it semi-comfortable. There was no need to ask anyone where to go, which was a good thing, since not a soul was in sight—
kind of funny, that
—but Annie and Nora, the self-appointed Seagrove Village wedding planners, had made sure if a body found the front door, there’d be no confusion.
Rose petals on the cool marble floor created a path between white stretch columns to a set of french doors that led outside to the courtyard. A sign would have worked, but the club didn’t allow them. There were limits to its tolerance for things that pricked at its perception of class.