Murder Deja Vu , livre ebook

Parkwood Press - Polly Iyer

Découvre YouScribe en t'inscrivant gratuitement

Je m'inscris

Obtenez un accès à la bibliothèque pour le consulter en ligne
En savoir plus

258 pages

English

Vous pourrez modifier la taille du texte de cet ouvrage

Obtenez un accès à la bibliothèque pour le consulter en ligne
En savoir plus

A propos
Informations
Extrait

Description

Wealthy architect Reece Daughtry spent fifteen years in a Massachusetts prison for a murder he didn't commit. Released on a technicality,he now makes his home in the mountains of North Carolina, building rock fireplaces for a waiting list of clients. His self-imposed solitude is shattered when author Dana Minette asks him to build a fireplace in her new house. Dana becomes more than a client, and for the first time in twenty years, Reece longs to be with someone other than himself. Then a local woman is murdered in the same savage manner as the murder that sent Reece to prison. More than one person wants him to take the fall, including Dana's ex-husband, the local prosecutor, who's determined to convict Reece in the high-profile case. But Reece won't be railroaded again. Four men were with him the night of the first murder. One of them is the killer. Reece goes underground to discover who's setting him up and why. Dana insists on going along, and against his better judgment, he relents. With both the police and FBI on their trail, it's a race against time and a crafty murderer who will kill again.

Sujets

Thriller

Informations

Publié par	Parkwood Press
Date de parution	07 janvier 2012
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781611879650
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0171€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

Table of Contents
Title Page
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Five
Chapter Thirty-Six
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Chapter Forty
Chapter Forty-One
Chapter Forty-Two
Chapter Forty-Three
Chapter Forty-Four
Chapter Forty-Five
Chapter Forty-Six
Chapter Forty-Seven
Chapter Forty-Eight
Chapter Forty-Nine
Chapter Fifty
Chapter Fifty-One
Chapter Fifty-Two
Chapter Fifty-Three
Chapter Fifty-Four
Chapter Fifty-Five
Chapter Fifty-Six
Chapter Fifty-Seven
Epilogue
Polly Iyer
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and events are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to persons living or dead or to actual events or locales is coincidental and beyond the intent of the author.

Cover design by Polly Iyer

Murder Déjà Vu

Copyright © 2012 by Polly Iyer
ISBN: 978-1-61187-965-0

Table of Contents
Chapter One
A Meeting of the Minds
Chapter Two
Out in the Open
Chapter Three
Ignoring the Facts
Chapter Four
From Lunch to More
Chapter Five
Life’s Outline
Chapter Six
Uninvited Guests
Chapter Seven
A Day’s Lifetime Change
Chapter Eight
Locked Up
Chapter Nine
Jeraldine
Chapter Ten
The Sleuth Sleuths
Chapter Eleven
A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing
Chapter Twelve
A Little History
Chapter Thirteen
The Bombshell
Chapter Fourteen
Calling Bluffs
Chapter Fifteen
Dana Exposed
Chapter Sixteen
The Noose Tightens
Chapter Seventeen
The Last Nail in the Coffin
Chapter Eighteen
Déjà Vu All Over Again
Chapter Nineteen
Part Two
Chapter Twenty
Collusion
Chapter Twenty-One
Clarence Comes Clean
Chapter Twenty-Two
Something to Go On
Chapter Twenty-Three
Not-So Subtle Interrogation
Chapter Twenty-Four
Reece’s Protector
Chapter Twenty-Five
The Sleeping Giant
Chapter Twenty-Six
A Little Feather Ruffling
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Brotherly Love
Chapter Twenty-Eight
The Closet
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Reality Bites
Chapter Thirty
Russian Roulette
Chapter Thirty-One
What Could Have Been
Chapter Thirty-Two
Uninvited Guests
Chapter Thirty-Three
Tomorrow
Chapter Thirty-Four
The Dark Side
Chapter Thirty-Five
Another One Down
Chapter Thirty-Six
Going Back in Time
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Dana’s Fifteen Minutes
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Revelation
Chapter Thirty-Nine
A Little Undercover Work
Chapter Forty
Let’s Make a Deal
Chapter Forty-One
Misplaced trust
Chapter Forty-Two
Old Angers
Chapter Forty-Three
Sweet Thang
Chapter Forty-Four
And Then There Were None
Chapter Forty-Five
A Hopeless Choice
Chapter Forty-Six
Too Late
Chapter Forty-Seven
Sprung from the Hoosegow
Chapter Forty-Eight
Good News and Bad
Chapter Forty-Nine
One Word Against the Other
Chapter Fifty
Hidden Meaning
Chapter Fifty-One
A Double Life
Chapter Fifty-Two
Drifting Off to a Better Place
Chapter Fifty-Three
What’s Going On ?
Chapter Fifty-Four
One-sided Deal
Chapter Fifty-Five
More Than Murder
Chapter Fifty-Six
A Bittersweet Time
Chapter Fifty-Seven
The Bitter Truth
Epilogue

Chapter One
A Meeting of the Minds

W hat did a man born rich and privileged look like after spending fifteen years in prison and another six hiding in these mountains? Dana pondered her question as she parked her Jeep in the gravel driveway next to a rough-looking pickup and skirted around the house to the back.
Reece Daughtry sat in an Adirondack chair on the dock, reading. A johnboat bobbed in the lake, complete with fishing rod and tackle box. After swiveling around to see his intruder, he turned back to his book.
She had her answer. Unshaven, leather-tanned, and lean, with dark blond hair heavily threaded with gray brushing his shoulders. Reading glasses perched low on the bridge of his nose. He struck Dana as more interesting looking than handsome, but he could be called that too.
A booming voice echoed over the water. “What do you want?”
“A fireplace.”
“I’m not working now.”
Undeterred, she kept going, waiting for him to tell her she was trespassing. He didn’t.
A few well-fed cats poked their heads out of the greenery lining the rock stairs down to the lake. Another snuggled under his chair, and a three-legged mutt hobbled to greet her.
“Hey, pooch, how’ya doing?” She bent down to rub him, and the dog wiggled his excitement. “Nice dog.”
“Maybe you didn’t hear me. I’m not building fireplaces right now.”
“I heard you. Doesn’t make me want one less.”
“Come back in a year. Better yet, don’t.” He kept his nose in the book.
She couldn’t help noticing his long, knotty fingers. Laborer’s hands, with rough skin and short clipped nails. Sinewy forearms like twisted rope. “What are you reading?”
He glanced up. “You still here?”
“Yup.”
“Only a few people know where I live. Know why? So trespassers can’t come here and bother me. Let me guess who snitched. Old Harris big mouth.”
“Don’t blame Harris. I saw the article he wrote on the house that featured your fireplaces. He warned me not to come, but I blackmailed him into telling me where you lived.”
“You should’ve listened.”
She moved closer and offered her hand. “Dana Minette.”
He nailed her with a squinty glare. “Any relation to the prosecutor Minette?”
She pulled back. “Not anymore.”
“We had an ugly run-in years ago. He tried to stop the sale of this property to keep a convicted murderer out of his county. My attorney humiliated him; the judge ruled in my favor.”
“Yes, I know. Robert is always looking for ways to get his name in the papers. He picked on the wrong person that time.”
“He came here about a year ago. Said he had no hard feelings, and would I build him a fireplace. Can you beat that?”
“I take it you jumped at the chance.”
Daughtry pushed his reading glasses onto his forehead and focused on her for more than a split second. “You’re a smart-ass, you know that?”
“So I’ve been told.” Was that the beginning of a smile?
“If he’s your ex-husband, you’re well rid of him. He’s an asshole.”
“He’s my ex, and you’re not the first person to describe Robert in those exact words.” She plunked down on the dock, crossed her legs, Indian style. “You’re all excellent judges of character.”
“He didn’t have nice things to say about you, which I thought rather ungentlemanly, since I didn’t ask. Said he was redoing his house after he dumped his ungrateful wife.”
“He said that? Ha!”
“Yup. His county, his house. Probably pissed you weren’t his wife anymore, even though it was his idea. Or so he said.”
“It’s a long story. Twenty years long.”
“Not interested.”
“Me either. Will you build me the goddamn fireplace? The two pictures I saw in the Regal Falls magazine were the most unique works of art I’ve ever seen.”
Daughtry stared at her a long time with the clearest, most intense blue eyes. “Your ex wanted a fireplace in the worst way. Said he’d double whatever I charged.”
“I bet when you held out, he doubled the amount again.”
His smile was unmistakable now. “How would your ex feel if I built one for you?”
“Talk about being pissed off.”
* * * * *
R eece went into the house as soon as Dana Minette left. She was a piece of work. A very nice-looking piece of work. He could go for a woman like her, but a woman’s what got him twenty to life, and he sure as hell didn’t need any more trouble. Whenever he felt the urge, he drove to one of the larger cities within a hundred-mile radius-Asheville or Charlotte-put up in a motel, and found someone to satisfy his sexual needs. No entanglements. No emotional attachments. He could do it by himself-he had years of practice-but he never found that a satisfying substitute for the warmth of a woman’s body or the touch of soft skin. That was the way it had been for the six years since he got out of prison and how it would be from now on. He’d even adapted to the loneliness. Had plenty of practice with that too.
The three-legged dog nuzzled his leg. Reece never named any of the dogs or cats roaming his property. They were there, and he fed them. “Hey, Pooch. She gave you a good name, didn’t she?” He leaned down and rubbed the dog’s neck. He’d found the beagle cross lying on the side of the road, near death, taken it to his vet, and had it treated and fixed. He did that with every abused or emaciated animal he came across. Electronic fencing and collars kept them inside his property so they couldn’t wander off and wind up like Pooch, or worse. Reece debated whether he was imprisoning them, but dead was more of a prison than contained, though he disliked the thought of either.
The phone rang. He let it go to the answering machine. When he heard the voice, he picked up. “Hey, Carl.”
“Deciding whether you feel like answering your phone, big brother?”
“I couldn’t check the number in time.” Sometimes Reece answered, sometimes he didn’t, depending on his mood. Carl knew that.
His brother laughed.
“What’s up?” Reece noted the hesitation. “Carl?”
“Dad’s in the hospital. He had another heart attack.”
Reece stiffened at the mention of his father, a reaction over which he had no control. “What do the doctors say?”
“It doesn’t look good. He’s conscious but weak. It’s only a matter of time.”
“Well, keep m