Betrayal of Trust
From New York Times bestselling author J. A. Jance, a suspenseful mystery from the creator of Arizona sheriff Joanna Brady and Seattle homicide detective J. P. Beaumont.At first glance, what happens on the video appears to be a childish game: a teenage girl with dark, wavy hair smiles for the camera, a blue scarf tied around her neck. Then things turn dark and gruesome, and the girl ends up dead.When a snuff film is discovered on a cell phone belonging to the governor of Washington State's grandson—a boy with a troubled background who swears he doesn't know the victim—the governor turns to an old friend, J. P. Beaumont, for help. Of the many horrors the Seattle private investigator has witnessed over the years, this one ranks near the top—especially since the crime's multiple perpetrators might well be minors.But this case of an apparent juvenile prank gone hideously wrong has deeper, more startling implications, leading Beau and Mel Soames—his partner in life and work—down a twisted path of corruption and lies that must be exposed before more young lives are obliterated.
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First published in Great Britain by HarperCollinsPublishers 2014
Copyright © Sheldon Family Limited Partnership, success or to the rights and interest of Sidney Sheldon 2014
Cover layout design © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2014
Cover photograph © BBA Travel / Alamy (bridge)
Tilly Bagshawe asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library.
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
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Source ISBN: 978-0-00-754198-0
Ebook Edition © October 2014 ISBN: 9780007542017
Version: 2016-10-31
For Katrina, with love.
Contents
Keep Reading – If Tomorrow Comes
Keep Reading – Sidney Sheldon & Tilly Bagshawe 3-Book Collection
RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL
HE TURNED AROUND AND LOOKED BACK down the empty church, a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach.
‘She’s not coming, is she? She’s changed her mind.’
‘Of course she’s coming, Jeff. Relax.’
Gunther Hartog looked at Jeff Stevens with genuine pity. How terrible it must be to be so in love.
Jeff Stevens was the second-most-talented con artist in the world. Sophisticated, urbane, rich and charming, Jeff was wildly attractive to the opposite sex. With his athletic build, thick dark hair and intensely masculine aura, Jeff Stevens could have had any woman he wanted. The problem was, he didn’t want any woman. He wanted Tracy Whitney. And with Tracy Whitney, one could never quite be sure…
Tracy Whitney was the most talented con artist in the world. It had taken Jeff Stevens a long time to realize that he couldn’t live without her. But he knew it now. The sinking feeling in his stomach got worse. Thank God there were no guests in the church. No one to witness his humiliation, apart from Gunther and the crotchety old priest, Father Alfonso.
Where is she?
‘She’s fifteen minutes late, Gunther.’
‘That’s a bride’s prerogative.’
‘No. It’s more than that. Something’s wrong.’
‘Nothing’s wrong.’
The old man smiled indulgently. He’d been honoured when Jeff asked him to be best man at his and Tracy’s wedding. In his late sixties, with no children of his own, Gunther Hartog loved Jeff Stevens and Tracy Whitney like family. Their union meant everything to him, particularly after the blow of their joint decision to go straight. A tragedy, in Gunther Hartog’s opinion. Like Beethoven retiring after his fourth symphony.
Still, it was wonderful being back in Brazil. The warm, wet air. The scent of bolinhos de bacalhau, the delicious codfish fritters cooked on every street corner. The riot of colour that existed everywhere, from the jungle flowers, to the women’s stunning dresses, to the frescoes and stained glass windows of the tiny, baroque Chapel of St Rita, where they now stood. All of it made Gunther Hartog feel young again. Young and alive.
‘What if Pierpont got wise?’ The worry lines deepened on Jeff Stevens’s face. ‘What if…?’
He stopped, midsentence. There, silhouetted in the church doorway, stood Tracy Whitney. The sunlight blazing behind her looked almost like a halo, as if Tracy were an angel sent from heaven. My angel. Jeff Stevens’s heart soared.
Tracy’s slender figure was shown off to perfection in a simple, cream silk dress, and her shining chestnut hair cascaded around her shoulders like poured molasses. Jeff Stevens had seen her in countless guises over the years – Tracy’s was a fluid, changeable beauty, which accounted for part of her success as a con artist – but he had never seen her look more lovely than she did today. Tracy’s mother used to tell her that she had ‘all the colours of the wind’ in her. Jeff Stevens understood exactly what Doris Whitney had meant. Today Tracy’s eyes, incredible eyes that could change from moss green to dark jade according to her mood, sparkled with happiness, and with something else besides. Triumph, perhaps? Or excitement? Jeff Stevens felt his heart rate quicken.
