Partners In Crime
Книга "Partners In Crime", автором которой является Alicia Scott, представляет собой захватывающую работу в жанре Современная зарубежная литература. В этом произведении автор рассказывает увлекательную историю, которая не оставит равнодушными читателей.
Автор мастерски воссоздает атмосферу напряженности и интриги, погружая читателя в мир загадок и тайн, который скрывается за хрупкой поверхностью обыденности. С прекрасным чувством языка и виртуозностью сюжетного развития, Alicia Scott позволяет читателю погрузиться в сложные эмоциональные переживания героев и проникнуться их судьбами. Scott настолько живо и точно передает неповторимые нюансы человеческой психологии, что каждая страница книги становится путешествием в глубины человеческой души.
"Partners In Crime" - это не только захватывающая история, но и искусство, проникнутое глубокими мыслями и философскими размышлениями. Это произведение призвано вызвать у читателя эмоциональные отклики, задуматься о важных жизненных вопросах и открыть новые горизонты восприятия мира.
Читать Partners In Crime онлайн беплатно
As a devastating summer storm hits Grand Springs, Colorado, the next thirty-six hours will change the town and its residents foreverâ¦
Josie Reynolds lost a friend and mentor when mayor Olivia Stuart died. How could anyone think she was guilty of murder? But clearly thatâs just what Detective Jack Stryker thinks. Josie wants to clear her name, but sheâs tangled with the law before. She doesnât know whether to set Jack straight or stay off his radar.
âStraight Arrowâ Jack Stryker has to find Oliviaâs killer. Josie matches the description of the murder suspect and his instincts tell him sheâs hiding something. But the closer he gets to Josie, the more heâs drawn to his prime suspect. For the first time in his career heâs afraid of what his investigation might reveal.
Book 9 of the 36 Hours series. Donât miss Book 10: The blackout traps Paige Summers in an elevator with a sexy cowboy. But what will she do Monday morning when she finds out heâs her new boss? Find out in Beverly Bartonâs Nine Months.
Contents
Prologue
After midnight, most people in Grand Springs were safely tucked in bed. The hospital still hummed with life, of course. Lately, the police department, as well. But most people in the quiet community were in bed by eleven, and most of the ranchers were in bed well before that.
Thatâs why Josie liked midnight so well. No more phones jangling with questions from the local businesspeople whoâd watched their dreams swept away in just thirty-six hours of rain, mud slides and lightningâone of the worst rainstorms ever to hit Colorado. No more farmers, standing before her desk in their mud-splattered boots and well-broken-in jeans, slowly twisting the brims of their hats as they asked her how they were supposed to get their cows through the winter when their fields were so buried in silt and mud it would take twelve months of expensive rehabilitation before theyâd be fit to grow hay again. No more Hal Stuart demanding yet another cut of Grand Springsâs budget because he was acting mayor, dammit, and when he said jump, youâd better say âHow high?â
Late at night, Josie could shut the door of her treasurerâs office, take the phone off the hook and finally get work done. She figured and refigured the cost of the flooding and power outage. She looked at pictures of the holes that had appeared in the mountain passes, whole chunks of road swept away by mud slides. She pondered the impact on families, not all of whom were insured, and especially on the farmers whoâd never thought to buy flood insuranceâthen watched half of their cows drown in water that just wouldnât stop.
Josie didnât have easy answers. She couldnât get the county commissioners to focus on the complex ones. So she worked until three or four in the morning most nights, trying to bring order to the chaos. And she pretended that when she finally went home to sleep, she didnât still see Olivia, her best friend and Grand Springsâs indomitable mayor, dying in her arms while the world raged and howled around them.
Her eyes grew blurry as 2:00 a.m. came and went. She pored over information on federal aid programs. She read about the adopt-a-farm programs other states had used to weather such disasters. She jotted down notes on the strip mining information Hal wanted. She wrote herself a reminder on the upcoming Band, Bingo, Bake Sale fund-raiser next week.
She tried valiantly to keep her eyes open.
The pen slipped from between her fingers. Her head nodded against her chest. Her red, exhausted eyes gave in and closed.
She slid down into her chair, and the sleep hit her all at once and with a fury.
* * *
Dark clouds teeming rain. The sky booming and cracking with a vengeful electrical storm. The thunder so close it echoed through the exposed-beam hallway of the Squaw Creek Lodge.
Josie ran down the hall. Searching, searching, searching. Halâs wedding was about to begin. Where was Olivia? Olivia would never be late for her own sonâs wedding.
She had to find Olivia. The foreboding rolled in her stomach like an echo of the storm, dark and horrible.
A blurry shape in white brushed her shoulder. The bride. Randi, Hal Stuartâs bride, running down the hall. Why was the bride running away from the wedding?
Thunder cracked. The lodge shuddered. Another boom and the lodge plunged into blackness.
A cry. âThe bride has disappeared!â
Chaos.
The glow of a candle abruptly appeared, illuminating the end of the hallway. Josie ran toward it. She saw Hal, pale and harried. She heard more voices. âMy God, I think sheâs unconscious!â In the distance, someoneâs phone rang.
Where was Olivia?
Suddenly the lodge was gone. She was out in the night, the wind buffeting her practical economy car, the rain slapping her windshield. Her long blond hair had been ripped free from its knot and was now plastered against her cheeks. Her favorite black cocktail suit, drenched and ruined, clung to her skin.
