Dana Mentink - Dangerous Testimony

LAST WITNESS STANDING

Four weeks before she’s set to testify at a gang murder trial, someone is determined to make sure that Candace Gallagher Andrews never takes the stand. When nowhere is safe for the private investigator or her little girl, Candace turns to the only person she can trust—longtime friend and former navy SEAL Marco Quidel. For Marco, protecting Candace is not just another duty. As the trial date nears and the killer stalks ever closer, Marco knows fear for the first time—the fear of losing Candace and her daughter. But while Marco begins seeing Candace as more than just a friend, her late husband’s memory is never far from her mind. So he must keep Candace alive—and not get emotionally involved—long enough to put away a killer.

He’d never forget that look on her face as she ran to him, away from her attacker.

Beside him, his dog growled and strained, awaiting his command. Shielding Candace, he let the dog go, and Bear hurtled after the attacker. Before he ran, the thug shot them a look that promised revenge.

Marco turned to Candace. The sight of her trembling body cut deep down to his core. I told you I should have come along, he wanted to say. Why don’t you ever listen to me? Instead, he gathered her in his arms, taking her fear and willing it away.

“You’re all right,” he murmured.

“It’s the Pack. They want to kill me.”

He knew when the next logical thought struck her. Her fear turned to complete panic. “Marco, what about my daughter? What if they go after her?”

Every protective nerve in his body firing, he squeezed her closer.

“No one is going to hurt you or her,” he said through gritted teeth. “No one.”

Not as long as he was alive to prevent it.

Dear Reader,

I have had such a great time writing this series that takes place here on my beloved California coast. It was satisfying to explore the lives and loves of the four Gallagher sisters. Sisters are especially important to me, as I am one of four daughters. I am greatly blessed in that all my sisters live very close and I see them often. They are the people who share my joys and triumphs, and they are also the “3:00 a.m.” people, as I like to call them. They are the folks you can call on in the middle of the night when disaster strikes, and they will be there to help in any way they can. Is there any greater blessing than that? I once heard someone say that friends come and go, but sisterhood lasts from cradle to grave.

I hope you have women like this in your life, dear reader, whether they are friends or sisters. It is a great joy to share this life journey with faithful women who will hold your hand, share your laughter and shoulder your pain.

Thank you again for journeying along with me through this series. As always, I enjoy hearing from my readers. You can find me on various social media spots—Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest—but I also have a physical address on my website in case you would like to correspond by mail. Thank you for taking the time to read this book.

God bless you!

DANA MENTINK is an award-winning author of Christian fiction. Her novel Betrayal in the Badlands won a 2010 RT Reviewers’ Choice Best Book Award, and she was pleased to win the 2013 Carol Award for Lost Legacy. She has authored more than a dozen Love Inspired Suspense novels. Dana loves feedback from her readers. Contact her via her website at danamentink.com.

Dangerous Testimony

Dana Mentink

www.millsandboon.co.uk

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For God hath not given us the spirit of fear;

but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

—2 Timothy 1:7

For those who bravely tend to home and family while their loved ones serve in our military. God bless you all.

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

Introduction

Dear Reader

About the Author

Title Page

Bible Verse

Dedication

ONE

TWO

THREE

FOUR

FIVE

SIX

SEVEN

EIGHT

NINE

TEN

ELEVEN

TWELVE

THIRTEEN

FOURTEEN

FIFTEEN

SIXTEEN

SEVENTEEN

EIGHTEEN

NINETEEN

TWENTY

TWENTY-ONE

TWENTY-TWO

TWENTY-THREE

TWENTY-FOUR

TWENTY-FIVE

Extract

Copyright

ONE

A loud pop.

The flash of the gun.

A man’s body crumpling to the unforgiving cement. Not a man, a boy, barely old enough to shave, by the looks of him. A boy, somebody’s son, gone in the split second it took to pull the trigger. He’d had brown eyes and full cheeks, maybe the kind that dimpled when he smiled, like her daughter Tracy’s. But he would never smile again.

Candace Gallagher Andrews blinked the memory away for the thousandth time. “It’s over,” she told herself fiercely. “He’s dead and they arrested the shooter four months ago, so let it go and do your job, you ninny.”

The incident had left her with a lingering echo of fear, a feeling she detested. After a few slow breaths, she stowed her iPad in her bag, locked the car and straightened her suit jacket. She’d found a parking place three blocks from the college. Though it was broad daylight in a very public place, she hurried anyway, eager to be enveloped by the safety of others. “Maybe you should have let Marco come,” she muttered under her breath. He had all but insisted in that pushy way of his.

Typical Marco. The former navy SEAL and longtime family friend sorted everything and everyone into precisely two camps: friendlies and enemies. She’d made enemies when she agreed to testify against Kevin Tooley, a member of the Wolf Pack, the murderer who’d gunned his rival down right in front of her. But she’d had no choice. If she let the shooter go unpunished, what kind of person was she? What kind of mother? Backing down would not show the honor and courage her husband, Rick, would have modeled for their daughter before his death.

“It’s a presentation at a community college,” she’d proclaimed with some bravado. “I’ll be perfectly safe, and besides, you scare people.”

Marco continued to be a rock in so many ways as things had gone from bad to worse for the Gallaghers. Their father’s death was just the beginning of the family trials as the Gallagher sisters encountered one frightening scenario after another, until the most recent, when Candace had witnessed the shooting outside a gas station. At least her seven-year-old daughter had not been with her. God had spared them that. Tracy’s life had been impacted enough by violence already. Half a world away, in Afghanistan, it had robbed Tracy of her father, and Candace of the only man she’d ever loved—goofy, patient, faithful Rick.

Candace walked the last two blocks, the Southern California sun flushing her cheeks, even in the month of October. Dumb idea to wear a suit jacket in Long Beach, but the tan color complemented her brown eyes and made her feel professional, in the same way mashing her curly hair into a chic twist had done. Teaching a session on investigation techniques to eager criminal justice majors was just the thing to promote the company and keep her mind off the upcoming trial preparations.