Melinda Lorenzo - Captivating Witness

Passion and peril collide as a detective and the witness he’s protecting come under fire

All formerly footloose waitress Reggie Frost wants is to show her family that she’s ready to put down roots. But her plans are derailed when she ends up at the wrong place at the wrong time. Now witness to a murder, Reggie has become a killer’s next target...

Undercover detective Brayden Maxwell is consumed by a quest to bring his father’s murderer to justice. Enforcing the law is personal, but so is his need to protect Reggie from the criminal tracking her every move. Stubborn and sexy, she’s a complication he didn’t expect. As they join forces, their attraction is unstoppable, but will it compromise his mission and her life?

A small smile tipped up Brayden’s lips, but his eyes narrowed.

“You’re not crazy. You were in a stressful situation. Are in one. I’d rather have skipped the nighttime jog through the woods, but I get why you ran. No need to apologize.”

“I’m still sorry,” she replied.

“Well, then. You’re forgiven.”

“Thanks.”

He stared down at her for several long moments, his face unreadable. What was going through his head? Reggie thought maybe he wanted to add something else. His mouth twitched as though he was holding back. And she had a strange urge to coax whatever it was out of him. To reach up and touch his cheek and tell him he could share whatever he wanted to share, and it would be just fine with her.

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Be sure to check out the next books in this miniseries.

Undercover Justice: Four brothers-in-arms on a mission for justice...

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If you’re on Twitter, tell us what you think of Harlequin Romantic Suspense! #harlequinromsuspense

Dear Reader,

One of the things I was really excited to do in this brand-new series was to create a fantastic contrast between its warm, community-minded setting and its seedy underworld. I loved the idea of creating a bustling town that can’t help but have interconnected characters who all know each other’s business while also being blissfully unaware that there’s a snake among them.

So welcome to Whispering Woods, a fictional town in Oregon. Nestled in the mountains, it was once a thriving forestry community. Now, though, it relies on tourism to keep its year-round residents afloat. Well. Tourism. And (of course) a criminal mastermind.

I hope you enjoy your stay!

(Skiers, hikers and murder, oh my...)

Melinda

Captivating Witness

Melinda Di Lorenzo

www.millsandboon.co.uk

Amazon bestselling author MELINDA DI LORENZO writes in her spare time—at soccer practices, when she should be doing laundry and in place of sleep. She lives on the beautiful west coast of British Columbia, Canada, with her handsome husband and her noisy kids. When she’s not writing, she can be found curled up with (someone else’s) good book.

For my husband.

I could dedicate a thousand books to you, and it would still never be enough.

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

Introduction

Dear Reader

Title Page

About the Author

Dedication

Prologue

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Epilogue

Extract

Copyright

Prologue

The four boys stood in an awkward square, no one quite daring to make the first move, no one quite willing to speak.

Brayden Maxwell, who knew he was already the quietest of the bunch, couldn’t force even a single word. He just shifted from foot to foot, wishing he could get out of the monkey suit his mother had forced him to wear, lock himself in his bedroom and pound away on his drums. Problem was, earlier that week, the repo guys had come by and taken the drum kit. The TV and the new kitchen table, too, though the drums were the part that mattered most to Brayden. They’d been a gift from his dad. The last thing given to him before the always-laughing, always-joking, always-in-your-face man had died in the line of duty.

It was crap. Even at fifteen years old, Brayden could feel the unjustness of the situation. Three cops dead. Four kids—him and his little brother included—without fathers. No one to play catch with, no one to wink at and point out the pretty girls with.

No one to pay the damned bills.

He winced, thinking his mom wouldn’t appreciate his use of the word damned, even in his own head. Those kinds of things were important to her. Swearing, cheating and lying. All high on the mom list of punishable offences. Except right now...dropping a mental damned was the least of Brayden’s worries.

A year had gone by since the deaths of their fathers, and the man who’d done it all was getting off without a day served in prison.

It was why they’d gathered together today. To hear the announcement as it was made public. To stand by their moms—widows now, which seemed like a weird thing to call a bunch of women in their thirties—and watch as the infamous Freemont City Bomber walked out of the courthouse. It made no difference that his face was shielded from the cameras, his identity undisclosed because of his age. It was obvious what would happen. He’d return to his everyday life, while things for them would never be the same.

Brayden looked at each of the boys in the room, feeling the burden of being thrust into his role as their leader.

Anderson Somers was the kindest. The slowest to anger. The one whose intelligence sneaked up on you, every time.

Harley was Brayden’s own little brother. Not quite two years younger. Sensitive, prone to doodling and always empathetic.

Rush Stephenson was tall and wide and a year older than Brayden and Anderson. His temper was well-known, and it took little to fuel the fire.

Brayden, though, was the one with the most forethought. The one who reasoned things through and came up with the plans. The one who would gladly step up and take the blame when their shenanigans went awry.

Which is why they needed him to bring this plan to the table.

So he finally cleared his throat and said, “This isn’t a funeral.”

“Feels like it,” replied Anderson.

“Feels worse.” That one came from Harley, who looked down at his feet as he spoke.

It kinda killed Brayden to see that his brother’s confidence had been stripped away like that. To recognize that no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t build up the kid the way that their father had.

Failing, he thought, with far more bitterness than any fifteen-year-old should.

He took a breath and said what they were all thinking. “We need to find out his name.”

Rush spit on the dusty floor. “Whoever he is, I’d like to wring his neck.”

“We all would,” Brayden said back. “But since you’re probably the only one who could reach his neck...”

“It’s not funny,” Harley told him.

Brayden sighed, lifted his fingernail to his mouth, remembered he’d promised their dad he’d stop chewing, then dropped his hand to his side. “I’m not making a joke. Not really. I want to take the guy out just as bad as Rush does. But Dad—all of our dads—would want us to do it the right way.”

“What’s the right way?” Rush sounded furious, as usual. “Weren’t you paying attention, Bray? The system failed.”

“It wasn’t the system,” Anderson interrupted. “It was a loophole.”