Jackie/Lori Merritt/Myles - Her Best Defense

“Not me, babe. I’m not on the case.”

“Sorry, but I’ve never known the police to move that fast before.” Lisa leaned forward. “There’s something more, isn’t there? What is it, Kurt?”

He sat there and stared into her eyes for a long tension-filled moment. She neither blinked nor backed down.

“Well, you’re going to hear about it from the prosecutor soon, I’m sure, so I’ll tell you if you swear you didn’t hear it from me. I don’t intend to lose my badge over this.”

Lisa’s pulse quickened. “For the record, no one will ever hear from me that you gave me any information, all right?”

“There was an eyewitness.”

Dear Reader,

This book began as a plot suggestion—quite detailed—from my editor, Mary-Theresa Hussey. Besides being a wonderful editor, this lady has a great imagination and I have truly enjoyed working with her.

She phoned one day with an invitation to do a book for Silhouette’s new Bombshell line. After some discussion I agreed and it took off from there.

At this point I would like to introduce my coauthor, Lori Myles, who is my daughter. Kaye, her real name, has always wanted to write, ever since she was a very young child. I still have her first book, written in block letters on lined grade school paper. It’s about an elephant and rather amazing because she set up the story and carried it through to an appropriate ending.

We have loved working together and plan to continue writing as a team. We both hope that you’ll be seeing many books on the shelves written by Jackie Merritt and Lori Myles.

Jackie Merritt

A note from Lori: It’s been a wonderful experience writing with my mother, and I would like to thank Mary-Theresa and Silhouette for giving me this opportunity.

Lori Myles

www.millsandboon.co.uk

is still writing, just not with the speed and constancy of years past. She and her husband are living in southern Nevada again, falling back on old habits of loving the long, warm or slightly cool winters and trying almost desperately to head north for the months of July and August, when the fiery sun bakes people and cacti alike. She has written dozens of novels for Silhouette Books.

was born and raised in Idaho and moved to Nevada shortly after graduating high school. After college and many years of traveling for her job, including a two-year stint in Japan, she now calls Henderson, Nevada, home.

For the past several years she worked in the convention industry in Las Vegas, and while she enjoyed “show” business very much, her heart lay in the world of words. She still has boxes and boxes of stories she wrote over the years and her mother, Jackie Merritt, still has the first story she ever wrote, when she was in the third grade.

She is very excited to have this book out and hopes it leads to more and more and more…!

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

Chapter 21

Epilogue

Sixteen years ago

Chicago, Illinois

The alley was dark, lit only by lone streetlights at either end. At best, those lights illuminated no more then a few feet of the alley, casting shadows that bespoke of hidden, unspeakable things. The middle of the alley looked as if it had been swallowed by the night, and his stomach churned with dread. Was blackness and an eerie silence the reason that this particular place had been chosen for the meeting?

He looked around before entering the alleyway. The buildings on either side appeared to be deserted.

Again, not a good sign.

But it wasn’t just the lack of light that was unnerving; the lack of sound was equally as injurious to his normal courage. No cars passed by, no voices could be heard, no music wafting through windows. The only sounds now were those of his shoes softly shuffling against the pavement and a lone dog barking somewhere off in the distance.

“That’s far enough,” he heard from out of the darkness.

“Step out so I can see you,” he addressed the shadows.

“You don’t need to see anything.”

But he did see something. A glint of light, a flash of sorts, but all too late. He felt the bullets entering his body at the same time he heard the shots. Everything went black.

“You shot him! What the hell did you do that for? I thought we were only going to talk to him.”

“Shut up and get over there. Make sure he’s dead.”

“Hey, I want nothing to do with this.”

“Johnny, go make sure he’s dead while I have a little talk with Paulie here.”

“Sure, boss.”

The barrel of the gun jammed into his guts. For a few seconds, Paulie thought he was going to be next. Out of instinct, he grabbed at the gun; at the same time, he felt his boss releasing the weapon into his possession.

“Now you got something to do with this.”

Paulie knew he’d just been framed for murder. “What do you want me to do, boss?”

“Get rid of the gun, stupid. Unless you want to go to prison.”

“Yeah, he’s dead,” Johnny hollered back.

“Good, now let’s get out of here.”

Present day

Lisa Jensen entered The Pub at 6:15 p.m. Polished wood and brass, indirect lighting, unobtrusive background music and friendly service made The Pub the perfect place to relax after a long and strenuous day of work. Lisa had stopped briefly to deposit files in her office at the law firm of Bonner, Drake, Ludlow and Kirten, a mid-sized firm in the heart of Chicago’s famed Loop with a reputation for successful litigation and criminal defense. It occupied the sixteenth and seventeenth floors of the Ridge Building, a gray, quarried rock structure just minutes away from the courthouse as well as most of the other city offices. Lisa had always felt that the original partners had chosen their place of business perfectly when they’d selected this site thirty years ago.

“Especially this part of the operation,” Lisa said as she spotted her friends and began walking toward the group. The Pub was located on the first floor of the Ridge Building and on Wednesday nights Lisa met—whenever she could make it—with others from work for a drink and some good conversation.

The place was busy so she had to wind her way through several other groups to get to hers. She knew many of the people she passed or bumped into along the way. Most were also attorneys, housed, as she was, in upper level offices.

She heard “Hey, Lisa!” coming from several different directions, but it wasn’t until she was within a few feet of her friends that they spotted her. And when she did get close, she almost wished she had bypassed The Pub that night. Everyone there from her firm stood and clapped, whistled and cheered as she approached.

“Will you guys stop?” she said as she looked around and saw that practically everyone else in The Pub had put their drinks down to grin and gawk at what was going on in the far corner.

“Hey, golden girl,” Larry called out. “What are you drinking tonight? The first one’s on me.”