Julie Leto – Line of Fire (страница 1)
COURAGE BAY SENTINEL
Courthouse sniper leaves one dead, two injured
Gunfire turned the courtyard of the Courage Bay Courthouse into a scene of terror yesterday afternoon.
Only minutes prior to the shootings, attempted murder charges against Dr. George Yube, a well-respected former physician at Courage Bay Hospital, were dropped after it was revealed that police had mishandled evidence. The controversial case created a media frenzy in recent weeks, and as Yube walked into the plaza a free man, he was felled by a hail of gunfire from the courthouse roof.
Courage Bay’s SWAT team was on the scene in minutes, but before they could rescue a court reporter injured in the attack, the sniper opened fire once again, wounding a paramedic.
Also in the plaza were Yube’s defense attorney, Faith Lawton, and chief of detectives Adam Guthrie.
Highly regarded in their professions, Lawton and Guthrie often find themselves doing battle in the courtroom, and George Yube’s case was no exception. But any professional animosity was sidelined yesterday as Detective Guthrie shielded the defense attorney from the rain of bullets before he joined the search for the sniper.
At this point, the shooter has not been found or identified, and suggested motives range from a vengeance killing to a random act of violence. Although Yube was killed, police have not ruled out either Lawton or Guthrie as possible targets.
About the Author
JULIE LETO
With twenty-six novels under her belt, New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author Julie Leto has established a reputation for writing ultrasexy, edgy stories. Julie writes primarily for the Harlequin Blaze line and was part of the series launch in 2001, as well as the fifth anniversary in 2006. A 2005 RITA® Award nominee, Julie lives in her hometown of Tampa with her husband, daughter and a very spoiled dachshund. For more information, check out Julie’s Web site at www.julieleto.com.
Line of Fire
Julie Leto
Dear Reader,
Exciting times are ahead! I hope you’re as thrilled as I’ve been with visiting Courage Bay, California. Okay, so the place seems ripe for fires, shootings, earthquakes and the like, but the residents, armed with determination and guts, are more than ready to face whatever challenges them—especially when the hazard is something as dangerous as falling in love.
Line of Fire is my first foray into romantic suspense, though I’ve tried to inject a dose of action and adventure into my Temptation and Blaze novels. Conversely, if you’ve never read one of my books before, be prepared for a little heat. Well, a lot of heat! Brilliant attorney Faith Lawton and intrepid police detective Adam Guthrie generated quite a bit of steam while they dodged bullets. I’ll admit, I stoked them a little. It’s what I do. I hope you enjoy the fiery results!
You can drop me an e-mail through my Web site at www.julieleto.com. You can also enter my contest to win free books and learn about my upcoming titles. I have articles for aspiring writers, so if you’re a reader or a writer, please stop by and say hi!
Happy reading,
Julie
CONTENTS
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER ONE
P UKA BEADS . Even close up, Adam Guthrie had trouble believing that the necklace the prim defense attorney wore was not pearls, as he had assumed. When she’d approached the bench to question him during the farce of a hearing he’d just left, he’d fallen hook, line and sinker for her ultraprofessional, “never a hair out of place” persona. Same for every other time they’d crossed paths, he as the chief of detectives for the Courage Bay police department and she as the defense attorney from hell. But after her first two questions, he’d been too enraged by her legal wrangling to evaluate her jewelry.
She’d torn him apart.
More specifically, she’d ripped his department’s case to shreds and maneuvered the release of a dangerous criminal—George Yube. But out here in the hallway of the Courage Bay County Courthouse, waiting for reporters to disperse so he could speak his mind without having his words quoted in the newspaper, he took the time to notice everything about her.
Trying to ignore Faith Lawton had become a hobby for him, particularly after she’d shown up at the police station a few years ago as attorney of record for a perp he’d personally collared. With honey-blond hair that fell in long, soft wisps to her straight, level shoulders, Faith Lawton had arrested his interest at first glance—and he wasn’t wrangling for a reprieve anytime soon. Her steel-gray eyes spoke to him, but usually the message ran along the lines of don’t mess with me or I’ll eat you for lunch.
Luckily for him, Adam brimmed with gristle and bone. She’d have a hard time sinking her teeth through his hide the second time around.
“Ms. Lawton, may I have a word?” He touched her shoulder. Big mistake. Even though her pale yellow suit looked sturdy enough, the delicate rustle of the material against his fingers brought sensual thoughts to mind that Chief of Detectives Adam Guthrie had no business entertaining about intrepid defense attorney Faith Lawton.
She finished her polished answer to a reporter’s question, then spared him a glance over her shoulder. “I have no interest in enduring another dressing-down by you outside the courtroom, Detective Guthrie,” she answered.
Okay, so he’d lost his temper during her questioning. She’d let him rant for a full minute or so before she’d objected to Judge Craven, who, with a powerless shrug, had sustained the motion. Adam should have known she’d make him look a tad too anxious to do his job—like a vigilante, even. She had a knack for using a person’s strengths against them.
“I have no interest in dressing you down, Ms. Lawton. I simply want a word.”
With a small grin to the crowd and a whisper to her assistant—who scurried toward the processing area, no doubt to ensure that Yube didn’t walk one step into freedom without his legal representative at his side—she motioned toward an unused courtroom on the other side of the hall.
The minute Adam shut the door, she crossed her arms over her chest and leaned cockily against the back of a chair, her weight on one hip. “If you’re not going to yell at me for freeing yet another of the alleged criminals your department has arrested, what do you want?”
Her skin gleamed, and not only from anticipation of the pending confrontation, Adam figured. It was obvious that underneath her perfect makeup, the attorney sported a healthy tan. He couldn’t resist speculation about her recreational activities. Her sharp mind and devotion to the art of legal defense sent many of his law enforcement colleagues running to cut a deal the minute she took on a case. And worse, when she did go to trial, she won nearly every time.
This particularly didn’t sit well with Courage Bay’s new chief of detectives. All citizens of the county deserved competent legal defense, but when Faith got someone off, she usually did so by exposing a flaw within the very system Adam had devoted his life to.
Just as she had today. Thanks to Faith Lawton, Dr. George Yube was currently in another part of the building, being processed for release. Never mind that he’d tried to kill Lauren Conway by setting her workplace on fire, tampering with her brakes and, when all else failed, shooting her in the shoulder. Never mind that thirty-two years ago, the former chief of staff at Courage Bay Hospital had drunk too much as a resident moonlighting in the emergency room, botched a difficult delivery that resulted in the death of a baby, then switched several children in their cribs to avoid exposure, not to mention ugly, career-ending lawsuits. The man had spit in the face of his Hippocratic oath, and yet in less than ten minutes, he’d walk out of this courthouse and most likely never face prosecution for his crimes. All thanks to Faith Lawton.
Adam shoved his hands into his pockets. He should be furious with her. He should give her a rerun delivery of his mantra on the importance of maintaining justice in a civilized society. He should tell her the latest “lawyers are carcass eating vultures” joke.
But instead, he captured her I-dare-you glare with a steady stare of his own.
“You should be a cop.”
“Excuse me?”
“Internal affairs. Maybe you could teach a course at the Academy. You have a knack for spotting weaknesses in the chain of evidence.”
She blew out a frustrated breath. “Only because your department mishandles evidence on too many cases. Not to mention search warrants, Miranda rights and—what was it that one time? Oh yeah, a coerced confession.”