“Maybe it’ll be simple. Cash for services rendered. Maybe she wants to be a rock star and you can make it happen for her. Maybe she’s lonely and you can convince her between the sheets. Show her a little love so she’ll want to help out here and be willing to keep quiet about it afterwards. If you set your mind to it, you can get it done.”
“And if I don’t? If I can’t?”
His father shrugged. “Then my conscience is clear. I’ve tried to do the right thing, walk the line as much as I can given the situation. But I’m not going to stand between Denis and the animals responsible for drugging and raping his baby girl. I’m not going to turn my back on family. Justice will be served on behalf of those two girls, regardless of whether you involve yourself in this matter or not.”
Cathal curled his hand into a fist and fought the urge to answer the verbal jab. He looked beyond his father, at the mourners moving through the fog, leaving Caitlyn to be lowered into her grave.
After a lifetime of keeping his distance, of staying clear of his father and uncle’s business, he wondered if he was about to take the first step on a slippery slope that ended in prison or violent death for most of those who took it.
“How much time do I have to convince her?”
Acknowledgments
Thanks to Jennifer Kiziah and Sue-Ellen Gower for helping me make this the best story it could be!
About the Author
I’ve been writing since childhood and have never outgrown being a daydreamer. When I’m not hunched over my computer, lost in the muse and conjuring up new heroes and heroines, I can usually be found reading, riding horses, or walking dogs.
My stories have won numerous awards, as well as been national best sellers. I live in California with my husband and a menagerie of pets.
Copyright
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Madison’s Quest
Copyright © 2014 by Valerie Christenson
Edited by Sue-Ellen Gower
Cover design by Rae Monet, Inc. Design
All Rights Are Reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in articles and reviews.
Excerpt of Inked Magic copyright © 2012 by Valerie Christenson
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Other stories in the Crime Tells World
Excerpt from Inked Magic
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Copyright