Gravedigger
A Romantic Suspense
2019 Finalist in The Beverly
Hunting
a killer is easy.
Learning to love is hard.
Learning to love is hard.
Blurb:
Josephine 'Jo' Rayburn has no luck with love. Between the
demands of her job as a homicide detective, finding the perfect yarn for her
knitting projects, and her nosy family, she doesn't have time to find her happily ever after, nor does she really
believe it exists. Until she's assigned to the Gravedigger task force where she
meets Rhysian 'Rhys' Harrison, the sexy Coroner's assistant.
Rhys Harrison thought he had found love with the perfect
woman. But his parents' death forced him to choose between his fiancée and
caring for his brother, he chose his brother. His only regret, the medical
degree he abandoned to work in the Coroner's office. When the Gravedigger
leaves his latest victim at the gates of a cemetery, Rhys and Jo are thrown
together, her prickly personality interests him, but it's her deeply hidden
romantic side that captivates him.
After one of
the task force members is shot, Rhys's fears of losing Jo, like he's lost so
much already, threaten to rip them apart. Can she convince him that love is
worth having no matter the risk? Or will he play it safe, leaving before his
heart becomes too attached?
EXCERPT
~This one is about the
Gravedigger case
and showcases Sullivan and Jo's partnership~
“Rayburn, Krane, my office,” the captain commanded, striding
through the bullpen.
Dammit! Her morning had been great. Their LTs hadn't tossed
many cases their way. Only two and the rest needed reports written.
“Sit.” He pointed to the chairs across from his desk. The
cramped office held a bookcase with an attached credenza filled with various
books, awards and a few trophies from their department's baseball team. On the
desk was an ancient computer and pictures of the captain's wife and kids.
In some respects, the office was like any other in law
enforcement. Papers, files, books, and odds and ends. In others, the space was
unique in that the wine-colored leather chair, the captain sat in, was a gift
from his wife. The solid credenza and desk were made from dark, expensive wood
and given to him by his in-law's when he received the promotion to captain.
“Did you try to pass the Gravedigger case to Robbery?” The
captain's patent scowl firmly in place.
“No,” Sullivan stated, his gaze jumping to Jo and she shifted
guiltily. “Wait . . . you tried to pass our case off?”
“Maybe.” Of course she tried to pass the case off, however
she'd been provoked. Dammit, Jo couldn't tell them this wasn't her fault
without explaining.
The captain pinched the bridge of his nose, unsettling his
glasses. “Why, Detective Rayburn?”
Shit. The captain was beyond pissed if he was using her title
and last name, together. How to explain it'd just been a joke? Sullivan's
gape-jawed expression would've made all of this worthwhile, except for the
waves of anger rolling off Captain Walker.
If Brown and Jones would lay off the damned zombie emails,
she'd not have done anything. But the damned emails were clogging her inbox no
matter how many times she coded them as spam. Those crap emails buried leads
and updates Jo needed. Never in this lifetime would she say that to the captain, Jo would never be a
snitch.
“You know what? I don't want to know.” He jabbed a finger at
her. “It's your case, period. Have you two made any progress?”
“No, sir. The clothes didn't pan out. They're older than the
first body. None of the other files say anything about flowers, but they'll be
on the lookout if they get any more bodies.” Jo rubbed her forehead. “Tech is
looking at cleaning up Tennessee's video, but told us not to hold our breath—”
“What you're telling me is we have nothing until he digs
another woman up,” the captain interrupted.
“Yes, sir.” Sullivan drew the captain's narrow-eyed gaze to
himself.
“Fine, get out of here. Work on your other cases. Let me know
if you get any leads.”
“Yes, sir.” Jo scrambled from the chair and darted for the
office door. The meeting could've gone much worse, but maybe with the upcoming
holidays the captain was giving her a break.
“And don't think the damned holidays mellowed me, Rayburn.
Don't pull that shit again.”
Gulping, Jo opened his door. “Yes, sir.”
No sooner had she sat down than a file flopped onto her desk.
She turned her frown into a yawn. Sullivan arched a brow at her, but otherwise
his face was impassive. She'd been with him long enough to know he was asking
if she had this. A slight tip of her chin and he sat back, allowing her to
handle the two assholes.
“Brown, how's tricks?” Jo asked.
“Heard the captain wasn't too happy with you trying to dump
your case on us, Rayburn,” he stated from behind her.
Her chair released a loud squeal when she spun it to look at
the smug bastard. “Nope.”
His beady eyes narrowed on her as she popped the 'p' at the end of the word. The suit he
wore was clean cut and pressed within an inch of its life. She was tempted to
lean forward and thump it to see if it'd shatter. But as the man that inhabited
the suit didn't have much in the way of a sense of humor, she refrained. His
partner however . . .
“Jo! Man, you can't be giving us shit you and Sullivan can't
solve. It's bad form.” Jones wove between the other desks to join his partner.
Where Brown looked like a cross between a high school
principal and a disapproving maître d', Jones was his polar opposite. Frumpy
clothes that looked to have been slept in and a rounded belly from his fondness
for hamburgers, and hot apple pies, Jones reminded people of their sweet uncles
or best friend.
“Hey, you're part of Robbery”—she faked another yawn with a
cough at the end to cover a chuckle that wanted to escape—“and technically
these women were stolen—”
“We're not taking the zombie case,” Brown growled leaning
over Jo.
She arched a brow. Not intimidated in the least, she pressed
into his face. “Then quit giving mine and Sullivan's emails out. Because if I
get one more damned zombie survival email, I'm gonna do something a helluva lot
worse than try to transfer our case to you two.”
Jo shouldn't retaliate, it would be wrong of her, and petty.
Meh, like she cared. Inhaling deeply, Jo made damn sure Brown faced her before
exhaling with a woosh toward him. That onion laden breakfast burrito she'd
eaten this morning was made to be shared—with assholes.
“What the hell have you been eating?” Brown reeled away from
her with a jerk, waving a hand in front of his nose. Then he rounded on Jones
and stabbed a finger in his direction. “You! No sending them emails or signing
them up for shit. I do not want that
damned case!”
Jones's gaze dropped as he pretended to look contrite, but
the broad grin contradicted any remorse he might have felt. “Fine.”
“Payback's a bitch and you two need to remember I have video
of last year's Halloween party.”
Jones's head jerked up and his eyes rounded, the smile gone.
“No, okay, no more. Swear to God, Jo.”
“Deal.” Jo held her hand out and shook Jones's, then Brown's
hands in rapid succession.
“I'll spread the word,” Jones added after Brown jabbed him in
the side.
“Thank you, gentlemen. Nice doing business with you.”
Spinning back to her desk, she listened for their footsteps to retreat.
“What the hell kind of video do you have on them?” Sullivan
asked, making Jo release a snort of laughter.
“Now, Sullivan . . . if I have something on them that'd be
blackmail—”
“Yeah . . .” He motioned with his hand impatiently.
“Fine. They may or may have gotten drunk at our Halloween
party then sang 'So Long, Farewell'
along with the entire dance.”
“Holy shit. Like from the Sound of Music?”
Grinning, Jo nodded.
“Holy shit.”
Throwing a paper clip at him, she said, “Quit saying that.”
“How? Jones, yeah, I can see if enough liquor's involved, but
Brown—”
“Because I convinced them that Arabelle was there and
requested it.”
Sullivan's eyes widened and then narrowed with a frown. “You
used my daughter to get blackmail on our fellow officers?”
Nervous, she nibbled her bottom lip. “Yeah.”
“Way to go, partner!” His frown slid into a grin as he held
up his hand for a hi-five.
Gravedigger Amazon Links:
Trailer:
Blog Story Links:
Author Bio:
I'm
a geek, a gamer, a music lover, and a voracious reader. I love Star Trek and
B-grade movies like Attack of the Killer Tomatoes and Sharknado. I enjoy
figuring out software and learning new things and applying them to whatever
book I'm currently working on.
I
write romantic adventures. Mostly, I live vicariously through my characters. I
can be a knife-wielding forager who saves her family from deadly kidnappers or
a slinky thief who must outmaneuver her sadistic cousin. My male characters
aren't cookie cutter either. There's so much diversity in the world that one
size does not fit all. It's the same for love. My male characters are diverse.
I have several he-men, alpha types, but I also have nerds in glasses who can
kickass when needed, whether in a board room or in a parking garage. I have
characters who are blind and some who have lost a limb putting their lives on
the line to save others.
The
one thing they all have in common is they are people who learn to move past
their hurdles and find love.
I can be found at:
Website: https://ceereefields.com/
Twitter: twitter.com/ceereefields
Facebook: facebook.com/ceereefields
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