COPYRIGHT PAGE
Copyright © 2021 Neil David Turner
Published by Neil Turner Books 2021
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author, except by reviewer, who may quote brief passages in review.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
Cover design by David Prendergast
Library and Archives Canada ISBN 978-1-775179-3-9 Trade paperback
Library and Archives Canada ISBN 978-1-775179-4-6 Kindle edition
Library and Archives Canada ISBN 978-1-775179-5-3 ePub edition
Contents
SEE WHAT THEY’RE SAYING ABOUT THE TONY VALENTI THRILLERS
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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
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
The Tony Valenti Thrillers
Afterword
Acknowledgments
About the Author
SEE WHAT THEY’RE SAYING ABOUT THE TONY VALENTI THRILLERS
Advance praise for Plane in the Lake
Neil Turner’s latest Tony Valenti thriller, Plane in the Lake, pits the no-nonsense lawyer and his fiery partner against entrenched power in this classic Chicago crime story. Lawyers and liars go hand in hand in the pearly offices of the city’s underworld, as a well-to-do family’s desperate attempt to cover up the truth behind their daughter’s death spirals into something much more. As Valenti is faced with saving not only his firm but his family too, Turner skillfully wields an incisive pen that takes on the seemingly untouchable upper classes and shady crime families. With his trademark breezy style reminiscent of Dennis Lehane, Turner has produced another devourable thriller.Self-Publishing Review, ★★★★½
Praise for A House on Liberty Street
Neil Turner unravels an ever-deepening drama that exposes the lengths one man will go to protect his family in A House on Liberty Street, a suspenseful and heartfelt thriller. Tapping into evocative themes of family, fatherhood, and second chances, this is a fast-paced read with a clever protagonist ducking and dodging in a classic pursuit of justice. A House on Liberty Street is a neatly penned thriller that will keep readers guessing to the very end —SPR REVIEWS
Turner hits the mark in a spellbinding, page-turning thriller featuring a worthy underdog hero and prose that tugs at the heartstrings. IndieReader Approved ★★★★½
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Chapter One
What a perfect morning to fly, Megan Walton thinks as she watches a gas jockey pump fuel into the high-winged Cessna 210N she’ll be piloting on a city sightseeing tour on this, the last morning of her life. The robin’s-egg-blue aircraft, which is emblazoned with the scarlet Windy City Sky Tours logo, glistens in the September sunshine on the tarmac at the Chicago Executive Airport. Megan pops a stick of Juicy Fruit gum into her mouth and pockets the foil wrapper. The smell of the gum is a welcome antidote to the acrid odor of the avgas, especially with her stomach still roiling from last night’s party. She’d woken up just after seven with a jackhammer headache and not enough sleep, having gotten back into town from her cousin’s Labor Day weekend wedding in St. Lucia a little after two o’clock this morning. What a party! Cousin Emerald’s parents had chartered a Gulfstream G280 executive jet to fly select wedding guests to and from the Caribbean. Now, there was an aircraft, complete with a uniformed flight attendant who catered to Megan’s every whim, be it for booze or eats. Someday, Megan plans to be flying Gulfstreams instead of a Cessna.
The mechanics Uncle Jonathan hired to service the Windy City aircraft are working on a little plane beside hers. Megan meets their eyes and looks away without acknowledging them. She forgets their names, not that it matters. They’re just hired help. Megan, a pretty twenty-three-year-old dressed in tight designer jeans and a form-fitting red company polo shirt, knows she looks good. Guys like these two, dressed in oil-stained coveralls and grimy baseball caps, can gawk at her all they want, but they’ll never touch what they’re pining after.
Megan tucks her long, glossy blond hair into a ponytail while she watches the refueler disconnect the fuel hose from the Cessna and wind it back onto his truck. As soon as he departs, she shepherds the four waiting guests toward the six-seat Windy City aircraft. Leading the way is a cute tyke of four or five wearing jeans, a miniature New York Yankees jersey, and little sneakers that light up with every step. His smiling mother is close behind as he bounds along with unbridled excitement. She’s an elegant woman wearing a canary-yellow sundress and sandals. A single strand of pearls the size of marbles circles her throat. A beaming, well-dressed older couple, no doubt Grandma and Grandpa, bring up the rear.
After her customers climb into the passenger compartment, Megan shuts the door behind them, pulls the chunky, black-and-yellow rubber wheel chocks away from the tires, and tosses them aside. Then she walks around the nose of the plane, climbs into the pilot’s seat, straps herself in, and fires up the single-piston-powered engine. The initial roar blasts a burst of blue smoke into the air before the engine settles into a pleasing purr, just as it should. As she releases the brakes and begins to roll toward a taxiway that leads to the runway, one of the mechanics starts running across the tarmac while frantically waving to her. She looks away. Whatever he wants can wait until she gets back. Megan just wants to get this flight over with so she can unwind a little and maybe sneak in a nap before her eleven o’clock tour.
Five minutes later she’s flying into the sun, passing
