“Here,” I said, handing her the bag of Squatter’s treats I always carried in my pocket. “They’ll probably be like after-dinner mints to him, but I bet he’ll like them.”
She smiled and fed him one. “This is real nice,” she said, “but I’ll feel better when they catch Porter.”
“Yeah,” Ruiz said. “Or whatever his real name is. Maybe Rosa will flip and help them track him down.”
“And Pete,” Mazie said.
“Garrett thinks they both left the state,” I told her. “And maybe the country. Not much point sticking around when your whole network collapses.”
“I hope he’s right.”
Terri asked Ruiz, “One thing I still don’t get is how the cops found us. Leland didn’t have time to tell you where we were, did he?”
“No,” I said. “I just told him where Noah was.”
Ruiz laughed and took a sip of Coke. “Leland,” he said, “you live in a small town. On his way to the park, I had Blount radio every cop on patrol looking for that Malibu you drive. Most of them called their friends too, so half the town was looking for you. And then on top of that, I mean, picture this: A middle-aged White guy in that part of town, before eight in the morning? Wearing a suit, and running?” He shrugged. “People notice. One of the neighbors called his son, who’s a police officer, to tell him something strange was going on. That plus the radio call, and the son put two and two together.”
“Wow,” said Noah. “That’s so cool.”
Terri smiled at him. “Yeah, you like detective work, don’t you. Figuring stuff out. I remember.”
Later that night, when Ruiz had gone and things were winding down, I was loading the dishwasher while Mazie and Terri chatted on the couch. It hadn’t occurred to me that they would get along so well, but they did. Squatter was napping on Terri’s lap, while Buster slept at her feet.
Back in Noah’s room, where he and Jackson had gone to play video games, I kept hearing them crack up.
My house felt alive again. It felt like a home.
In my head, to Elise, I said thank you. I guess we did it, I told her. We’re going to be okay.
End of Defending Innocence
Small Town Lawyer Book 1
Do you compelling thrillers? Then keep reading for an exclusive extract from Lethal Justice (Ion Frost Book One).
About Peter Kirkland
Peter Kirkland grew up in Beaufort, South Carolina. While he had always loved writing, his academic and debating skills made law seem like the obvious career choice. So, leaving his pen and paper behind, Peter worked as a defense attorney for many years. During this time, he saw both obviously guilty clients and a few that he felt were genuinely innocent of the crimes that they were accused of. But no matter what, Peter was always determined to give the best possible defense for his clients and he's proud to say that he won more cases than he lost.
But the more he practiced in criminal law, the more he found himself scribbling away at the end of a hard day to clear his mind and reflect on his current cases. One day, years later, he found himself absentmindedly reading through his old journals and found he had the beginnings of a story hidden inside his notes. That the tales from the courtroom were deep and rich in characters, twists and turns, and he remembered how much he enjoyed writing before studying law. Peter began reading legal thrillers voraciously and turned the reflections from his journal into a fictional manuscript and decided to try his luck at being published.
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BLURB
For Ion Frost, justice is cold as ice…
Former Special Forces Operative Ion Frost has one job left before he vanishes off the grid: deliver his dead comrade’s dog tags to his nephew, Lincoln, in Clear Rock, Wyoming. It should have been a quick, easy stop.
But for Ion Frost, things have a way of getting complicated…
Upon meeting Lincoln, Ion learns that his sister, Taya, has been missing for over a week. Ion can’t help but feel sorry for the kid. But time is ticking and he needs to keep moving.
His plans to disappear get put on hold, when a hidden assassin takes out Lincoln in a brutally efficient murder. With Lincoln dead and the dog tags missing, Ion is sure of one thing…
