Six-Gun Investigation : The Silver Star of Texas

by Mallory Kane

• ISBN13: 9780373887392
• ISBN10: 0373887396
• Edition: Large
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2007-01-09
• Publisher: Harlequin

Summary

Investigative reporter Anna Wallace had arrived in Justice to find her long-lost sister murdered…and herself a prime suspect. Thanks to Texas Ranger Zane McKinney, though, her name was quickly cleared. But then long-buried secrets began to unravel an

Excerpts

For the third time in fifteen minutes, Sarah Wallace reached for her purse--for the cigarettes that weren't there. She'd quit smoking two weeks ago. Two weeks, and yet she still reached for them whenever she was nervous. Damn.How would she last for eight more months? She sighed and glanced at the half-eaten sandwich she'd ordered up to her room from the diner next door to the Matheson Inn.Ugh.It had tasted good, but now it sat heavily on her queasy stomach. She dumped the container into the wastebasket and snagged a piece of sugarless gum with the tips of her silk nails. "I'm doing all this for you, kid," she whispered as she chewed. Her left hand drifted to her flat tummy. "I'm working on getting rid of the crap in my life, so you and I can start fresh. I've got a feeling the cigarettes were easy, compared to the rest." Then she turned back to the sheet of hotel paper lying on the desk. Picking up the pen, she quickly read over what she'd written. Dear Anna, I'm sitting in this room in Justice, wondering if I'm doing the right thing. It feels right. But here, in the same room where Mom was murdered, I'm beginning to feel a little spooked. Silly, I know, but if you don't get here very soon I may chicken out and leave. Hopefully within a few minutes we'll be reading this together and laughing at my paranoia. She underlined paranoia three times. She'd gotten a few curious looks when she'd shown up. Hadn't seen anyone she knew but that didn't mean someone hadn't seen her. She wrote the last lines quickly, and finished with a plea she'd be able to deliver in person in a few minutes. Hey, Anna-banana, I'm so sorry I left you. I hope you can forgive me. I want us to get past Mom's deathand be a family. We candrink a toast--a non-alcoholic toast--to new beginnings. She smiled as she signed the note and put it in the safest place she knew, where she and Anna had so often hidden notes to each other. "Well, kid." She patted her tummy. Writing the note made her feel better. The apprehension that had squeezed her chest since the moment she'd found out she was pregnant faded. She glanced at the fake Rolex on her wrist. "Now if your aunt Anna would hurry up and get here..." It had been weird, talking to her baby sister after all these years. Anna had been cautious and reserved, and with good reason. Sarah had bailed on her after their mother's murder and headed for Las Vegas. She couldn't blame Anna for doubting that now, sixteen years later, Sarah regretted abandoning her. Anna hadn't even wanted to talk to her, much less meet her in Justice, Texas, where their mother had been murdered--that is until Sarah told her what she'd found. After a dumbstruck pause, Anna had reluctantly agreed. "She should be here by now," Sarah muttered, reaching for her purse. Her hand clenched in a fist.No cigarettes,she reminded herself sternly.You don't smoke. She paced instead, working the gum until her jaw ached. Maybe Anna was right. Maybe this was a stupid idea, coming back to the scene of the crime, so to speak. A frisson of anxiety slid up her spine at the memory of what had happened to her mother in this very room. She should have followed her first instinct and met Anna in Dallas.But no.She had to make a big production out of it. Blame Lou Ann's flair for the dramatic, which Sarah had obviously inherited and Anna had not. Tossing the now flavorless gum into the wastebasket, she stepped over to the window, carefully skirting the area of the floor where their mother had been found on a night like tonight, strangled with her own purse strap. She peered out through the heavy curtains. It had gotten dark. She cursed under her breath. She'd been in Justice for three hours, and that was two hours and fifty-nine minutes too long. Just as soon as she turned everything over to Anna, she'd