Can Rain solve his last case without getting his girlfriend arrested?
Rainier is a survivor. He’s made some mistakes, and now he’s paying for them. As a condition of his probation, he must work with the police on investigations where his skills might be useful. There is one more case to solve to complete his commitments. Then he’ll be free. As he heads undercover to work this last case, Sophia arrives in town. She is a childhood crush who means a great deal to Rain, and she is obviously terrified of someone.
Sophia has made a bad choice in the past, and now she’s in hiding to avoid dealing with it. Still, it follows her, and Rainier is the only one she can trust to help her deal with it.
Rain’s problem? The clues he uncovers on his final case all seem to lead directly to Sophia. Can he solve the case without breaking his heart or pointing the police in his girlfriend’s direction?
Excerpt from Rain Man…
At least they didn’t put him in jail. Rainier Murdoch couldn’t think of anything that would embarrass his folks more. Surprisingly, it had been a relief to be caught by the police, and deal with the whole mess after months of working undercover and running. His business partner was dead, and when the dust settled Rain was charged with running a gambling operation without a licence, and failure to pay the taxes on the proceeds. Now he was on probation.
Rain pulled his pickup to the side of the rural road and parked in the empty gravelled area he’d found here before. Early spring, and the sun was shining glaringly on the fast receding water in the flats. He reached for his binoculars in the glove box and climbed out to walk to the edge of the pond. Uncle Toby had a house on the other side of the open water and there wasn’t a better place in Victoria to watch the birds. Since moving to Vancouver Island from the Canadian Prairies, he’d missed the wildlife he’d grown up with in Saskatchewan.
The flats were quiet today, the shallow water still, a dozen large grey and black geese floating calmly in a circle near the middle of the pond. Through the trees, he caught sight of the deck of Uncle Toby’s house. He scanned the view with his binoculars, pausing in surprise. He’d been on that deck a few times with his uncle, there was a shower and a hot tub positioned there. Uncle Toby would pour him a scotch, toss him a towel and lead the way out the door where they’d each have a quick shower and step into the steaming water to relax and catch up with each other.
Someone was showering on the deck. He adjusted the lenses of his binoculars and took a closer look as his breath caught in his throat. It was a woman, young from the look of her, although her face wasn’t what held his total attention. As the water flowed over her shapely body, she soaped up then lifted an arm to rinse, her breast moving enticingly with the motion. She turned to wash her other side and he focussed on her ass. Very nice.
This wasn’t any business of his. Toby could entertain whomever he wanted at his place. He was a widower, after all. Rainier glanced around in sudden worry to see who else might be watching the activity on the deck. There was no one here but himself which caused the tension in his chest to ease somewhat.
The problem was, Uncle Toby had left town last week. Having finally retired from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the national police force, he’d taken a long talked about trip to southeast Asia. The house should be empty. Had this person just steered down his road, walked onto the deck to shower and use his hot tub? As Rain watched, the woman leaned to shut off the showerhead and flipped the lid of the hot tub open. Then she stepped in, steam rising in a cloud around her.
What to do? Toby hadn’t specifically asked him to keep an eye on the house. Should he just ignore this? Since being charged with offences, Rainier had been released on bail. The conditions of his probation included working with the cops on various cases where they thought his skills would be of use. As time went by, he’d begun to feel like a police officer, given some kind of responsibility to enforce the law. Spending time with Uncle Toby in the last few months had simply reinforced that feeling. He couldn’t walk past this.
Lowering the binoculars, he headed determinedly for his truck. His job today was to find out what was going on at Uncle Toby’s place. Getting a closer look at the woman with the great ass and spectacular chest would just be a bonus.
When Rain pulled up in front of Uncle Toby’s door, everything looked normal. Toby’s truck was parked in its usual spot in the drive. He never used the twin garages attached to the side of the house, and on Rain’s first tour of the place, he’d noticed they were full of junk, so no room to fit his vehicle in there. Either the female visitor was driving Toby’s truck, or she’d left her car elsewhere. But she had to have access to a vehicle of some kind, out here in the boonies.
Parking right in front of the entry, he climbed out, slamming his door loudly. Didn’t want to startle anyone unnecessarily. Marching up the couple of steps to the front door, he pressed his thumb hard on the button for the doorbell. It chimed inside the house.
There was the sound of footsteps approaching, but the door didn’t open right away. He turned his face toward the side window, imagining he was being scrutinised by the occupant within. That probably meant they were nervous about having a caller show up at the door. The question was, would they open it?
Then he heard the lock snick back and saw the handle twist down. The door opened, and his heart beat a little harder. Would it be Toby or the woman he’d seen on the back deck?
He spotted a pair of bare feet, the toenails painted a dark red, and his gaze travelled up slim bare legs to the hem of a silky-looking green housecoat. There was enticing cleavage where the garment met across the woman’s chest. Her face was lovely, pale blue eyes and a plump mouth. A smile formed on that exquisite face. “Hello, Rain Man,” she said. “I’ve been waiting for you.”
About the Author
Author of many contemporary romantic suspense novels, and the sci fi/ fantasy series, The Last War, Sylvie Grayson loves to write about mystery, suspense, romance and murder, all about strong women who meet with dangerous odds, stories of tension and attraction.
She has lived most of her life in Canada, in spots ranging from Vancouver Island on the west coast to the North Peace River country and the Kootenays in the beautiful interior of British Columbia. She spent a year in Japan. She has been an English language instructor, a nightclub manager, an auto shop bookkeeper and a lawyer. She lives in southern British Columbia with her husband on a small piece of land near the Pacific Ocean.
Sylvie loves to hear from her readers. You can reach her at sylviegraysonauthor@gmail.com, on her website at www.sylviegrayson.com where you can sign up for her newsletter or to follow her blog, on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/sylvie.grayson or on BookBub at https://www.bookbub.com/profile/sylvie-grayson.
