J.A. Jance's Ali Reynolds Mysteries 3-Book Boxed Set, Volume 2: Trial by Fire, Fatal Error, Left for Dead (81 page)
Authors: J.A. Jance
ALI REYNOLDS INVESTIGATES
two shocking cases of victims brutally left for dead in
New York Times
bestselling J.A. Jance’s latest mystery-thriller.
When Santa Cruz County deputy sheriff Jose Reyes, Ali’s classmate from the Arizona Police Academy, is gunned down and left to die, he is at first assumed to be an innocent victim of the drug wars escalating across the border. But the crime scene investigation shows there’s much more to it than that, and soon he and his pregnant wife, Teresa, both fall under suspicion of wrongdoing.
Ali owes Reyes a debt of gratitude for the help he gave her years earlier when she was dealing with a troubled friend. When she’s summoned to his bedside at Physicians Medical Center in Tucson, it’s impossible for her to turn away. And knowing Reyes as well as she does, Ali finds it hard to believe that he’s become mixed up in the drug trade, despite evidence to the contrary. Upon arriving at the hospital, Ali finds that her good friend, Sister Anselm, is there, too—working as a patient advocate on behalf of another seriously injured victim, an unidentified young woman presumed to be an illegal border crosser, who was raped and savagely beaten.
Ali becomes determined to seek justice in both cases and secure safety for both victims. Together with Sister Anselm and a conscientious officer who won’t let the case drop despite pressure from above, Ali digs for clues to find the true culprits.
Fast-paced, tension-filled, and intriguingly complex,
Left for Dead
is J.A. Jance at her riveting best.
J.A. JANCE
is the
New York Times
bestselling author of the Ali Reynolds series, the J.P. Beaumont series, the Joanna Brady series, and four interrelated southwestern thrillers featuring the Walker family. Born in South Dakota and brought up in Bisbee, Arizona, Jance lives with her husband in Seattle, Washington, and Tucson, Arizona.
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COPYRIGHT © 2012 SIMON & SCHUSTER
ALSO BY J.A. JANCE
A
LI
R
EYNOLDS
M
YSTERIES
Edge of Evil
Web of Evil
Hand of Evil
Cruel Intent
Trial by Fire
Fatal Error
J
OANNA
B
RADY
M
YSTERIES
Desert Heat
Tombstone Courage
Shoot/Don’t Shoot
Dead to Rights
Skeleton Canyon
Rattlesnake Crossing
Outlaw Mountain
Devil’s Claw
Paradise Lost
Partner in Crime
Exit Wounds
Dead Wrong
Damage Control
Fire and Ice
J. P. B
EAUMONT
M
YSTERIES
Until Proven Guilty
Injustice for All
Trial by Fury
Taking the Fifth
Improbable Cause
A More Perfect Union
Dismissed with Prejudice
Minor in Possession
Payment in Kind
Without Due Process
Failure to Appear
Lying in Wait
Name Withheld
Breach of Duty
Birds of Prey
Partner in Crime
Long Time Gone
Justice Denied
Fire and Ice
Betrayal of Trust
W
ALKER
F
AMILY
M
YSTERIES
Hour of the Hunter
Kiss of the Bees
Day of the Dead
Queen of the Night
Touchstone
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New York, NY 10020
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This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2012 by J.A. Jance
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information address Touchstone Subsidiary Rights Department, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020.
First Touchstone hardcover edition February 2012
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.
Designed by Renata Di Biase
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Jance, Judith A.
Left for dead: a novel / J.A. Jance.—1st Touchstone hardcover ed.
p. cm.
1. Reynolds, Ali (Fictitious character)—Fiction. 2. Murder—Investigation—Fiction. 3. Arizona—Fiction. 4. Mexican-American Border Region—Fiction. I. Title.
PS3560.A44L44 2012
813'.54—dc23 2011029102
ISBN 978-1-4516-2858-6 (Print)
ISBN 978-1-4516-7578-8 (eBook)
To the REAL Patty Patton
Contents
Prologue
2:00
A.M
., Thursday, April 8
Phoenix, Arizona
Seventeen-year-old Breeze Domingo lay on a sagging leather couch in a
filthy apartment that Thursday morning and tried to sleep, but sleep eluded her. She tossed and turned and spent the time wishing her life had been different. She wished she had listened to her mother and stepfather and stayed in school. She wished she had never set foot on Van Buren Street in downtown Phoenix and discovered how easy it was to make money if you didn’t care what you had to do to get it. And she wished she had never hooked up with Chico Hernández.
