JL02 - Night Vision (46 page)

Two police cars pulled to a stop in front of the shack. The tender leaned out the door and stabbed a shaking finger toward us.

Nick felt his jaw and started to say something. Somehow he looked smaller. “I’m going be all right,” he said. “I’ll be okay.”

There was bile in my throat and I told myself that my eyes stung from the wind. “Who gives a shit?” I said.

Two big uniformed Miami cops took their sweet time getting out of their cars and walked toward us. They blocked traffic in both directions.

“I can cut a deal with the feds,” Nick said. “I know all the major dealers in the southeast and who supplies them. I know staging areas and which ships haul which shit. I’ll be in the witness protection program in two weeks.”

“Great, Nick. You’ll have every drug thug in two hemispheres looking for you.”

“I’ll be okay.”

“Sure you will. Just keep your ass down. Maybe it won’t get shot off.”

***

Charlie Riggs was opening the drawer to the smoker, painting the snook with some butter and sprinkling it with salt. Heavy gray thunderheads moved over Shark Valley, heading toward the city. Farther west, above Onion Bay and Big Lostman’s Key, the squall had already begun. Overhead, the first bolt of lightning creased the sky, followed a five-count later by a boom of thunder. Fat drops of cool rain pelted us, but we didn’t move. Charlie shot a sheepish glance at me.

An unusual sorrowful look, maybe thinking it was his job to bring me out of my despair and he didn’t know how.

But it wasn’t his job. All of us live with our own demons, do penance in our private ways. We need our friends for support and advice, but we draw our strength from within. In the end we are alone.

Charlie’s eyes were wishing me better times. Now I was depressing him, and Charlie has always been irrepressibly chipper.

Okay, Lassiter, stop wallowing in it. Stop telling yourself you really must be a great guy to be broken up over your loss. Wait. What loss? Pam Maxson had said it:
You can’t lose what you don’t have.
And while you’re at it, obliterate the guilt. Self-flagellation is an insufferable ego trip all its own; undeserved guilt is just another form of indulgent self-pity.

A flash of lightning backlit the low, dark clouds that scudded overhead, and a burst of thunder filled the sky. A couple of scrub lizards, brown with blue patches, scurried into the bushes. Cold water dripped down my neck. “Charlie, have I ever told you how much you mean to me?”

He looked up skeptically from under his soggy canvas hat. “Gracious no, and don’t start now.”

“Okay, it’s up to you. I was just going to tell you that you’d have made somebody a fine father. Now, let’s get out of the rain. Do you still keep cold Dutch beer in that cabin of yours?”

He nodded a yes.

“You have any stories to tell I haven’t heard for a while?”

He smiled. “Have I told you about the carnival dummy that turned out to be the mummified body of a homicide victim?”

“Don’t remember that one,” I said.

We started up the muddy path to his cabin. A bright green tree frog with white pinstripes studied me a moment, concluded I wasn’t a spider, and hopped away.

“Well, it’s quite a story. The dummy was in the haunted house, hanging by the neck from a rope, covered with phosphorescent paint. In the dark it would glow purple when an ultraviolet light was switched on. Of course, the idea was to give the customers an old-fashioned funhouse scare. One day this college boy wants to show off for his girlfriend, so as they’re going by he yanks on the dummy’s shoe, tearing its leg off, and lo and behold, he’s left holding the stub of a real tibia.”

“Got his money’s worth,” I said, scraping my muddy shoes on Charlie’s steps and holding the screen door for him. Inside, it was dark but dry.

Charlie was getting into it now, tales of murder and mayhem lifting his spirits. “Well, the authorities were intrigued, as you can well imagine. So many unanswered questions. How did the man die? Who was he? How did the body get into a carnival?” He paused to tamp some tobacco into his pipe. The matches were soggy and it took three tries to light up. He looked at me apologetically. “Jake, I’m afraid this story will take a while. It involves an Oklahoma train robber, a shoot-out with the police, embalming with arsenic, and it all starts back in—”

“Take your time,” I told my old friend. “I got nowhere to go.”

If you enjoyed “Night Vision,” please try some of my other novels. “To Speak for the Dead,” “Fool Me Twice,” and “Impact” are all number one bestselling Kindle thrillers. “The Road to Hell” is a number one hot-selling short-story anthology, which is being offered briefly at 99 cents for the entire compilation.

TO SPEAK FOR THE DEAD

“Move over Scott Turow! Mystery writing at its very, very best.”

—
USA TODAY

The first of the award-winning Lassiter series, “To Speak for the Dead,” set new standards for the modern legal thriller.

A doctor in love with his patient’s wife…

A fatal mistake during surgery…

Accident? Malpractice? Or murder?

Defending a surgeon in a malpractice case, Jake Lassiter begins to suspect that his client is innocent of negligence…but guilty of murder. Add a sexy widow, a deadly drug, and a grave robbery to the stew, and you have the recipe for Miami’s trial of the century.

“To Speak for the Dead” introduced the world to Jake Lassiter, the linebacker-turned-lawyer with a hard bark and a tender heart. An international bestseller, my debut novel was named by the
Los Angeles Times
as one of the best mysteries of the year.

All author proceeds go to the Four Diamonds Fund, which supports cancer treatment and research at Penn State Hershey Children’s Hospital.

Sample or purchase “To Speak for the Dead” from Amazon:
http://amzn.to/vRIi7p

FOOL ME TWICE

Murder to Go: From Miami to Aspen. A witness is dead and Jake Lassiter is the prime suspect. If he doesn’t find the killer, he’ll face a murder charge. A bloody trail of evidence leads to an abandoned silver mine under the Colorado ski slopes and an explosive finale.

“Delicious.”

—
Los Angeles Times

“Take one part John Grisham, two parts Carl Hiaasen, throw in a dash of John D. MacDonald, and voila! You’ve got Jake Lassiter.”

—
Tulsa World

Sample or purchase as either an ebook or paperback:
http://tinyurl.com/3o2jzxt

IMPACT

Jetliner Crashes in the Everglades.

A Billion-Dollar Lawsuit: Negligence or Terrorism?

The Defense: Kill Anyone, Even a Supreme Court Justice, to Win the Case.

Supreme Court Justice Sam Truitt takes the bench with high ideals, lofty intentions…and a troubled marriage. If Lisa Fremont, his stunning and brilliant law clerk, doesn’t get Truitt’s vote in case involving a catastrophic airplane crash, she and her boss will be killed. IMPACT is a tale of seduction and betrayal, of passion and greed. Truitt, who has always followed the rules, and Lisa, who never has, join together to battle those who live by no law at all.

“A relentlessly entertaining summer read.”

—
New York Daily News

“A breakout book, highly readable and fun.”

—
USA Today

Sample or purchase from Amazon:
bit.ly/nUJGZs

THE ROAD TO HELL

A Kindle 99-cent special.

Four thrilling short stories: “Solomon & Lord: To Hell and Back,” “Development Hell,” “A Hell of a Crime,” and
“El Valiente en el Infierno.”

The heroes of these tales travel dark and dangerous paths as they confront devilish and powerful villains. The journeys are by land, by sea, and in one case, perhaps only in the mind. A hellishly good read!

Sample or purchase from Amazon:
bit.ly/pZRFjy

More information on these and other Paul Levine mysteries and thrillers at
http://www.paul-levine.com

TO SPEAK FOR THE DEAD
: Linebacker-turned-lawyer Jake Lassiter begins to believe that his surgeon client is innocent of malpractice…but guilty of murder.

FALSE DAWN
: After his client confesses to a murder he didn’t commit, Jake follows a bloody trail from Miami to Havana to discover the truth.

MORTAL SIN
: Talk about conflicts of interest. Jake is sleeping with Gina Florio and defending her mob-connected husband in court.

RIPTIDE
: Jake Lassiter chases a beautiful woman and stolen bonds from Miami to Maui.

FOOL ME TWICE
: To clear his name in a murder investigation, Jake follows a trail of evidence that leads from Miami to buried treasure in the abandoned silver mines of Aspen, Colorado. (Also available in new paperback edition).

FLESH & BONES
: Jake falls for his beautiful client even though he doubts her story. She claims to have recovered “repressed memories” of abuse…just before gunning down her father

LASSITER
: Jake retraces the steps of a model who went missing 18 years earlier…after his one-night stand with her.

IMPACT
: A Jetliner crashes in the Everglades. Is it negligence or terrorism? When the legal case gets to the Supreme Court, the defense has a unique strategy. Kill anyone, even a Supreme Court Justice, to win the case.

BALLISTIC
: A nuclear missile, a band of terrorists, and only two people who can prevent Armageddon. A “loose nukes” thriller for the 21st Century. (Also available in a new paperback edition).

PAYDIRT
: Bobby Gallagher had it all and lost it. Now, assisted by his 12-year-old brainiac son, he tries to rig the Super Bowl, win a huge bet…and avoid getting killed.

Visit the author’s website at
http://www.paul-levine.com
for more information. While there, sign up for Paul Levine’s newsletter and the chance to win free books, DVD’s and other prizes.

The author of 14 novels, Paul Levine won the John D. MacDonald fiction award and was nominated for the Edgar, Macavity, International Thriller, and James Thurber prizes. A former trial lawyer, he also wrote more than 20 episodes of the CBS military drama “JAG” and co-created the Supreme Court drama “First Monday” starring James Garner and Joe Mantegna. The critically acclaimed international bestseller “To Speak for the Dead” was his first novel. He is also the author of the “Solomon vs. Lord” series and the thriller “Illegal.”

Copyright © 1991 Paul J. Levine

Second Edition Copyright © 2012

Cover design by Aaron Kowan

Interior design by Steven W. Booth, www.GeniusBookServices.com

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. All rights reserved. No part of this publication can be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without permission in writing from Nittany Valley Productions, Inc.

Grateful acknowledgment is made for permission to reprint the following: Excerpt from
Equus
by Peter Shaffer used courtesy of the Lantz Agency. Excerpt from
Long Day’s Journey Into Night
by Eugene O’Neill used courtesy of Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft.

Excerpt from “Try to Remember” by Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt used with permission. Copyright ©
The Fantastics,
Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt. All other rights reserved.

Excerpt from
Pygmalion
by C. B. Shaw courtesy The Society of Authors on behalf of the Bernard Shaw Estate.

Excerpt from
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf
by Edward Albee reprinted by permission of William Morris Agency, Inc., on behalf of the author. Copyright © 1962 by Edward Albee.