No Honor Among Thieves: An Ali Reynolds Novella (Kindle Single) by J.A. Jance Page B

mastermind behind all this? A lowlife named Lester Kraft who turned out to be pissed-off longshoreman from Long Beach who supplemented his “meager” $100,000-a-year salary by joining forces with group led by a corrupt U.S. Customs guy to smuggle contraband LEGO sets into the country. The fact that Hans Holzmann had been caught cheating on one of his erstwhile partners-in-crime was what had set this whole ugly killing spree in motion. Lester had hired a thug from Naco, Sonora, Julio Archuleta, to do the job, and he had evidently been responsible for most of the wet work—with the exception of Helmer and Hans. Archuleta was someone who had long been a person of interest in any number of criminal enterprises in southeastern Arizona, but this was the first time anyone had been able to catch him red-handed. Thank you, Spike.
    Joanna still thought the whole idea of people being killed over LEGO sets was utterly preposterous, but those eight bodies lined up in Kendra Baldwin’s morgue, awaiting autopsies, were all too real.
    At last Joanna’s brain shut down. She fell into a deep, dreamless sleep. Her eyes blinked open in the morning to see the sun shining in through her window high enough for her to understand that she was already late for work. When Butch opened the bedroom door, she knew exactly what he was doing—something he often did: bringing her that first morning cup of coffee. But this morning the very smell of it sent her racing into the bathroom, retching repeatedly into the toilet bowl.
    Once she flushed the toilet and cleaned her face, she opened the door to find him standing there, still holding the coffee, his face awash in worry. “What’s wrong? Are you sick?” he asked. “What can I do?”
    “Get rid of the coffee,” she said. “I can’t stand the smell of it.”
    “But you love coffee.”
    “Not right now I don’t.”
    He turned on his heel and took the coffee away. When he came back, he was grinning from ear to ear. “Are you really?” he asked, taking her in his arms and holding her close.
    “I think so,” Joanna groaned into his chest. “But when you go to the store later, pick up a pregnancy test. We need to know for sure.”
    “What’s your reelection committee going to think?”
    “It’s none of their business. What do you think?”
    “I’m delighted,” Butch said. “And do you know what I want?”
    “What?”
    “A little girl with bright red hair and green eyes,” Butch said, “just like her mother’s.”

ALSO BY J.A. JANCE
    ALI REYNOLDS MYSTERIES
    Edge of Evil
    Web of Evil
    Hand of Evil
    Cruel Intent
    Trial by Fire
    Fatal Error
    Left for Dead
    Deadly Stakes
    Moving Target
    Cold Betrayal
    JOANNA BRADY MYSTERIES
    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
    Judgment Call
    J.P. BEAUMONT MYSTERIES
    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
    Ring in the Dead
    Second Watch
    WALKER FAMILY MYSTERIES
    Hour of the Hunter
    Kiss of the Bees
    Day of the Dead
    Queen of the Night

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