Man Overboard
Page 31
They said very little on the trip down I-17. For one thing, Ali didn’t trust her ability to speak without bursting into tears, and she knew tears on her part would not be appreciated.
“You and Mr. Simpson will be just fine,” Leland said reassuringly as Ali turned off at the airport exit.
Good to his word, Leland had given Alonso Rivera a crash course on being the new Leland. It remained to be seen how that would go.
Ali smiled. “You’ve certainly done everything in your power to guarantee that. And don’t be a stranger. If Thomas’s health improves, I hope the two of you will come back for visits at the very least.”
“Perhaps,” Leland said. “We’ll see.”
He fell silent then. When Ali glanced in his direction, expecting him to say something more, she was surprised to see a single tear showing after all—one on Leland’s weathered cheek rather than her own.
“I know you’re Bob and Edie’s daughter,” he murmured at last, in a voice choked with emotion. “I’m grateful they’ve shared you with me, because you feel like my daughter, too.”
Ali reached out, took his bony hand in one of hers, and held it tight. It was a good thing they were approaching the curb just then. As she pulled to a stop, her own tears came in buckets, almost blinding her.
“Thank you,” she whispered. “I feel the same way.”
“I don’t want you to get out,” he admonished. “I’ll get a skycap to help me.”
“You’re sure?”
“I’m sure.”
“And you don’t want me to walk you as far as security?”
“No thank you, madam. It’s one thing to make a fool of myself in private. I certainly don’t want to do so in public.”
“All right, then,” she said. “If you say so.”
He summoned a skycap with a baggage cart and then went around to the back of the Cayenne to oversee the unloading. Once his luggage was on the cart, Leland came back over to the driver’s side and tapped on Ali’s window.
She buzzed down the glass. “One last thing,” he said. “A final bit of advice.”
“What’s that?” she asked.
“It’s something I learned from you and your mother,” he said.
“What?”
He gave her a sly grin. “Knockers up,” he told her, “and don’t you forget it.”
He stepped away from the door then, and Ali slipped the Cayenne into gear. When she looked back in the rearview mirror, she saw him—a spry but ramrod-straight elderly man, standing on the curb, waving at her. It was hard for her to glimpse him through yet another curtain of tears, but then she realized she was laughing and crying at the same time.
“Yes, you dear old fellow,” she whispered aloud. “Knockers up, indeed!”
About the Author
Photograph © Mary Ann Halpin Studios
J.A. JANCE is the New York Times bestselling author of the Ali Reynolds series, the J.P. Beaumont series, and the Joanna Brady series, as well as ve 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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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
A Last Goodbye (A Novella)
Cold Betrayal
No Honor Among Thieves (A Novella)
Clawback
Random Acts (A Novella)
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
The Old Blue Line (A Novella)
Remains of Innocence
No Honor Among Thieves (A Novella)
Random Acts (A Novella)
Downfall
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 (A Novella)
Second Watch
Stand Down (A Novella)
Dance of the Bones
WALKER FAMILY MYSTERIES
Hour of the Hunter
Kiss of the Bees
Day of the Dead
Queen of the Night
Dance of the Bones
POETRY
After the Fire
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This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2017 by J.A. Jance
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First Touchstone hardcover edition March 2017
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Interior design by Akasha Archer
Jacket design by Ervin Serrano
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Jance, Judith A., author.
Title: Man overboard : an Ali Reynolds novel / J.A. Jance.
Description: New York : Touchstone, 2017. | Se
ries: Ali Reynolds series
Identifiers: LCCN 2016053553 (print) | LCCN 2017001014 (ebook) | ISBN 9781501110801 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781501110818 (Ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Reynolds, Ali )Fictitious character)--Fiction. | Women private investigators--Arizona--Fiction. | Murder--Investigation--Fiction. | BISAC: FICTION / Thrillers. | FICTION / Mystery & Detective / General. | FICTION / Mystery & Detective / Women Sleuths. | GSAFD: Suspense fiction. | Mystery fiction.
Classification: LCC PS3560.A44 M36 2017 (print) | LCC PS3560.A44 (ebook) | DDC 813/ .54--dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016053553
ISBN 978-1-5011-1080-1
ISBN 978-1-5011-1081-8 (ebook)