Licensed to Thrill: Volume 2

by Diane Capri

  Helen sighed. “Remember what I told you about the American creed. We can’t focus on everything that’s wrong with the world that we can’t fix, everything we failed to do right. You’d be paralyzed with indecision and do nothing worthwhile with your life. That would be a shame, Jess. A waste. The good will outweigh the bad. You have so much yet to accomplish.”

  Jess jerked her head up, eyes blazing. “That’s a nice philosophy, Helen, but we killed an innocent man.”

  Helen sighed again. Jess seemed world-weary and wise in most respects, but she still had much to learn. Helen put an edge into her voice, too. “Tommy Taylor wasn’t innocent. You said that yourself. The system didn’t fail him, people failed the system. People who didn’t give us a chance, who didn’t trust us to do our jobs. Ben Fleming and Arnold Ward built Tommy’s conviction into an air-tight legal box. You and I didn’t do that. And Tommy’s dead. We can’t bring him back.”

  She thought about something Mac Green had said to her, too. “If you could bring Tommy Taylor back to life now, would you want to let him loose on the community again?”

  Jess considered Helen’s words, perhaps unwilling to concede, but she let the point go. “So what do we do now?”

  “We ask God and Tommy’s mother to forgive us. We go on. We learn from our mistakes. We do better next time.” More than words she’d been raised by, these were the words Helen lived by, the only reality she knew or wanted to know.

  Silence reigned for a bit before Jess’s impatience took hold again. “What are you going to do?”

  “Take care of Oliver. He’s beginning to communicate with me. The doctors say he’ll improve. So I’ll just wait to see what happens.”

  Jess said, “Good. I’m glad.”

  Helen nodded. “I’ll probably go back to practicing law. I miss the work, fighting the good fight every day, you know? The only way to make the system work is to have dedicated people working within the rules. I can do at least that much.”

  Jess nodded this time. “No more politics? Even without the party’s endorsement, I think you’d be elected, hands down. And no one would serve Florida better in the Senate than you.”

  “Maybe. I just don’t have the heart for it right now.” She noticed that Jess was about to argue with her, so she said, “I may change my mind one day.”

  Jess bent to give Helen a strong hug. “Take care of yourself.”

  “You, too,” Helen said, squeezing her back. “Keep in touch. Come back as soon as you can.”

  “I’ll call,” Jess promised, as she disappeared around the corner of the house on her way back to the car.

  Helen wondered if she’d ever hear from Jess again, but when she could see Jess inside the car in the driveway, she shouted, “Happy New Year!”

  Jess waved from the car.

  Helen waved back.

  Then Jess rolled down the window and shouted, “I’ll bring Peter next time I come. He’ll love it here.”

  THE END

  Dear Friends,

  Welcome to Licensed to Thrill: A Diane Capri Sampler, a bonus book of special extras from me for you. Our team has selected each item with one goal in mind. We want you to enjoy reading Licensed to Thrill as much as we enjoyed creating it for you. But I’m telling you right up front that gifting you this volume is a plot. Not only are we giving you some great stuff here, we’re hoping these samples will entice you to read more of my books in the same way chocolate candy stores ply you with tasty morsels at the mall and wineries waft open glasses under your nose. Fiendishly clever, isn’t it? Exactly.

  You know I’m a recovering lawyer, right? Which means I’m a little skeptical about things and you might be, too. So if you’re new to my books, I thought you might like to discover for yourself why Margaret Maron, the Edgar, Anthony, Agatha and Macavity Award-winning Mystery Writers of America Past President, says: “Diane’s expertise shines on every page.” And Library Journal raved “...tense legal drama with courtroom overtones, twisty plots, and loads of atmosphere. Recommended.”

  We start with a gift copy of Fatal Enemy, featuring the new heroine I really love—Jess Kimball. She’s a fiery woman, driven by her own past to fight for crime victims the justice system failed. Jess reminds me of Jack Reacher, only female, smaller, and nicer. Like Reacher, Jess is alone in the world wherever she goes. But unlike Reacher, Jess is on a mission only she believes in, only she can complete. You’ll find out what happened to Jess in Fatal Enemy and you’ll see exactly what I mean. In Jess’s shoes, could I do what she’s done? Could you?

  I hope you’ll love Jess Kimball as much as I do because her story continues in my bestseller, Fatal Distraction. We’ve included the opening chapters here for you to sample. When Fatal Distraction opened on Amazon as the #3 Bestselling Legal Thriller, only behind John Grisham, you can’t imagine how thrilled I was! (Why? Hang on a moment—I’m getting to that.)

  But first, speaking of Jack Reacher, Licensed to Thrill also includes opening chapters from my runaway bestseller, Don’t Know Jack. The success of Don’t Know Jack has been especially exciting for us because publishing Don’t Know Jack was a big risk. We had no idea whether readers would love the concept and the stories or not. Jack Reacher is a beloved man in many reading circles, as you may know. His fans are exceptionally protective. No one loves Jack Reacher more than I do. So when we published Don’t Know Jack, I knew I was sticking my head in the mouth of the lion, to be sure. I had my passport ready in case I needed to flee the country ahead of the lynch mob! (Sure, I’m joking—but not a lot!)

  But we knew we had a good concept, a good story, characters I loved (and some I loved to hate!). I hope you’ll see right away why #1 worldwide publishing phenomenon Lee Child calls my work, “Full of thrills and tension, but smart and human, too.” And why Lee gave the series an enthusiastic two thumbs up when he said, “Kim Otto is a great, great character. I love her!”

  Don’t Know Jack kicked off the Hunt for Reacher series and garnered #1 Bestseller spots on the Mystery, Hard-boiled Mystery, Police Procedural, Women Sleuths, and Legal Thriller lists both in the U.S. and U.K. I stopped holding my breath and put my passport back in the drawer. Whew! Close call.

  We hope you’ll be a Kim Otto and Carlos Gaspar enthusiastic reader, too. We hope you’ll want to finish Don’t Know Jack as well as the two bestselling short stories in the series, Jack in a Box and Jack and Kill. As long as readers enjoy the books, I’ll be licensed to keep ‘em coming!

  We’ve included even more bonus material for you, too. My Justice Series of suspense mysteries were praised by reviewers and readers as well, but I was especially pleased when the mystery reviewers at Romantic Times awarded Wasted Justice their coveted “Top Pick.” Who knew? What a rush!

  Here in Licensed to Thrill, you’ll find samples from all five of my Justice Series novels, including Due Justice, Twisted Justice, Secret Justice, Wasted Justice, and Raw Justice. Of course, we’re offering you these samples because we hope you’ll be just as hooked on the Justice Series as on the rest of my work.

  Licensed to Thrill includes the Behind the Book dialogue between me and Lee Child at a Manhattan cocktail party that instigated Don’t Know Jack; an excerpt from Lee’s Reacher Report sharing his views on the book; a fun blog post entitled “Diane Capri Reveals Lee Child (not Jack Reacher?)”; and finally—remember what I said about John Grisham? Well, I’ve never met the man, but he started me down the path to actually writing fiction instead of legal briefs. It seemed fitting to include my tribute article originally published in the prestigious masterwork Thrillers: 100 Must Reads, edited by my friends Hank Wagner and David Morrell. You know David, right? The creator of Rambo?

  If you enjoy what we’ve included here, you can find more articles, interesting stuff, and the lowdown on my website any time. I hope you’ll stop by. It would be great fun for me to talk to you and learn a bit more about you. Speaking of that, I’d be thrilled if you’d consider joining our Capri Club. Chat with us and other readers. Let me
know what you like to read—and what you don’t. We’ll see what we can do. Visit us at DianeCapri.com or join us on Facebook at: DianeCapriBooks. Find additional contact links below in the Author’s Note section.

  If you would like to be kept up to date with infrequent emails including release dates for Diane Capri Books, free offers, gifts, and general information, please sign up for our mailing list. We don’t want to leave you out! Sign up here: http://dianecapri.com/contact/

  So there you have it. Lawyers don’t lie, you know. Hand-to-heart, I’ve shared the whole truth and nothing but the truth on this very special volume we’re calling Diane Capri: Licensed to Thrill. I really hope you’ll love it (and I told you why). Thank you for reading and see you next time between the covers!

  Enjoy!

  When Life Hands You Lemons,

  Make Martinis—With a Twist!

  The Diane Capri Story

  LIFE WAS HUMMING ALONG on all cylinders for a while. Born in Alabama, I grew up in a small German-American farming town north of Detroit, where I lived a book-filled childhood and followed most of the rules. Graduated from Wayne Law School cum laude and served as an editor of the Wayne Law Review. Ranked in the top 1% of lawyers nationwide, and practiced law throughout the U.S., representing clients from around the world. While I published millions of words during my legal career, most of them were nonfiction. Never drank gin martinis, shaken or stirred.

  Always an insatiable reader with a keen interest in crime fiction, particularly mystery and suspense, I spent the travel years on airplanes and in hotel rooms. I put the time to good use by learning fiction craft when not practicing law, but friends pointed out that my fiction files contained only desire and incomplete projects. Too true. Grisham and Turow and many other lawyers hit the fiction world long before me.

  But in 1995, one shocking phone call destroyed my thriving law practice. My largest client was overwhelmed by product liability lawsuits and filed for bankruptcy protection, blasting a gaping hole in my by-the-book life and leaving me with an uncollectable debt besides.

  Pelted by these lemons, gin martinis were a viable option. But I don’t like gin. I’ve been called a Pollyanna and perhaps that’s true, because I was sure I could find a better answer. Like what? Well, I loved that creation story about the famous author who got fired at age forty and became Lee Child.

  Of course, I hadn’t heard that story in 1995 and he wasn’t famous then.

  I had heard the one from the medical clerk who wrote A is for Alibi to kill off her ex-husband and become Sue Grafton. I didn’t have an ex-husband, but more than a few folks had recently made my list of jerks the world could do without. Hmmm....

  I’d been through Travis McGee’s adventures a dozen times, never tiring of exploits that traveled along smoothly on Boodles Gin. I’d moved to Florida and adored everything about the Sunshine State. The hours to write what I loved instead of what paid the bills now stretched endlessly ahead and I figured it was now or never.

  So sure, Pollyanna, why not?

  You’re thinking I acquired a taste for gin martinis, killed off the bad guys, finished the book, and lived happily ever after? Um, not exactly.

  After a series of false starts, I challenged myself to finish Due Justice in the style of stories I loved to read, put my head down and went to work.

  Due Justice and the three books that followed are suspenseful Florida mysteries set in the legal world. Rather than a strapping, muscular boat-bum like McGee, my hero is Federal Judge Wilhelmina Carson, a strong woman who drinks Bombay Sapphire Gin and delivers true justice along with a splash of humor. The Willa books quickly found a publisher, an audience, and acclaim as well, under the author name M. Diane Vogt.

  So, not Lee Child or Sue Grafton, but there I was, up and running, humming along on all cylinders again. All’s well that ends well? Not so fast.

  You guessed it: Another fusillade of lemons.

  Slammed by lawsuits, my publisher failed and bankruptcy followed. A legal quagmire swamped my career. Again. And this time, it swallowed my books, too.

  Quick! Juice those lemons! Shaken? Stirred? Who cares? Bring on the martinis and keep ‘em coming! Except Pollyanna doesn’t like gin, as it turns out. Nor is she a loner.

  We all get by with a little help from our friends and writers are some of the most generous people anywhere. I’d long been active in Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, Romance Writers of America, and other writing organizations. The friends I’d made there encouraged me to get back to work.

  While Judge Willa was literally being held hostage, I wrote two new thrillers, one featuring Florida lawyer Jennifer Lane, Raw Justice, and the second starring victim’s rights advocate Jess Kimball and her good friend, Florida Governor Helen Sullivan, Fatal Distraction. These books featured ramped up suspense and increased body counts, mostly within the bounds of the law. Sue Grafton was right about literary revenge. Very satisfying. Easier on the liver than gin martinis, too.

  While I was writing Fatal Distraction, I was invited to join International Thriller Writers at its inception. Shortly thereafter, I became a member of the ITW board along with my friend, the #1 International Bestselling author, Lee Child. Later, I served as Executive Vice President. It was a great experience and I can highly recommend enjoying everything ITW has to offer for readers and writers alike.

  At a cocktail party in New York in 2009, without a martini in hand, Lee and I discussed one of the great existential questions: Where the hell is Jack Reacher between exploits, anyway?

  The answer was unknown, which inspired me to write a series of suspense novels answering the inquiry with Lee’s blessing. The first of those novels is Don’t Know Jack, introducing FBI Special Agents Kim Otto and Carlos Gaspar.

  Thankfully, readers enjoyed the tale. Readers made Don’t Know Jack, a bestseller, allowing the short story single, Jack in a Box, to quickly follow. All of my books are now enjoying wide readership again, proving there is life after the law.

  I hesitate to tempt fate by saying we’re humming along. Yet, The Hunt for Reacher Series is great fun. We travel behind Reacher and discover what happened to the people left behind in his wake. Another short story followed the first, titled Jack and Kill. The second novel, Get Jack Back, is scheduled for release in early 2013, publishing gods willing.

  Readers ask me whether Otto and Gaspar will find Reacher at some point. My answer is: sure, whenever Reacher wants to be found.

  And then what?

  Who will win the inevitable confrontation? My money’s on Otto. I’ll understand if you feel differently. After all, Reacher’s bigger, stronger, meaner, and much less anxious. So what? The bigger they are, the harder they fall.

  For now, I’m still a snowbird. We live in perpetual summer, dividing our time between homes in Northern Michigan and Florida. Still married to my one and only husband. Still love dogs, writing, sunshine, warm temperatures, gourmet food, dark chocolate everything, dry red wine, convertible cars and my very large extended family.

  I never developed a taste for gin.

  I’ll always love Willa Carson, Jenny Lane, Jess Kimball, and reading Travis McGee. I hope you’ll always enjoy them, too. But these days, I’m busy on The Hunt for Reacher.

  Want to come along? Bring vodka—life will supply the lemons.

  CHAPTER ONE

  JESS KIMBALL SWITCHED THE Glock’s grip to her left hand, raised her right to rub her sore neck and stretched her shoulders. Her body seemed to hum at the cellular level. She felt fatigued, yet buzzingly alert. She hadn’t been in the same room with Richard Martin for more than a dozen years. Worse things than Richard had happened to her since she’d seen him last. He’d find out soon enough that she wasn’t a gullible sixteen-year-old anymore.

  Dressed crown to sole in black, sitting as still as the furniture, Jess was indistinguishable from her surroundings. Ambient light was non-existent in the quiet neighborhood, where crime should’ve been non-existent. The microwave clock glowed 3:0
0:15 a.m. providing the room’s only illumination.

  Jess leaned back, ankles crossed, heels propped on the kitchen table, and settled in to wait through the remainder of the third night. A bouquet of Stargazer lilies stood across the room but their fragrant perfume filled the air like oxygen. Richard was allergic to Stargazers. Jess appreciated the subtle torture although she hadn’t planned it.

  Man, she hated custody battles; the children always lose. But this custody dispute was different, more vital. She couldn’t refuse to help this time because the victim was Richard Martin’s daughter. Knowing Richard as she did would make the difference between success and failure.

  As malevolent a bastard as ever drew breath, Richard was far from stupid. He would try to steal Anna until someone stopped him. If not tonight, then tomorrow or another night soon. Jess felt it, yes. Instinct and preparation had saved her life before. She wouldn’t ignore them now. But hunches were not enough.

  Her throat was parched, but she couldn’t risk a trip to the faucet for water. Time seemed stagnant even as the clock reflected 3:10:21 a.m. Combating boredom, her thoughts wandered again to Richard when she’d been in lust with him. Inside the ski mask, her face burned now with a different heat. He’d been her first romance when she was sixteen and seeking love wherever she could find it. She’d felt as treasured as a rare art object for about three weeks. The warning signs were there if only she’d been sophisticated enough to recognize them. She wasn’t. She’d made a significant mistake a long time ago, and it had defined her life evermore.

  Undisclosed petty crimes and scandals had blown the Martin family into her town and serious crimes hastened them away a year later. Richard had turned eighteen as his crimes escalated. He’d have gone to prison. A chill ran through her as she recalled how narrowly she’d escaped his bondage when Richard’s parents rushed him to a new jurisdiction moments before his arrest for grand theft auto.