A Bullet for Carlos
Page 36
“Thank God you’re alive, girl.” After sitting with Flash for a while, he fed her, watched the news, worried about Connie, then went and grabbed a beer. Later, unable to sleep, he dressed and went outside, heading for the garage. He opened the door, turned on the light, then opened the car door and climbed in.
He backed it out slowly, took it up the driveway even slower, then crept through the subdivision. He kept it civil until he got to the freeway. Once he hit the ramp, he kicked it in a little. He didn’t drive fast, just cruised along, feeling the power of the engine. It was all he needed just to know that, if he wanted to, he could punch it and be doing over a hundred in a few seconds. Not much was faster than a Ferrari F430. And Tip sure did look good in it.
Tip kept it over 100 mph for nearly fifty miles, heading due north, then he exited and turned around. On the way back to his house images of Kassie and Kelly flashed in his mind. He held back the tears as long as he could, then he made a vow to find Carlos, no matter the cost. He’s dead now, even if I have to chase him to Mexico.
Suddenly he noticed he was flying by the other cars on the freeway and he looked at the speedometer—110 mph. Shit.
Tip let off the accelerator and eased it back to about seventy-five, keeping his focus, but thoughts of Carlos wouldn’t leave him. “Just plain dead.”
More Books By Giacomo
Here’s the link to my site where you can find all purchase links for Book 2, A Bullet From Dominic, and Finding Family, a novella that tells the story of Dominic Mangini. You will also see the links to all of my other books.
GiacomoGiammatteo.com
Free Book
On the home page, if you scroll down a little to Finding Family, you’ll see options to download a free copy of the book. This is a novella that tells the story of how Dominic Mangini, a character in the Blood Flows South series, got his start.
Please Leave a Review
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Acknowledgements
The tough part of writing a book is not the writing, it’s all the stuff that comes after that. I’ll take credit for the writing. For the tough parts I am honor bound to thank the following:
My great copyeditor, Annette Lyon, from Precision Editing Group.
A fantastic graphic designer, Rank Fowler, for the book cover.
Morgana Gallaway from The Editorial Department, for the amazing layout and formatting.
And most importantly the army of beta readers who worked overtime to help me get this book into shape:
Missy, Rose, Aliza, Jimmy, Nick, Anthony Colline, Tom Connelly, Joe Michalcewicz, Wendy Justice, Mary Maddox, and Danette Ondi.
Authors and friends, Pedar Bloom, Lee Carey, Free Falconer, and my dear friend Elizabeth Hull. And to my good friend, Carlos Cortes, for allowing me to smear his name as the antagonist.
For straightening out technical details, including that tangled web of jurisdiction for Harris County law enforcement, I owe a great debt to Assistant Chief Deputy Tim Cannon of the Harris County Constable’s Office. And my very good friend, Skip Oliver, Retired Major in Harris County Sheriff’s Office. Whatever mistakes are in here, are my fault alone.
Special thanks to my grandsons, Joey and Dante. And grazie mille to my niece, Emiliana, who kept me company and shared coffee with me on many late nights.
Lastly, to my wife, Mikki, the one who has put up with all of my nonsense for so many years. Without her, these books wouldn’t be worth writing.
Ti amo con tutto il mio cuore.
About the Author
Giacomo grew up in a large Italian family in the Northeast. No one had money, so for entertainment he and his family played board games and told stories. He loved the city—the noise, the people—but it was the storytelling most of all that stuck with him.
Now Giacomo and his wife live in Texas, where they run an animal sanctuary with 41 loving “friends.” One of them is a crazy wild boar named Dennis, who is Giacomo’s best buddy. Sometimes Giacomo misses the early days, but not much. Now he enjoys the solitude and the noise of the animals.
Thanks for taking the time to read the book. I hope you enjoyed it.
Authors live and die on recommendations and reviews, so if you liked the book, please tell someone about it. And if you have a spare moment, I’d love for you to put a review wherever you can: Amazon, B&N, iBooks, Kobo, Goodreads, Linked-in, Twitter or Facebook.
If you’re looking for more of Frankie Donovan and Nicky Fusco, they’ll be back in MURDER HAS CONSEQUENCES, the second book in the Friendship & Honor Series, scheduled for a February release. Connie and Tip will be back in A BULLET FOR DOMINIC sometime next year.
In the meantime, have a peek at OLD WOUNDS, the first book in the Redemption Series:
* * *
Gino Cataldi loved three things: his wife, his son, and his job as a cop. Cancer took his wife. Drugs have his son. And Gino is pulling desk duty, suspected of killing a drug dealer.
Every night he dreams of a chance to make things right. That chance comes when a high-society woman is brutally murdered, her body parts spread all over town. The investigation quickly hits a dead-end…until a late-night caller with too much information contacts Gino. Between the mystery surrounding what she knows, and his penchant for helping women in trouble, more than Gino’s curiosity is aroused. He only hopes she’s not the killer.
* * *
You can read the first chapter on the website:
giacomogiammatteo.com
Thanks again for your time,
Giacomo
If you want to email me about this book, please use:
jim@giacomogiammatteo.com