by Diane Capri
She descended the back stairwell to the parking garage under the building and pressed unlock. A vehicle to her right beeped. The big red News Channel 12 logo adorned the sides. She climbed into the driver’s seat and wrinkled her nose. The Jeep smelled like old French fries.
“Doesn’t anyone ever clean this thing?” she said aloud. She sniffed again. “Clearly not.”
As she strapped herself in, she suddenly felt much more grateful to have survived the budget cuts. She was driving one of the most respected vehicles in town: a News Channel 12 Jeep. Her title was merely intern, but she felt she was behind the wheel in more ways than one.
They’d sent her on assignment alone. While she’d have enjoyed the company of a new colleague, at least this way she avoided the intern stigma. Some of the guys didn’t mind having slutty interns around. But otherwise, interns were viewed as a nuisance. Since Jordan didn’t fall into the ‘slutty’ category, this way she wouldn’t be burdening anyone by tagging along.
Plus, the station sending her out alone was a huge sign of trust. Or maybe they were giving her enough rope to fail.
Her college ex would have chastised her for her pessimism. Jordan preferred to think of it as realism. She also preferred to not think of Paul at all. She’d planned to be totally over him by now. She wasn’t, though. Fake it til you make it.
Jordan focused on the task at hand: safe driving. The vision of wrecking the Jeep on her first assignment flashed through her mind and she shuddered. Her life would be over. Completely over.
Along the short drive to the Florida Casino—practically around the corner, but one-way streets doubled travel time—she made a quick mental plan of attack. Get a good parking spot, find a unique angle to the story that no other station will have, and look for opportunities to make friends with the competition. The last thing she needed in this internship was somebody actively working to sabotage her.
If she could transform her story from one mocked in the Afternoon Meeting to one that impressed the entire newsroom, her first day would become a big win. She needed a win. A big win would be even better.
Like most of her classmates, Jordan had been to the privately-owned Florida Casino a few times since her twenty-first birthday last year. She ran through the few facts she already knew about the place. Nestled next door to the cruise terminal, the casino distracted tourists before the ships sailed. Locals hung out there, too. There was a busy hotel inside the casino, mostly filled to capacity every night by gamblers, conventioneers and cruisers who wanted one more night in Tampa before flying home.
Jordan remembered the interior well. In addition to a huge floor full of slot machines and poker tables, the Florida Casino featured a few event rooms like the one for Sal’s reception today. The Aquarium Room boasted a spectacular floor-to-ceiling five-hundred-thousand gallon saltwater aquarium where rare fish, colorful coral, eels, and more were on display. She’d been to several events there before. But today, the aquarium would provide stunning backgrounds for pictures and video that Jordan couldn’t wait to bring back to the newsroom.
Jordan passed palm trees and parking garages as she approached the front of the casino. Time check? Five o’clock on the dot. Later than she’d meant to be after the equipment delay, but still okay because the award presentation was planned for 5:30. If she only got one picture, that was the one she needed. The money shot.
She pulled into the circular drive toward press parking. Problem: no news trucks. Not one. No one from the competition had bothered to show up. Arrogant Creep and his pals were right. This story wasn’t newsworthy at all.
Her stomach flipped and her spirits deflated like a helium balloon with a leak in it. She really had been sent out to fail. Someone push reset on this wretched day, please. What the hell was she supposed to do now?
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The Heir Hunter Series:
Blood Trails
The Jess Kimball Thrillers:
Fatal Game
Fatal Edge
Fatal Fall
Fatal Error
Fatal Demand
Fatal Distraction
Fatal Enemy
The Hunt for Jack Reacher Series:
Deep Cover Jack
Jack and Joe
Jack in the Green
Get Back Jack
Don’t Know Jack
Jack in a Box
Jack and Kill
The Hunt for Justice Series:
True Justice (Judge Willa Carson)
Fair Justice (Judge Willa Carson)
False Justice (Judge Willa Carson)
Cold Justice (Judge Willa Carson)
Wasted Justice (Judge Willa Carson)
Secret Justice (Judge Willa Carson)
Twisted Justice (Judge Willa Carson)
Due Justice (Judge Willa Carson)
Mistaken Justice
Raw Justice
Dear Reader,
Welcome to the continuing Jordan Fox Mysteries, starring tenacious multimedia journalist Jordan Fox. An ambitious newcomer with a difficult past, we’re thrilled that readers have fallen in love our feisty new heroine!
I’m also excited to continue working with my colleague, Beth Dexter. Beth brings realism to Jordan Fox the way only an insider can because she’s a journalist who worked as a producer in a TV newsroom. Like Jordan, Beth began her TV career after college, at age 22. If you want to know what being on the inside of the news is really like, look no further!
We’re joining Jordan Fox almost in real time. We’re living her career and the developing stories she’s reporting, right along with her. Jordan is an MMJ (Multimedia Journalist) in one of the largest media markets in the country and very quickly finds that journalists don’t simply report the news—sometimes, they’re right in the middle of it all!
The series of Jordan Fox Mysteries intertwines with my other work, but is designed to be read independently. Jordan lives and works in Tampa and her adventures are loaded with Florida atmosphere. You’ll also find some of the characters from my other books that you already love—such as Judge Willa Carson and Attorney Jenny Lane. You can join in the discussion via Facebook here: http://www.facebook.com/bethdexterbooks. For a complete listing of all Diane Capri books look here: http://dianecapri.com/books/
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ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Diane Capri is a New York Times, USA Today, and worldwide bestselling author. She’s a recovering lawyer and snowbird who divides her time between Florida and Michigan. An active member of Mystery Writers of America, Author’s Guild, International Thriller Writers, Alliance of Indepen
dent Authors, and Sisters in Crime, she loves to hear from readers and is hard at work on her next novel.
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Beth Dexter is a New Adult author. She is a seventh generation Floridian who took a detour to North Carolina to receive her B.A. in English at Davidson College. She went on to pursue a career in journalism, working as a TV News Producer. She loves photography, traveling, swimming, and her family.
Please connect with Beth online:
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