by Debbie Burke
She tucked it in her cleavage, then closed the drawer and released the frantic dog from the closet. Muggins raced to Lydia and catapulted into her lap. No response.
At the front door, Cassandra paused to don her coat. “Don’t worry, Lydia darling. Muggins will soon be playing with doggie friends.”
Crouching against the blast of windswept snow, she hurried to her own condo at the opposite end of the four-unit building. The whiteout masked her movement if anyone happened to be looking out a window. By the time she reached home, the blizzard had already filled in her footprints, wiping away any trace of her final visit with Lydia.
* * *
If a lawyer saves you from prison and gives you a job, you’ll do anything he asks. At least that’s how Tawny Lindholm felt. Otherwise, she wouldn’t be driving at a crawl in the middle of a Montana blizzard in January.
Two hundred cookie-cutter condominiums lined the maze of looping lanes in Golden Eagle Golf Resort, ten miles outside Glacier National Park. She needed to find the unit where her boss Tillman Rosenbaum’s father lived. The father he refused to talk to.
A good six inches of fresh snow already layered the street, more heaped on the curbs. Tawny parked her Jeep Wrangler in front of what she hoped was the right building and crunched through white banks, shuffle-scuffing on the buried walkway. Icy bullets stung her cheeks and nose.
She pounded on the door with her gloved hand. Waited. Her teeth chattered.
At last, the door swung open. Moshe Baruch Rosenbaum filled the entrance, a startling preview of what her boss would look like in thirty years. Long lanky limbs, tight iron-gray curls, and a jutting lower jaw that dared the world to take a swing at him. He could have been Tillman’s older identical twin, except this man was black. That explained her boss’s bronze skin tone, which, until now, she’d assumed came from a tanning booth.
“What?” Moshe Rosenbaum snarled.
Tawny smiled with as much warmth as she could manage in a wind chill of twenty below zero. “Mr. Rosenbaum, my name is Tawny Lindholm. I wonder if I could have a few minutes of your time.”
“You’re too old to be selling Girl Scout cookies.” The door started to close.
“I’m not selling anything, sir. I work for your son and he asked me to—”
“I have no son!” His baritone roar sounded like God in a cave.
Even though she’d anticipated the rebuff, Rosenbaum’s fury unnerved her. She forced her smile wider, despite chattering teeth. “Sir, I need to talk to you. It’s important.”
The elderly man glared down at her.
Tawny often felt the same rage from Tillman and had learned to stand up to him. Would that work with his father? She met his angry, dark eyes with a steady gaze and took a chance. “Mr. Rosenbaum, you know as well as I do that your son is a big pain in the ass. If I don’t do what he says, he’ll fire me and, sir, I really need this job.”
TO BE CONTINUED…
To read more of Stalking Midas, click on this link.
About The Author
Debbie Burke
Debbie Burke writes Tawny Lindholm Thrillers with a Heart. She is a regular contributor to the award-winning crime writing blog The Kill Zone, as well as on staff for periodicals. Her greatest joy is mentoring young writers.
Tawny Lindholm Thrillers with a Heart
Investigator Tawny Lindholm is like your trusted best friend to whom you’d confide your deepest secrets. But don’t ever mess with her family and friends.
Teamed with her take-no-prisoners boss, attorney Tillman Rosenbaum, Tawny tackles issues torn from today’s headlines: teenage suicide, scams that target seniors, domestic terrorism, and murder.
Instrument of the Devil
After her husband's death, Tawny Lindholm isn't looking for romance but it finds her when she meets Kahlil Sharivar, a handsome, charismatic psychologist. Intimidated by technology, Tawny welcomes his help with her troublesome new smartphone.
But while he woos her, he's also setting her up to take the blame for a cyberattack he's plotting!
Tawny's survival and that of her family will depend on her own raw, untested courage. Will it be enough?
Stalking Midas
Charming con artist Cassandra Maza has cornered her prey, Moe Rosenbaum, an addled millionaire with nine cats, until Tawny Lindholm disrupts the scam.
Tawny suspects elder fraud and won't stop digging until she finds the truth. Cassandra can't allow that. She's killed before and each time it's easier.
Tawny will be next.
Eyes in the Sky
Investigator Tawny Lindholm loves her boss, renowned criminal attorney Tillman Rosenbaum, but his troubled teenage children scare her. Her resolve to keep her distance goes out the window when his honor student daughter overdoses. Now Tawny can’t turn away from the girl whose life she saved.
Meanwhile, treacherous enemies are determined to destroy Tillman by targeting his family. Will Tawny pay the ultimate price to protect him and the children she cherishes?
Dead Man's Bluff
Investigator Tawny Lindholm’s plans for a romantic Florida vacation with attorney Tillman Rosenbaum vanish when they’re caught up in Hurricane Irma. Tillman’s beloved coach, Smoky, disappears into the storm, along with a priceless baseball card. Is he dead or on the run from a shady sports memorabilia dealer with a murderous grudge?
During a desperate search in snake-infested floodwaters, Tawny becomes the bargaining chip in a high-stakes gamble. The winner lives, the loser dies.