Twist of Fate – A Jack West Novel (Jack West Mystery Book 1) Read online

  Twist of Fate

  A Jack West Novel

  Deanna King

  © Copyright Deanna King 2019

  Black Rose Writing | Texas

  © 2019 by Deanna King

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publishers, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review to be printed in a newspaper, magazine or journal.

  The final approval for this literary material is granted by the author.

  First digital version

  All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

  Print ISBN: 978-1-68433-275-5

  PUBLISHED BY BLACK ROSE WRITING

  www.blackrosewriting.com

  Print edition produced in the United States of America

  Thank you so much for checking out one of our Crime Fiction novels.

  If you enjoy our book, please check out our recommended title for your next great read!

  Bailey’s Law by Meg Lelvis

  “An intelligent, immersive police procedural that will leave you pining for another Jack Bailey novel.” –BEST THRILLERS

  For my husband Travis- My ‘partner in crime’

  thanks for believing in me.

  Acknowledgments

  I would like to thank the following people for their help and support:

  Thomas Faught—my ever so diligent Beta Reader, thank you for seeing it through, errors and all. Jodi Silva—with the Houston Police Department, who gave me her time via email and to Seth Colten with Euless Guns & Ammo—who took the time to talk ‘guns’ with me. To my family, who never thought I was crazy for trying. Last but not least, to Black Rose Writing. Thank you for having faith in my abilities and my manuscript, without you, I would not be at this point in my life.

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Recommended Reading

  Dedication

  Acknowledgements

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  CHAPTER THIRTY

  CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

  CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

  CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  BRW Info

  CHAPTER ONE

  The barrel of the gun looked like a cannon in her face. She backed up but had nowhere to run. God, she would die right here in this dirty, dank storeroom.

  “Why are you waiting? Shoot the bitch!” With a maniacal expression, she stood behind him goading him on, peering over his shoulder to see her. JoAnn loathed her boss for one reason, and that reason was Jed.

  “You took it all from me. She never loved me, but she loved you, why?” The man’s speech was slurred; he was drunk.

  “You don’t want to do this, Archie, put the gun down.” Her heart was thumping so hard, she knew he could see it pounding under her shirt. Could she disarm him? Did she have the guts to try?

  “Pull the trigger. She’ll be dead. We can go on with business the way we used to,” JoAnn gritted out. “Why are you waiting, shoot the gun.”

  JoAnn took her hand and shoved Archie toward Celeste. He stumbled but caught himself from tumbling to the floor. Too much freaking liquid courage messed up his coordination.

  “Archie, I swear, I didn’t know she would leave it all to me, you have to believe that. What do you want? Money? One of the bars? What?” Panic rose in her throat. She was alone with two people who wanted her dead.

  “I want what should have been mine. I want all of it—control, and to be number one. That’s what the fuck I want.” Spittle came out of his mouth as he screeched out the words. He twisted up his face, staring at her with glassy eyes. She knew he was nowhere near rational, and she would never give him control. She couldn’t sign it all over to him. That wasn’t what Sara had wanted.

  “I can’t sign it all over to you; she wanted me to have control for a reason.” She tried to keep the tremor out of her voice. She wouldn’t whimper in front of him. He might have a gun, and she knew he was and a coward, but he was holding a gun on her. Did he have enough drunken “courage” to pull the trigger?

  It was after closing time, the bar shut down hours ago, and Celeste didn’t know that Archie and JoAnn were still in the building.

  Jed heard the commotion and walked back to the storeroom.

  “Hey, Celeste, what’s going on? I heard…” He stopped talking as he walked in. He saw the gun aimed at Celeste’s beautiful face and lost control.

  Archie froze at Jed’s voice, but he didn’t lower the gun. JoAnn stepped back, and Jed shoved her out of the way, sending her crashing into cases of beer, bottles shaking and clanking. She hit the concrete floor, sprawled out facedown.

  Charging up, Jed kicked Archie’s feet out from under him. He fell sideways, and his hand holding the gun went up in the air. Jed grabbed his arm yanking and disarming him in one swift move; Archie cried out. Jed had yanked his arm so hard he popped Archie’s shoulder out of whack, sending him to the floor in pain.

  “You drunken bastard! How dare you hold a gun on her, what the hell?” Jed kicked him hard in the ribs and then jerked his sorry ass up. He took him by the front of his shirt and punched him like a doll on a rubber band, not letting go, punching him again, then again.

  Celeste bent over and picked up the gun that had fallen out of Archie’s hand, her own hands shaking, grateful the gun had not discharged.

  Archie’s nose was bleeding and broken when Jed let go of his shirt, letting him drop to the concrete floor.

  Pulling herself up off the floor, the whore screwed her face up in fury, her eyes on Jed and Jed only.

  “What, you would do anything for her? What about me and what about what I would do for you, huh?” She all but bared her pearly white teeth.

  “What do
I want with a ten cent whore? I heard you, JoAnn, egging him on. You wanted him to shoot her. I understand his anger, but not yours. Get over here now.”

  JoAnn took a timid step. Celeste felt her own heart racing and her hands shaking. She wanted her heart to stop pounding. Taking JoAnn by the arm he pulled her close, so close he smelled the whiskey on her breath. She puckered her lips and sent him an air-kiss. Jed lost it. He took his free arm, raised his hand, balled it into a fist, and for the first time in his life, he punched a woman.

  “Jed, no,” Celeste shrieked. “She’s a girl, you don’t h…” Her mouth dropped open in disbelief; he had hit her, and hard.

  “She’s a whore. She stopped being a regular woman years ago, and she threatened you. She’s just getting a little of what she deserves, that’s all.” He looked at the whore with disgust, and he spat on the floor.

  JoAnn stood back up and didn’t bother to wipe the blood that dripped from her nose, and the sides of her mouth. “I see what the score is and I bow to the powers that be.” She bowed to Jed as a Thespian actor would bow after Act 1 was over. Then she turned to Celeste and bowed.

  “It up to you now, like Sara wanted. You’d better not screw it up, or one day you won’t see it coming and just like that,”—she snapped her fingers—“a new boss will take over and you’ll be six feet under.”

  “Is that a threat, JoAnn?” Celeste exhibited no fear as she took a step toward the woman. She was ready to punch JoAnn herself. She held the gun up, showing her that the ball was in her court now.

  The whore didn’t flinch at seeing the gun, she was not scared; she had been in worse spots in the past with the kind of life she had chosen to live, and she let out a bitter laugh. “Naw, honey, ain’t no threat it’s a fact. I hear things you don’t hear, you know, pillow talk, and there’s not enough power in your pockets to keep you safe right now.”

  “Get the hell out of my club, bitch.” She turned to Archie who was holding his shoulder and moaning. “You too, Archie, get out of my club, right now.” Her voice quavered a bit; she hated showing them fear.

  Jed took her by the arm and pulled her toward him, as Archie sat up, moaning and holding his shoulder.

  “Come on, let’s go. You two pieces of shit clean up this room, and then get out.”

  Without another word, Jed walked Celeste back into the main club area of the Crystal Barrel, and over to the bar.

  “Skip, pour me two straight whiskeys.”

  “You okay?”

  She sipped her whiskey as her hands trembled. She wasn’t a drinker and it burned her throat, hitting her stomach, and then warming her to her toes.

  “I am fine, just shaken.” She heaved a long sigh.” I thought he might have the guts to pull the trigger since JoAnn was egging him on. I am so happy you came into the storeroom when you did.” A single tear fell, and all the fear began to ebb out as she cried.

  “It’s over now.” He waved to Skip. “Give me another whiskey.”

  He shot it and then turned back to her.

  “We need to get some power behind us, I mean, more than a couple of cops and a TABC (Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission) agent on the payroll.”

  “Roger knows people willing to…well, work with us…in our kind of business, and we have Ken.’’ She took another drink of her whiskey, and it burned. Her nerves were settling down.

  “Roger is a shyster and scum, and he’s Archie’s friend. His people are a joke. As far as Ken is concerned, we keep him out of the business. He can’t be connected to any of the…you know…”

  “Roger’s people will be my people and will be loyal, that I can guarantee.” Her nerves were fine now, her resolve would not be broken, and the wheels began turning in her head.

  Celeste had worked her way into power. She had been careful, yet daring. She grew the business, and she had her connections with people of means, power, and money. It had been easy since money garnered money. Jed worried that she was a marked woman; he wanted her to be more cautious. How could she have known what was around the corner and the dominoes that would be set in motion?

  Before she was in complete control, even before her beloved mentor, confidant, and best friend Sara Sutton, had the angel of death sweep her away, Celeste had been a marked woman.

  . . .

  Late one evening, as she was leaving the Crystal Barrel, three thugs grabbed her and roughed her up. Pushing her between the three of them, she fell to the ground, and one of them kicked her. Picking her up again, the tall one subdued her with one arm and covered her mouth.

  “You’re a tiny thing, if we keep this up you’re gonna get hurt, or worse, you understand me? So back off, bitch, and let someone else take control, cuz this job ain’t fit for no woman. You tell anyone about this, and we’ll come back and finish what we started. If there is a next time, we’re gonna have some fun with you, and I betcha you will like it…or ‘die’ of pleasure.” The leader leered at her. They had taken her to the far corner of the lot, and before they jumped into their car, one of them backhanded her hard, hard enough to send her sprawling to the ground.

  Just as she saw the taillights to the car, Sarge ran up and hauled her off the ground pulling her out of the way, so that the squealing tires didn’t crush her legs.

  “Holy shit, Celeste, I told you to wait for me. Jed is gonna kill me for this. Do you know those assholes?”

  She dusted herself off, wiping the blood off her lip. “No, but I heard one of them when they were getting in the car. I heard him say ‘Rog will be happy, I think we scared her.’ You think he meant Roger, as in Roger Stockard?”

  “I don’t know another Roger, do you?”

  “No, I don’t. You know he’s tight with Archie. You think they’re both behind this?” She was fuming at the thought that he was behind this attack. “Call Scottie out here, I wanna talk to him.”

  “Nope, we’re going inside.” He took her by the arm and led her back into the Crystal Barrel.

  A month later, the headlines read, Two Gunned Down on Richmond Avenue: Attorney Roger Stockard and a Man Named Archie Bowers. There were very few details, and no one was talking; the police were baffled.

  “A ‘two for one’,” Scottie told her. She hadn’t been upset, she ordered the executions, but was she ready for the consequences?

  Exactly one month later, she had another near miss in the parking lot of the Silver Moon. A truck came out of nowhere without its lights on, and if Jed hadn’t pushed her out of the way, sending her flying and crashing to her knees, the truck would have hit her. He had acted swiftly saving both of their lives. He didn’t see the driver or the plate number, it was too dark, but he’d seen the side profile of the passenger as the truck had turned and raced off.

  “Are you okay?” He helped her to her feet. The left knee of her jeans ripped, and her knee scraped, a bit of blood seeping through the tear; her hands had taken a beating on the asphalt.

  “Damn it to hell, Jed, that was no accident. Did you see who was driving?”

  She was enraged and didn’t even care about her injuries.

  “No, but I saw a glimpse of the passenger, it was Randy Simpson.”

  She didn’t miss a beat. “Son of a bitch, if that was Randy, I guarantee JoAnn is involved, those two are as thick as thieves.” She needed to get this under control before she ended up dead.

  JoAnn was vindictive, for one reason. Celeste knew it had to be Jed. JoAnn wanted Jed. Since she hadn’t been able to get the man she had set her sights on and had ended up with a pussy named Randy, she was now as dangerous as he was.

  She knew she had to get rid of her enemies…however, in the beginning…

  . . .

&nb
sp; “It makes me sick, he has such puppy dog eyes when he looks at her.” The dark-blonde-haired woman put a Virginia Slim between her cherry red glossed lips and waited for the bartender to light it. She inhaled then exhaled and a heavy stream of smoke floated out and encircled her head.

  “She’s a pain in the ass, but she has a nice ass and her rack ain’t that bad.” Randy clipped a few receipts together, opened the register, and slipped them under the cash drawer.

  “She should be on the menu then.” The woman let out a nasty laugh, then turned.” My ass is nicer and my rack’s about the same as hers. Matter of fact, betcha couldn’t tell us apart in the dark.” With a bit of force, she stubbed out the half-smoked cigarette.

  “Uh-uh, both of you are about the same size and from behind look alike, except you have that…what is it, a tickle in your ass that she doesn’t. Besides, I’d bet my last dime she’s a virgin, which you definitely ain’t. Shit, Jo, you ain’t been a virgin since you were fourteen.” He slapped the bar with his open palm and winked.

  “Hmpf, you had a piece and liked it, so back off, Randy. I don’t even make you pay for it. Hell, even in the dark and under the covers, you’d know which girl was which, I guarantee it.”

  “Jeeze, take it easy, Miss Fire-in-her-panties. Besides, you act as if you run the show and you know you don’t. If I were you, I’d take off in a flash like you do your panties and get back to work. Celeste and Jed are headed this way, and you don’t wanna piss them off now, do you?”

  She angled her head, and she saw them out of the corner of her eye.

  “Okay, Randy, I’ll see ya later.” She blew him a kiss and wrinkled her nose.

  JoAnn sashayed away from the bar past Jed and smiled as she let her red-tipped fingernails lightly slide against his shirtsleeve. “See you later, doll?” she asked in a seductive whisper.