VanDoren's Vice
A detective and the head of security at a casino have something in common, don’t they? Perhaps more than one thing.
Detective Mike VanDoren isn’t much of a gambler, but the ongoing embezzlement at Kansas City’s newest casino definitely has his interest. So does handsome Cole McKinney, the head of security at the Time and Tides. Mike dives head first into the case and a relationship with Cole, who can’t believe that any of his trusted employees and friends could be guilty. Mike knows differently, and it’s up to him and his team to figure out who’s behind the elaborate scheme. When a casino employee turns up dead, the case takes a bizarre twist, leaving Mike scrambling to save the people he cares about most.
Hyatt's Hunt
Kansas City’s latest serial killer suspect has just been released on a technicality. Can the homicide detective and the ADA work together to recapture the criminal?
KCPD Homicide’s newest detective, Jed Hyatt, apprehends a drug addict wanted for the gruesome murder of a local real estate agent. The man as much as admits the pretty woman isn’t his first victim. Before Jed has a chance to question him, the suspect’s lawyer gets him released on a technicality. Shocked and frustrated, Jed butts heads with the Assistant District Attorney assigned to the case, Brody Carpenter. Brash but sexy as hell, Brody lashes out at Jed for sloppy police work. He suggests the officers keep digging, and bring him any information they can uncover. In private, Brody’s interested in another type of ‘under the covers’ activity. Jed’s intrigued but concerned because the men are so different, yet Brody insists opposites attract. In a race to solve the case before anyone else is hurt, Jed discovers in a terrifying way that his actions have consequences, sometimes very dire ones.
General Release Date: 8th December 2015
Excerpt from 'VanDoren's Vice'
“Someone is ripping me off, and I want to know who.” Ted Slaughter paced back and forth behind the large wooden desk in his office.
Detective Mike VanDoren watched the casino owner run his fingertips across what was obviously an expensive piece of furniture, made from a deep, reddish-brown mahogany. The office decor was as pricey as the guy’s suit, which had to have cost about a week’s worth of Mike’s pay.
From what he’d read, Slaughter never did anything in a small way. The Time and Tides was not only Kansas City’s newest casino, but also the grandest, according to the hype buzzing around the place. Slaughter was in his fifties but appeared fit and trim, with lightly slicked-back dark hair and perfectly manicured nails. Mike had read that the local capitalist was divorced with a couple of grown children and no shortage of girlfriends. Slaughter had been very vocal about the Tides being his main focus these days. Open for less than a year, the place had a problem, and the owner wasn’t happy about it.
“How big is your staff?” Mike flipped open a small pad to take notes.
“Including the hotel and restaurants, we’ve got several hundred people. This is most likely confined to the casino dealers and employees, which number near one hundred.”
Lisa Chen, Mike’s partner, tapped a pen on her notebook. “Don’t you have, like, a million security cameras in the casino?”
Mike bit back a smile. His co-worker was sharp as a tack but at five foot two, the tiny Asian woman’s appearance could be deceiving. She wore her long, black hair in a ponytail and sported black-framed glasses, which made her seem like a brainy high-school girl. Add to that the fact that she couldn’t string a sentence together without the word ‘like’ in it, and people generally didn’t know what to make of Chen at first glance.
Mike had learned quickly not to underestimate her. Lisa’s IQ put her at the top of her class and she’d aced the detective’s exam. He secretly thought she could probably take him down with a tae kwon do move or two, though he’d never put it to the test. He’d seen her do it to more than one perp.
Slaughter gazed at her impatiently. “Of course we do. That’s what makes this so infuriating. The dealers know they’re on camera and under intense scrutiny. Yet someone has managed to make off with nearly fifty thousand dollars over the past couple of months.”
“You just now noticed?” Lisa asked.
“We just noticed the pattern. At first it was a little here and a little there. Maddening, but possibly chalked up to all the new staff we’ve been training. It’s gone way beyond that.”
The office door opened and another man joined them. An ID badge attached to a lanyard around his neck indicated that he worked there, but Mike couldn’t read his name or position. This man’s suit was more along the lines of the ones Mike wore on a daily basis, but possibly a little tighter. Glancing over his form appreciatively, Mike tried not to ogle the fellow. It was tough, seeing how he’d always appreciated a well-built guy in tight clothes.
He reluctantly dragged his gaze off the hunk’s masculine chest and up to his face. Chiseled cheekbones were the first feature he noticed, along with deep-set dark eyes. The man’s thick head of wavy brown hair was layered and shorter in front, while it flowed over his collar in back.
Mike blinked. Damn! The guy was hot.
The new arrival barely glanced their way. He said, “Excuse me.” Then proceeded to speak quietly to Slaughter.
Chen turned to Mike and murmured, “The eighties called. Richard Marx wants his mullet back.”
Mike nudged her and looked away to avoid chuckling. He thought the guy was handsome, and liked the long hair. It did have an eighties feel, which pre-dated him, but he’d watched a lot of movies and TV in his younger days and that decade held good memories for him. When his high-school friends had ogled the stars of the time, busty knockouts like Pamela Anderson and Kim Basinger, his thoughts had run more to the masculine. Richard Gere and Mel Gibson had been the handsome, upcoming studs who’d caught his eye.
Mike was comfortable with his sexuality now, but as a teenager he’d gone along with the crowd and kept his preferences secret. He’d come out in college, and fortunately his family had been cool with it. Now, his co-workers in the Kansas City Police Department were just as supportive. Some were straight, some were gay, but he considered all of them friends.
“Shush, you,” he whispered to his partner. “Bruce Lee wore a pretty cheesy hairstyle in his day.”
“Oh no.” She frowned. “One must never, ever mock the great Bruce Lee.”
Before he could reply, Slaughter got his attention.
“Detectives, this is the head of security for the casino, Cole McKinney. Cole, these are KCPD Detectives Chen and—” He blinked absently. “What did you say your name was?”
Mike smiled patiently. No one ever got his name right, even when they did remember it. “VanDoren. Mike VanDoren.”
Cole had shaken hands with Lisa first, then turned his gaze on Mike. His eyes flickered with interest as they shook.
Excerpt from 'Hyatt's Hunt'
“Freeze, police!” Detective Jed Hyatt raised his gun and pointed it at the figure in black slinking down the alley.
The man leaped behind a dumpster and just as quickly, a bullet whizzed past Jed’s ear.
To Jed’s right, his partner, Detective Will Rainey, returned a barrage of gunfire. “KCPD, you stupid motherfucker! Throw down your weapon and come out with your hands up.”
“Kiss my ass!” The man shot off another round.
Breathing heavily, Jed and Will pressed their backs against opposite sides of the alley wall and looked at each another. “You’re surrounded, Vega,” Jed called back. “And you’re already in a lot of trouble. Don’t make things worse for yourself.”
“Two cops make me ‘surrounded’?” Their suspect scoffed. “I haven’t been this scared since Hostess went bankrupt and stopped making Twinkies.”
Will took aim and fired two more shots at the dumpster. “I’ll give you a fucking Twinkie…”
The wail of a siren pierced the air, followed by another. Jed glanced toward the open end of the alley and breathed a sigh of relief. With the far end closed off the guy wasn’t going anywhere, but backup never hurt. He motioned to the SWAT commander, who acknowledged the perp’s location as his team moved in.
“Last chance to come out, shit-for-brains,” he yelled at the suspect.
The man jumped out, firing haphazardly until his gun was empty.
A SWAT sniper took aim and lightly grazed Vega’s shoulder, and their suspect fell to the ground.
Jed ran to him and kicked the fallen gun away. He glanced at his partner, who’d come up behind him and pulled out his handcuffs. “Crazy son of a bitch,” Jed muttered. He holstered his own gun and dragged Vega up by his good arm.
The man howled. “Ow! I’m shot! I need an ambulance!”
Examining the wound, Jed could barely see any blood. “You’ll live.” He grabbed Will’s cuffs and secured Vega’s hands behind his back.
“You’re hurting me! Police brutality!” he shouted. “I need a doctor!”
“You don’t need a freaking doctor, Vega.” Will lifted the man’s gun with a pen through the trigger guard to keep fingerprints intact. “A Band-Aid at the station will fix you up. Then you’ll get a nice ride to the big house. Three hots and a cot, courtesy of the good people of Missouri.”
Jed tugged the hood of the man’s sweatshirt down and exposed long, filthy black hair. The perp’s eyes were wild and bugged out. “What are you on, man? You stoned? You could have killed somebody.”
“Somebody else, you mean,” Will added.
“Yeah.” Jed sighed. They had a phone tip, backed up by an eyewitness who’d implicated Tony Vega in a particularly gruesome rape and murder of a local real estate agent, but besides the witness’ statement they didn’t have much else. Yet. The murder had shocked and frightened the public, hearing the woman had been attacked in a vacant house where she was ostensibly meeting a potential buyer. When they’d gone to question Vega at a bar he frequented the man had bolted, but hadn’t gotten far. Jed was actually surprised they’d apprehended him so easily.
He shoved Vega toward the ambulance at the end of the alley. “Somebody else is right. We’ve already got you for the murder of Natalie Wymer.”
“I don’t know nothin’ about no murder.” Vega attempted to squirm out of his grip.
“We’ll have plenty of time to refresh your memory. We have pictures and everything, including DNA. I’m sure you’ll get off reliving crime.”
Vega looked at him, spittle trailing down his chin. “Which one was Natalie? Oh, I bet she was the redhead.” He smiled and licked his lips. “She was nice.”
“Jesus, Vega. How many women were there?”
The man shrugged and gave a sickening smile. “Lost count.”
His stomach turning, Jed transferred the prisoner to a patrol officer and waited to retrieve his partner’s handcuffs. The sooner he’d passed this one off the better. “Read him his rights, boys.”
The cop in back cleared his throat and stepped out to the side. She was an attractive brunette with her hair pulled into a knot under her cap.
“Oh, sorry…” Jed sought out her name tag. “Mantle.” He realized it looked like he was checking out her breasts and he glanced up quickly.
She shot him a look but it didn’t seem too fierce. “No problem, Detective.”
£10.95 Buy Now
Add to Wishlist
Read a Sample
Send as a Gift
