The Circuit Rider (31 page)

S
ilas met them the next day in the lobby of the Palace Hotel. Tower had decided to spring for one night at the expensive place, and he and Bird had gotten drunk together.

A waiter brought a pot of coffee to the table, and Silas nodded to him.

Bird sat down, looking fresh and energetic. Tower felt like he’d been run over by a stagecoach. But he was alive. And happy. He caught Bird looking at him.

She winked at him.

“I have good news and bad news,” Silas said.

“Let’s start with the bad,” Tower said. He poured himself a cup of coffee and drank deeply. He was going to need a lot of it this morning. “That way, we can end on some good.”

“Okay,” Silas said, letting out a long sigh. “The church has determined that because of the men you killed, as justified as it was, the attention it has brought makes them feel like it would be inappropriate to give you a congregation at this point.”

Tower nodded. He’d had a feeling this was coming. And honestly, he wasn’t sure how he felt about things, anyway. He felt good about putting a stop to Toby Raines’s madness. And the girl would survive.

“The good news?” Bird said. She pulled out a flask and splashed some amber liquid into her coffee. She held it up toward Tower, with a questioning eyebrow. Tower shook his head.

The gesture made Bird laugh. Tower realized it was a rare sight, and he was struck by what a beautiful woman Bird Hitchcock was.

“The good news is that they were very impressed with your investigative skills,” Silas said to Tower. “And your skill at protection,” he said to Bird. “You two make a very formidable team.”

“I appreciate that,” Tower said.

“So much so that I have something to offer you,” Silas continued. “You see, the church is often approached by individuals who have volatile situations in which they do not wish to include the police. In some cases, we try to help them.”

He laid down a thick envelope on the table between the three of them.

“What the hell is that?” Bird said.

“This,” Silas said, tapping the front of the envelope, “is your next case.”

THE END

I would like to thank everyone at Thomas & Mercer and Amazon Publishing for making this serial novel a reality. Specifically I’d like to thank Courtney Miller, Shawn Deyell, Jacque Ben-Zekry and Andy Bartlett.

Photograph by Annabel Ames

B
orn in the suburbs of Milwaukee to a teacher and a poet, Dani Amore studied journalism at the University of Wisconsin before launching a copywriting career in advertising. She is the bestselling author of several books, including The Killing League, Dead Wood, and Death by Sarcasm, which won the 2011 Independent Book Award for Crime Fiction.

This book was originally released in episodes as a Kindle Serial. Kindle Serials launched in 2012 as a new way to experience serialized books. Kindle Serials allow readers to enjoy the story as the author creates it, purchasing once and receiving all existing episodes immediately, followed by future episodes as they are published. To find out more about Kindle Serials and to see the current selection of Serials titles, visit
www.amazon.com/
kindleserials
.