The Deep Blue Alibi

The Deep Blue Alibi

Paul Levine

ALSO AVAILABLE

JAKE LASSITER SERIES

“Mystery writing at its very, very best.” – Larry King, USA TODAY

TO SPEAK FOR THE DEAD
: Linebacker-turned-lawyer Jake Lassiter begins to believe that his surgeon client is innocent of malpractice…but guilty of murder.

NIGHT VISION
: After several women are killed by an Internet stalker, Jake is appointed a special prosecutor, and follows a trail of evidence from Miami to London and the very streets where Jack the Ripper once roamed.

FALSE DAWN
: After his client confesses to a murder he didn’t commit, Jake follows a bloody trail from Miami to Havana to discover the truth.

MORTAL SIN
: Talk about conflicts of interest. Jake is sleeping with Gina Florio and defending her mob-connected husband in court.

RIPTIDE
: Jake Lassiter chases a beautiful woman and stolen bonds from Miami to Maui.

FOOL ME TWICE
: To clear his name in a murder investigation, Jake follows a trail of evidence that leads from Miami to buried treasure in the abandoned silver mines of Aspen, Colorado. (Also available in a new paperback edition).

FLESH & BONES
: Jake falls for his beautiful client even though he doubts her story. She claims to have recovered “repressed memories” of abuse…just before gunning down her father

LASSITER
: Jake retraces the steps of a model who went missing 18 years earlier…after his one-night stand with her. (Also available in a new paperback edition).

SOLOMON vs. LORD SERIES

(Nominated for the Edgar, Macavity, International Thriller, and James Thurber awards).

“A cross between ‘Moonlighting’ and ‘Night Court.’ Courtroom drama has never been this much fun.” –
FreshFiction.com

SOLOMON vs. LORD
: Trial lawyer Victoria Lord, who follows every rule, and Steve Solomon, who makes up his own, bicker and banter as they defend a beautiful young woman, accused of killing her wealthy, older husband.

THE DEEP BLUE ALIBI
: Solomon and Lord come together – and fly apart – defending Victoria’s “Uncle Grif” on charges he killed a man with a speargun. It’s a case set in the Florida Keys with side trips to coral reefs and a nudist colony where all is more –and less – than it seems.

KILL ALL THE LAWYERS
: Just what did Steve Solomon do to infuriate ex-client and ex-con “Dr. Bill?” Did Solomon try to lose the case in which the TV shrink was charged in the death of a woman patient?

HABEAS PORPOISE
: It starts with the kidnapping of a pair of trained dolphins and turns into a murder trial with Solomon and Lord on
opposite
sides after Victoria is appointed a special prosecutor, and fireworks follow!

STAND-ALONE THRILLERS

IMPACT
: A Jetliner crashes in the Everglades. Is it negligence or terrorism? When the legal case gets to the Supreme Court, the defense has a unique strategy. Kill anyone, even a Supreme Court Justice, to win the case.

BALLISTIC
: A nuclear missile, a band of terrorists, and only two people who can prevent Armageddon. A “loose nukes” thriller for the 21st Century. (Also available in a new paperback edition).

ILLEGAL
: Down-and-out lawyer Jimmy (Royal) Payne tries to re-unite a Mexican boy with his missing mother and becomes enmeshed in the world of human trafficking and sex slavery.

PAYDIRT
: Bobby Gallagher had it all and lost it. Now, assisted by his 12-year-old brainiac son, he tries to rig the Super Bowl, win a huge bet…and avoid getting killed. (Also available in a new paperback edition).

Visit the author’s website at
http://www.paul-levine.com
for more information. While there, sign up for Paul Levine’s newsletter and the chance to win free books, DVD’s and other prizes.

Table of Contents

Chapter One
SOLOMON’S LAWS #1
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
SOLOMON’S LAWS #2
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
SOLOMON’S LAWS #3
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
SOLOMON’S LAWS #4
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
SOLOMON’S LAWS #5
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
SOLOMON’S LAWS #6
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
SOLOMON’S LAWS #7
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
SOLOMON’S LAWS #8
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
SOLOMON’S LAWS #9
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Five
Chapter Thirty-Six
SOLOMON’S LAWS #10
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Chapter Forty
Chapter Forty-One
Chapter Forty-Two
Chapter Forty-Three
Chapter Forty-Four
SOLOMON’S LAWS #11
Chapter Forty-Five
Chapter Forty-Six
Chapter Forty-Seven
Chapter Forty-Eight
Chapter Forty-Nine
SOLOMON’S LAWS #12
Chapter Fifty
Chapter Fifty-One
Chapter Fifty-Two
Chapter Fifty-Three
Chapter Fifty-Four
LIST OF SOLOMON’S LAWS
Also Available
About the Author

To a funny and loving lady, Sally Levine.

My mother.

One

WORLD’S RICHEST LOBSTERS

“Forget it, Steve. I’m not having sex in the ocean.”

“C’mon,” he pleaded. “Be adventurous.”

“It’s undignified and unsanitary. Maybe even illegal.”

“It’s the Keys, Vic. Nothing’s illegal.”

Steve Solomon and Victoria Lord waded in the shallow water just off Sunset Key. At the horizon, the sun sizzled just above the Gulf.

“In this light, you’re really magnificent,” he said.

“Nice try, hotshot, but the bikini stays on.”

Still, she had to admit that there was something erotic about the warm water, the salty breeze, the glow of the setting sun. And Steve looked totally hot, his complexion tinged reddish bronze, his dark hair slick and lustrous.

If only I didn’t have to drop a bombshell on him tonight.

“It’ll be great.” He slipped his arms around her waist. “A saltwater hump-a-rama.”

Dear God. Did the man I think I love really say “hump-a-rama”?

“We can’t. There are people around.”

Twenty yards away, a young couple with that honeymoon look—satiated and clueless—peddled by on a water bike. On the beach, hotel guests carried drinks in plastic cups along the shoreline. Music floated across the water from the hotel’s tiki-hut bar, André Toussaint singing “Island Woman.”

Why couldn’t Steve see she wasn’t in the mood? How can someone so good at picking a jury be so oblivious to the ebb and flow of his lover’s emotions?

She pried his hands off her hips. “There’s seaweed. And sea lice. And sea urchins.” She’d run out of
sea things.
“We can do it later in the room.”

“Bor-ing.”

“So you find our sex life a big yawn?”

“I didn’t say that.”

She sharpened her voice into cross-exam mode. “Isn’t it true that after a few months, all your girlfriends start to bore you?”

“Not the ones who dumped me.”

“Do you realize you have relationship attention disorder?”

“Whatever that is, I deny it.” He pulled her close, and she could feel the bulge in his swim trunks. “I love our sex life. And the room’s fine. Clean sheets. A/C. Nice view. Why don’t we go in now and get started?”

Get started? Makes it sound like cleaning the kitchen.

“You go. Start without me.”

“C’mon. We can catch the sunset from the balcony.”

She looked toward the horizon, where thin ribbons of clouds were streaked the color of a bruised plum. “We won’t make it in time.”

No way she was going to miss the orange fireball dip into the sea. She loved the eternal rhythm of day into night, the sun rising from the Atlantic, setting in the Gulf. Day after day, year after year. What dependability. She doubted Steve understood that. If he had his way, the sun would zigzag across the peninsula, stopping for a beer in Islamorada.

She had another reason to postpone the lovemaking.

The bombshell.

She’d been thinking about it all the way to Key West. A pesky mosquito of a thought, buzzing in her brain. She hated to ruin the evening, but she had to tell him, and soon.

“Okay, I give up,” Steve said. “
Coitus postponus.
What time do we meet your uncle?”

She brought her legs up and floated on her back. Looking toward the horizon upside down, the sun floated at the waterline, connected to its reflection by a fiery rope. “Nine o’clock. And I told you—he’s not really my uncle.”

“I know. Good old Hal Griffin. Your father’s partner, the guy who bought you fancy presents when you were a spoiled brat.”

“Privileged,
not spoiled. Uncle Grif’s the one who named my mother ‘The Queen.’ ”

“And you ‘The Princess.’ ”

So Steve had been listening after all, she thought. “You think the name fits?”

“Like your Manolo Blahniks.”

She started swimming, heading out to sea, toward the setting sun. Smooth strokes knifing through the water, now glazed a boiling orange. Steve swam alongside, struggling to keep up. “What I don’t get is why Hal Griffin called you after all these years.”

The same question had been puzzling Victoria. She hadn’t seen Uncle Grif since her father’s funeral when she was twelve. Now, without warning, a phone call.

“All I know, he has some legal work for me.”

“You mean for
us.
”

“He didn’t know about you.”

“But you told him, right? Solomon and Lord.”

“Of course.”

Is this how it begins? A little white lie, followed by bigger, darker ones.