Dead Drop by Jack Patterson (reading cloud ebooks txt) 📕

wound up getting his day in court with the feds and lost. He was sentenced to a ten-year term.

The flurry of periphery stories that cropped up around the case kept Cal busy for a week, including the revelation that Tim Peterson did indeed flunk a drug test. When the last one was finally written, he was about to invite Buckman and Ramsey to join him for a beer at King’s Hardware when Alicia Westin called.

“Mr. Murphy?” she said after he answered.

“Please, call me Cal.”

“Okay, Cal. I wanted to thank you for everything you did in uncovering my brother’s killer. It wasn’t who we thought it was, but we thought someone was behind it all.”

“And you were right.”

“I know this simple phone call isn’t enough to truly thank you for what you did, but my entire family is grateful.”

“I’m just doing my job.”

“Well, thank you—and I mean that from the bottom of my heart.”

Cal hung up and took a deep breath. It was those moments that made what he did worth it.

He scanned the newsroom again and spotted the targets of his impending invite to King’s Hardware.

A half-hour later, Cal bought Buckman and Ramsey a round of beers and swallowed hard before starting to speak, “I brought you two here today to say thank you and sorry. Thank you for believing in me, Buckman. I know this story was a crazy one, and I had to sound like a fool as I insisted it appeared to be murder, but you still believed in me.” Cal turned to Ramsey. “And, Ramsey, I was the biggest jackass this side of the Mississippi, and I want to tell you that I’m sorry. I should’ve never treated you that way, and you did an admirable job under the circumstances of picking up my pieces and writing a couple of solid stories. Even though I was upset about the story you broke on Umbert being a suspect in the murder-for-hire plot to kill Westin—and even though you were wrong,” Cal said with a wink, “it was good reporting. And I promise that I’ll do my best in the future not to treat you like that again.”

Ramsey held up his mug and clinked it with Cal’s and then Buckman’s. “All is forgiven.”

In the middle of throwing down the rest of his beer, Cal froze when the bar fell silent. He slowly put his glass down and realized everyone was staring at the television.

In a developing story, we’ve just learned that Mike Black, the starting strong safety for the Seahawks is in critical condition after being shot earlier this evening.

Cal slapped a ten-dollar bill on the table and put on his coat. “Well, guys, it looks like it’s back to work.”

THE END

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

AS A FIVE-YEAR-OLD BOY living in England I never had a chance not to play soccer, the world's beautiful game. And I became hooked. Even after my family moved back to the United States, I withstood plenty of ridicule and scorn for my love for soccer. Watching soccer develop in the U.S. has been fascinating — and it truly has reached a fever pitch level in the cities where there are professional teams.

I’d like to thank Margo Yoder, who helped shape this story into something better through her keen eye for detail, as well as Krystal Wade, whose editing skills helped take this wrinkled shirt of a story and press it smooth. And Dan Pitts did another wonderful job in capturing the look and feel of Cuba for the cover.

And to you the reader—thanks for reading!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

JACK PATTERSON is an award-winning writer living in southeastern Idaho. He first began his illustrious writing career as a sports journalist, recording his exploits on the soccer fields in England as a young boy. Then when his father told him that people would pay him to watch sports if he would write about what he saw, he went all in. He landed his first writing job at age 15 as a sports writer for a daily newspaper in Orangeburg, S.C. He later attended earned a degree in newspaper journalism from the University of Georgia, where he took a job covering high school sports for the award-winning Athens Banner-Herald and Daily News.

He later became the sports editor of The Valdosta Daily Times before working in the magazine world as an editor and freelance journalist. He has won numerous writing awards, including a national award for his investigative reporting on a sordid tale surrounding an NCAA investigation over the University of Georgia football program.

Jack enjoys the great outdoors of the Northwest while living there with his wife and three children. He still follows sports closely.

He also loves connecting with readers and would love to hear from you. To stay updated about future projects, connect with him over Facebook or on the interwebs at www.IamJackPatterson.com and sign up here for his newsletter to get deals and updates.

DEAD DROP

© Copyright 2016 Jack Patterson

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the Publisher, except where permitted by law.

This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real locales are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

eBook ISBN: 978-1-938848-74-2

First eBook Edition 2016

Cover Design by Dan Pitts

Published in the United States of America

Green E-Books

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