Justice Betrayed

A Memphis Cold Case Mystery, #3

by

Patricia Bradley

  Genre: Fiction / Romantic Suspense

Publisher: Revell

Date of Publication: June 5, 2018

Number of Pages: 352

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It’s Elvis Week in Memphis, and homicide detective Rachel Sloan isn’t sure her day could get any stranger when aging Elvis impersonator Vic Vegas asks to see her. But when he produces a photo of her murdered mother with four Elvis impersonators—one of whom had also been murdered soon after the photo was taken—she’s forced to reevaluate. Is there some connection between the two unsolved cases? And could the recent break-in at Vic’s home be tied to his obsession with finding his friend’s killer?

When yet another person in the photo is murdered, Rachel suddenly has her hands full investigating three cases. Lieutenant Boone Callahan offers his help, but their checkered romantic past threatens to get in the way. Can they solve the cases before the murderer makes Rachel victim number four?

Praise

“The third installment of Bradley’s Memphis Cold Case series focuses on a cold case related to a homicide detective’s past…Bradley includes the unique character of Erin who seems as if she is a real person and takes great care to portray her respectfully.”  —RT Book Reviews

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EXCERPT: CHAPTER 1, PART 2

JUSTICE BETRAYED

BY PATRICIA BRADLEY

(used with permission)

Click to read the Prologue on the Lone Star Book Blog Tours 8/15 tour stop

Click to read Chapter 1, Part 1 on the Lone Star Book Blog Tours 8/16 stop

1

August 2017

Elvis is in the building, and he wants to see you. 🙂

Continued…

Memories scratched at the back of her mind. “And you want me to solve it?” Rachel had enough cases without adding another one, particularly one that delved into her past. “This is a cold case, and I don’t work cold cases.” She started to hand him the photo. “Wait, did you say Harrison Foxx?”

The memory finally surfaced, though it was cloudy. He was her mother’s friend. And somehow her father was involved, but it was all jumbled in her mind. “Why are you bringing this to the police now?”

“I brought it to the attention of the police last year, and they didn’t do anything about it. This week marks seventeen years since he was murdered. It’s time somebody paid for what they did.”

Rachel felt there was more. He held himself too rigid, and when she didn’t comment right away, he shifted in the chair.

“Is that the only reason?”

Vic swallowed and moistened his lips. “I may be in over my head. I think someone broke into my house last night, and my gut says they were looking for information about Harrison’s murder.”

“Why would anyone be looking at your house for information on his murder?”

He hesitated. “You’ll think I’m crazy. My daughter does. For years, I’ve been trying to solve Harrison’s murder, but this last month I really got into it. I’ve been calling around and asking questions of people we knew back then, even followed up and went to see a few of them. I think I asked the wrong person the wrong question.”

Joy. An Elvis impersonator and an amateur sleuth. It was her lucky day. “Are you saying that generally or are you talking about a specific person?”

“I don’t have enough proof to call any names, just the same gut feeling I had seventeen years ago.”

“This break-in. Did you report it?”

He shook his head. “I couldn’t find anything missing.”

Oh boy. This was sounding stranger and stranger. Maybe his daughter was right. Vic obviously believed what he was saying. She doodled on her desk calendar. “So, why bring it to me? We have an excellent Cold Case Unit.”

“They’re the ones I took it to last year, and they said there were a lot of cases ahead of this one and they’d contact me. So far, no one has. I thought the case might be personal to you since he was a friend of your mother.”

She had no recollection of Foxx being murdered, but if it had happened around the time of her mother’s funeral, it was no wonder. Grief and anger had consumed Rachel then. While the grief had lessened over the years, the anger remained hot as ever.

Vic’s intense gaze held hers. The cases already on her workload hung in the back of her mind. Maybe a quick look at the cold case file would provide information that would satisfy him that everything had been done to find Foxx’s killer. Either way, she had to fill out a report, so she took out a notepad and one of the mechanical pencils she liked to use to write her notes. Made erasing easier. “I don’t suppose Vic Vegas is your legal name?”

He grinned and ducked his head, much like she’d seen Elvis do in film clips.

“Actually, it is. I had it legally changed in ’95. It was less confusing.”

O-kay. “Give me your original name for the records.” She wrote “Phillip Grant” on the pad as well as the stage name, then asked for his contact information. After he gave it to her, she tilted her head toward him. “I’ll talk with someone in the Cold Case Unit Monday.” And hope Sgt. Brad Hollister didn’t laugh her out of his office.

“Would you like my files on the murder?” Vic asked.

“Files?”

He nodded, raising his eyebrows. “I typed up everything—the people I’ve talked to in person or on the phone, what I learned, everything—and put the notes into files.”

“You have a list of people you’ve questioned?” That might save time if anything in the cold case files warranted a second look at the case.

He nodded. “I even talked to your dad.”

That was bound to have gone over like a ton of chicken feathers with the Judge. “Why would you talk with my father?”

“He represented Harrison in a legal matter a year or two before Harrison died. And he was there the night of the contest.”

She caught her breath. Vic was right. An image of her dad in the audience flashed in her mind. She’d been surprised that he had attended the charity event because he and her mother had been separated for about a month then. If Vic hadn’t mentioned it, she probably never would have remembered it. To her knowledge, it was the only time he attended anything Elvis. Her dad thought all the hoopla around Elvis Week was ridiculous. Which never sat well with her mom, since she’d been one of Elvis’s biggest fans.

“Do you have the files with you?” Rachel doubted Vic had uncovered anything worthwhile, but the Cold Case Unit might be interested.

“Afraid not,” he said. “Stopping here was kind of a spur-of-the-moment thing. And I don’t have time to go get them before the competition starts.”

Click to read Chapter 1, Part 3, the conclusion of Chapter One, coming on the Lone Star Book Blog Tours 8/23 tour stop!

Patricia Bradley is the award-winning author of Justice Delayed and Justice Buried, as well as the Logan Point series. She is cofounder of Aiming for Healthy Families, Inc., and a member of American Christian Fiction Writers and Romance Writers of America. She lives in Mississippi.

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GRAND PRIZE: All Three Books in the Memphis Cold Case Series + Elvis Umbrella + $10 Starbucks Gift Card

2^ND PRIZE: All Three Books in the Memphis Cold Case Series

+ $15 Barnes & Noble Gift Card

3^RD PRIZE: All Three Books in the Memphis Cold Case Series

+ $10 Starbucks Gift Card

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  August 15-24, 2018

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