Tough Customer

Hard-living detective-turned-P.I., Dodge Hanley tries not to dwell on the past. But when he gets a call from Caroline King, “the one” who got away, there’s no time for looking back; their daughter is in trouble.
Caroline has told Berry that Dodge is an old friend they can rely on to prove she didn’t shoot her ex-lover, even though she’s already told the cops she saw the real culprit. It was Oren Starks, Berry insists, a former co-worker fired for stalking her. Dodge believes his daughter…and he’s pretty sure Deputy Ski Nyland does, too, considering how hard he’s working to find Starks. Berry’s told them he’s depraved, and from what they learn, she’s got him pegged. But nut jobs play by their own crazy rules. The only thing clear to Dodge is that Starks is obsessed with having Berry…or killing her, and neither is acceptable to a man who’s determined to right some old wrongs, even if he has to risk his life not to mention his heart to do it.
"HE WAS OUT OF THE TRUCK WHILE DUST AROUNDTHE TIRES was still rising. The ambulance's emergency lights sentpulsing shafts of color into the surrounding forest. The doors of theambulance had been left open by the EMTs, who, he assumed, werealready inside.His boots crunched in the gravel as he covered the distanceto the porch in three long strides. He entered the house through theopen front door,stepping into a wide foyer. His eyes swept the mainroom on his left. Nobody in it. Nothing apparently disturbed. Twoempty wineglasses were on the coffee table in front of a slipcoveredsofa. Traces of lipstick were on one of the glasses but not on the
other.The sofa faced a stone fireplace, where a leafy fern had beenplaced in the grate for the summer.Rocking chair with woven cane seat. Patchwork quilt foldedover the arm of an upholstered easy chair."