It was supposed to be simple. All struggling actor Carlo Baresi had to do was pick a man up, drive him to the location he specified, then report where he’d taken him. The only problem is, the man isn’t who he says he is ... and they both know it. Bookstore owner Joe Donnelly has a reputation for helping those in need, but this plan has been a bad one from the second he stepped in. Discovering someone has switched out the driver is one more complication he doesn’t want, especially since Carlo is the kind of distraction that can get a man in serious trouble if he’s not careful. But they have something in common. They’re both loose ends, struggling to find out what is really going on. And murder is always complicated, even when you’re on the same side.

The Low Between

Lizzie stood in front of him, holding a half-empty coffeepot ready to pour. In the twelve years he’d been coming to Phil’s, she was the only waitress he’d ever known. Nobody else was willing to work the nightshift. Tall, thin to the point of gaunt, she bore the hollow eyes of a woman who’d lived centuries, but she always had a weary smile for Joe.


Though more coffee would make it easier to stay awake, he passed his hand over his cup. “Nah, I’m good.”


The tilt of her head said she knew otherwise, but Lizzie didn’t argue as she moved out from behind the counter to repeat her question to the pinochle players. Joe automatically looked at the clock again. Five-seventeen. He should give up and make Copper deal with his problems himself. Nobody knew Joe was involved. He could walk away clean.


And no matter how many years went by, he could never abandon his final vow to Emmett.


Chapter 12