Smith's Monthly #18
Page 22
Lott smiled. “Thanks,” he said.
Julia nodded, as did Andor in agreement.
“But thanks go to you,” Lott said, “for giving us the permission to do the job we love and make a difference.”
Chief Beason laughed. “I get three of the best detectives I have ever had the pleasure to meet working for me for free and making me and the rest of the clowns down at headquarters look smart. What’s not to love on my side?”
“Perfect,” Lott said.
“We got a new case,” Andor said, pointing to a file he had put on the counter.
“One close to my heart,” Chief Beason said, smiling. “So hope you all can pull your magic on that one.”
“Oh, great,” Lott said, shaking his head, but smiling.
“By the way,” Beason said, “I do have one bone to pick with you three from this last case. You could have saved me going into that basement.”
Andor laughed and shook his head. “You and Couch and Landers needed to see that to really understand the depth of sickness of those two women.”
“And the scale of the tragedy that needed to be dealt with,” Julia said.
“Yeah, I know,” Beason said. “Just glad no cameras were around to catch the three top law enforcement officers in the area all throwing up together. Felt like a bad night back in college. First time I ever lost my lunch over any crime scene.”
“You weren’t alone with that one,” Lott said.
“So what is your secret?” Beason asked. “Besides being smart and having your daughter and Doc and Fleet helping, how does the Cold Poker Gang solve so many unsolved cases?”
“You honestly want to know?” Andor asked, staring with his look of intensity at the chief.
Lott smiled at Julia.
“I do,” the chief said, looking slightly puzzled that his light question was being taken so seriously.
“KFC before every meeting,” Andor said, pulling the bucket toward himself and grabbing a wing.
“He’s not kidding,” Julia said, yanking the bucket to her and grabbing a wing as well.
“He’s not,” Lott said, grabbing a leg and biting into the juicy, warm meat.
The chief smiled, shook his head, and then pulled the bucket toward himself and grabbed a thigh, biting into it and letting the grease get on his face.
“See what I mean?” Andor asked.
The Las Vegas Chief of Police nodded and smiled. “I do. I feel smarter already.”
“Best crime-fighting food ever,” Lott said, holding up a half-eaten chicken leg in salute.
They all saluted with their own half-eaten chicken part, and with that the laughter filled the room and the Cold Poker Gang was ready for a new case.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Considered one of the most prolific writers working in modern fiction, USA Today bestselling writer Dean Wesley Smith published far more than a hundred novels in forty years, and hundreds of short stories across many genres.
At the moment he produces novels in four major series, including the time travel Thunder Mountain novels set in the Old West, the galaxy-spanning Seeders Universe series, the urban fantasy Ghost of a Chance series, and a superhero series starring Poker Boy.
His monthly magazine, Smith’s Monthly, which consists of only his own fiction, premiered in October 2013 and offers readers more than 70,000 words per issue, including a new and original novel every month.
During his career, Dean also wrote a couple dozen Star Trek novels, the only two original Men in Black novels, Spider-Man and X-Men novels, plus novels set in gaming and television worlds. Writing with his wife Kristine Kathryn Rusch under the name Kathryn Wesley, he wrote the novel for the NBC miniseries The Tenth Kingdom and other books for Hallmark Hall of Fame movies.
He wrote novels under dozens of pen names in the worlds of comic books and movies, including novelizations of almost a dozen films, from The Final Fantasy to Steel to Rundown.
Dean also worked as a fiction editor off and on, starting at Pulphouse Publishing, then at VB Tech Journal, then Pocket Books, and now at WMG Publishing, where he and Kristine Kathryn Rusch serve as series editors for the acclaimed Fiction River anthology series.
For more information about Dean’s books and ongoing projects, please go to www.deanwesleysmith.com, www.smithsmonthly.com or www.fictionriver.com.
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Table of Contents
Introduction
For the Balance of a Heart
ONE
TWO
THREE
FOUR
FIVE
SIX
SEVEN
EIGHT
NINE
Mated from the Morgue
ONE
TWO
THREE
FOUR
An Easy Shot
PROLOGUE
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
After the Dance
I Killed the Clockwork Key
Me and Beans and Great Big Melons
Calling Dead: A Cold Poker Gang Mystery
PART ONE
PROLOGUE
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
PART TWO
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
PART THREE
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
PART FOUR
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
PART FIVE
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
CHAPTER THIRTY
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
Subscription Information
About the Author
Acknowledgements
Copyright Information
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