Excerpt
CHAPTER ONE

Two agonizing days after the State of Louisiana wrongly executed her father for murder, Shadow McClane bought a gun and sought justice. It was also the day her stepbrother’s best friend, Raven Deveroux pissed her off.
* * *
After her father’s funeral, Shadow stood alone on the wide, pillared veranda of his home with eyes as dry as the Southern summer skies.
She was too damned angry to cry.
She watched more friends and relatives arriving to give their condolences to her father’s widow Rose, his two stepson’s, John and Michael Tolliver and herself.
“Damn vultures,” Shadow muttered and swore beneath her breath.
She tapped her toes encased in black, three inch-heeled sandals and pushed the loose tendrils of her shoulder-length hair from her face while she watched another well-wisher approach.
Shadow cursed her and every one of the bald-faced hypocrites who waltzed in front of her offering their false condolences. Their greedy eyes passed right over her, lingering on the wealth of the antique furnishings and objects d'art inside the white-stuccoed mansion.
She could almost see the drool from their lips and dollar signs in their eyes, jealousy’s ugly head rearing over her father’s self-made fortune.
Shadow glanced over the woman’s shoulder looking for an avenue of escape. She needed time alone to grieve before her tough facade disintegrated.
She’d struggled to be so strong for her father after his arrest for the murder of a prominent banker, but that ended when they lowered her father’s casket into the ground.
One bullet shot pointblank to the brain ended Judd Tuckers, the banker’s life and destroyed two families. The hell of it was the murder weapon belonged to her father.
Watching her father give up hope after years of struggling to find the truth devastated her. She couldn’t save her father's life, but come hail or high water, she would clear his name.
Shadow excused herself and spun around to escape. She plowed head-on into Raven Deveroux, Michael’s long time friend. She stepped back and stabbed him with a glare before she moved to walk around him.
Raven placed both hands on her shoulders to stop her. He turned her to face him. “Are you okay?” She saw the concern in his eyes, but she was in no mood to be civil. Not to him.
She jerked away from him and snarled. “No, I’m not okay. I won’t be until I find the real killer and shove him and the town’s corrupt court system right smack into their self-righteous faces.”
“Shadow, I’m not going to argue with you about this right now. This is not the time or place.”
“There’s nothing to argue about. You’ve refused to help me, so I’ll do it alone.”
He sighed. “Then, you’re a fool. I’m not going to help you throw yourself into an early grave. The murderer still roams the streets a free man. You’ll be putting yourself and your family in danger if you stir up anymore trouble. The law considers the case closed. There’s nothing more you can do, Shadow. Leave it alone.” Raven pinned her with a fixed glare before turning and walking away.
Shadow watched his back disappear through the front doors.
“That’s where you’re wrong, Buster. There is something I can and will do,” she whispered.