Being robbed at gunpoint wasn’t part of Sarah Tucker’s business plan. Neither was falling in love with the detective who arrived to solve the case.
For police detective Randy Detweiler, a routine robbery investigation turns into the biggest challenge of his career when he falls in love with the victim and ends up having to save more than her business.
*****
Being robbed at gunpoint wasn’t part of Sarah Tucker’s business plan. Neither was falling in love with the detective who arrived to solve the case.
All Sarah wants is success for her gift boutique, the one she and her husband created. Now, she’s living a hand-to-mouth existence. Her husband died a year earlier in a car accident—an accident that was ruled suicide, denying her his life insurance money. Burdened by guilt that she was somehow to blame for his death, Sarah faces one business setback after another. Determined to succeed on her own, she fights off a meddling sister-in-law as well as offers of financial assistance from a former boyfriend. Unaware someone is setting her up for failure, she’s totally unprepared to find herself fighting for survival.
Police Detective Randy Detweiler thinks the crook is a thief who’s been evading cops all over the state. A routine robbery investigation turns into the biggest challenge of his career when he falls in love with the victim, and he starts crossing professional boundaries. When Sarah disappears, he's afraid all his detective skills might not be enough to find her in time to save her life.
Excerpt
Sarah Tucker’s hands shook with anger as she fumbled the keys into her gift boutique’s lock. Bad enough the bus driver stopped beside a puddle the size of Crater Lake, which she cleared despite the restrictions of her skirt and pumps, thank you very much. But when that head-banger in the heavy-metal-blasting SUV had sped past, any satisfaction at her nimble footwork disappeared in a dousing of muddy water.
The cheerful jingle of the door chimes did nothing for her mood. Sarah rushed to her small office behind the glass sales counter and shrugged out of her coat to assess the damage. She dampened some paper towels and daubed at her mud-spattered shoes and stockings. She couldn’t go home and change and the last thing she wanted was to appear at the bank this afternoon looking like she needed a loan. If you needed money, you couldn’t get it, but if you had it, they’d give you whatever you asked for.
Enough negative thoughts. Sarah hung up her keys and tossed her instant soup packet into the basket by her coffee pot. Another gourmet lunch. At a knock on the door, she checked her watch. It wasn’t quite ten, but she’d open for a possible sale. Patting her windblown hair into place, she hurried to the front door.
Christopher Westmoreland stood there, looking impeccable as always. No head-banger would dare splash water on his perfectly creased trousers. His hair wouldn’t dare blow in the wind.
“Chris. What brings you to town?” She stepped back into the store and toward the register. “I’m getting ready to open, but if you need anything, I’ll be glad to get it for you.” As if he’d actually buy something.
“Not today. I’ve got some appointments over in Salem. Thought I’d say hello before I head out.” He strolled to the counter and leaned over its glass top, close enough for Sarah to smell his sandalwood aftershave and the cinnamon gum he chewed. “You haven’t returned any of my calls. I know things have been tough since David…died. I only want to help. Why won’t you let me? For old times’ sake, if nothing else.”
Memories of David flooded back. It had been over a year, but the pain lay just beneath the surface, waiting to engulf her. She shoved her emotions back into that metal strongbox in her brain, slammed the lid and turned the key. She was no longer Sarah, David’s wife. Or Sarah the daughter, or Sarah the high school sweetheart. She was Just Plain Sarah.
Sarah met his pale green eyes, the ones she’d found so irresistible in high school. “We’ve been through all this before. I need to do it on my own. I can manage without your money.” Even though he’d promised ‘no strings,’ Sarah knew if she took a dime from him, she’d be attached with monofilament line. The kind that cut when you tried to break it.
“Are you sure? You look like you haven’t slept in a month. And your hair. Why did you cut it all off?”
“Well, thanks for making my morning.” Sarah fluffed her cropped do-it-yourself haircut. “It’s easier this way.”
“How about dinner tonight? Come on, Sarah. We’re friends, right?” His eyebrows lifted in expectation.
Dinner with Chris or five-for-a-dollar Ramen noodles at home? Accepting dinner wouldn’t be selling out, would it? “Maybe. Call me later, okay?”
[…]
The way Chris had referred to David’s death churned through her thoughts. That horrible pause. The same one everyone else used. But Sarah knew it had been an accident. David would never commit suicide. This afternoon, she’d get a loan from the bank and re-hire the private investigator or find a better one. The investigator would get the police to reopen the case and they’d find out it wasn’t suicide. Then she’d get the insurance money, which would pay off the loan and the shop would be safe from foreclosure. It all made perfect sense. And maybe it would take away some of the guilt.
Sarah dragged her thoughts to the present, straightened her shoulders and found her professional smile again. Her customer was studying some silver picture frames. Expensive ones. She thought about how hard it had been to get Anjolie to display her work in the shop, that her work was too good for a mere boutique. She telegraphed mental messages to her customer—Please, show Anjolie she was wrong. Buy one. Buy six.
The woman set the frame down and turned away.
Sarah wouldn’t let her disappointment show. “Can I show you something else?”
The woman strolled back and fingered the frames again. “You know, I like this one.” She picked up the most expensive one, the one with the lacy pattern of roses and leaves. “And I think I’ll take the matching vase over there.”
Not good to let a customer see you jumping up and down clapping your hands. Instead, Sarah called up her most professional tone. “Excellent choices, ma’am. Would you like them gift-wrapped?”
“No, thank you. But if you have boxes for them, I would appreciate it.”
Sarah ducked beneath the counter for the boxes, calculating what the sale would mean to her bottom line. When she rose, she stared into a gun barrel.
Professional Reviews
Romance Junkies - 4 1/2 Blue Ribons
Sarah, a young widow, is determined to make her business profitable at all costs, especially since it’s what her husband would have wanted. Luck, however, is not on her side, and when things start to get worse she becomes even more tenacious about succeeding. When her friend, Christopher, offers his help, Sarah refuses, for fear of being bound to him for life. Sarah knows that Chris wants more than just friendship but she’s not ready for a romantic relationship since it’s only been a year since her husband died. Her good intentions concerning emotional entanglements grind to a halt when Sarah's shop is burglarized in broad daylight and Sarah turns to the police and Detective Randy Detweiler. As the investigation proceeds, Sarah finds herself looking forward to seeing Randy more, not only as a cop but as a man.
Detective Randy Detweiler instantly recognizes Sarah; he has always wondered how she did after her husband died. The clues he uncovers looks like they connect to other robberies, but as he finds more evidence it seems as if someone is determined to sabotage Sarah’s shop. Who is it? Is it Sarah’s sister-in-law who wants Sarah to sell the shop? Or is it Sarah’s competition? As the investigation progresses and Randy gets closer to the culprit, he finds himself getting closer to Sarah as well. When Sarah disappears, can Randy decipher the clues in time to find her before it is too late?
Terry Odell’s FINDING SARAH is an amazing book. The suspense kept me on the edge of my seat and the identity of the criminal took me by complete surprise. Sarah and Randy fit perfectly together, like yin and yang. Randy's ability to see the entire picture without over looking anything out made me fall in love with him all the more. Sarah, though everything bad was happening to her is fiercely independent, courageous and stoic.
Terry Odell has my thanks for writing such a thoroughly enjoyable book. I look forward to reading more of this talented writer.
Romance Reviews Today
FINDING SARAH combines raw suspense with an intricately woven romance between two people who clearly can use a little bit more in the emotional attachment department. Randy is afraid to let himself become involved with Sarah and tries to step far away from the thin line that runs between cop and victim. Sarah, deeply in love with her deceased husband, cannot imagine allowing herself to become emotionally involved with another man. But her heart calls out for closure and the need to heal, and she may very well find that in Randy. Terry Odell successfully melds suspense and romance and creates one fine package in FINDING SARAH. Details of Sarah’s emotional torment and Randy’s steady determination to do what’s right no matter what his body is calling out for prove just how right one is for the other.
Readers simply cannot go wrong with FINDING SARAH and will definitely want to add it to their February/March reading list. Check it out at Cerridwen Press as soon as possible!
FINDING SARAH – Terry Odell
Cerridwen Press – www.cerridwenpress.com
ISBN: 9781419907821
February 2007
Contemporary Romantic Suspense
Romance Reader At Heart -- Top Pick
RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:
FINDING SARAH is the kind of book that will keep you up half the night, because it’s just that good!
Sarah Tucker, a gift boutique owner in her late twenties, was widowed a year before the book starts. Her husband’s death was closed as a suicide, though she doesn’t believe he killed himself. Her life has been quiet and sad since his death, and she has struggled to stay afloat financially.
Her careful life begins to rip apart when she is robbed at gunpoint in her store. A police detective, Randy Detweiler, starts to ask questions, and realizes there seems to be a pattern forming as to her bad luck with the store. She’s had a fire, shipment problems and supplier problems, among other issues, that she’d assumed were normal to a small business. Sarah doesn’t have any enemies though, so she finds it hard to believe someone would be targeting her. Sarah and the detective develop a personal interest too, and soon she’s reluctantly juggling two men, Randy and an old high school boyfriend, plus the memories of a much-loved husband gone too soon.
FINDING SARAH is the smoothest of reads, and as I said, nearly impossible to put down. Sarah is a most sympathetic character and you will root for all her problems to be solved!
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