Before Deadline: A Sagebridge Story

By L.J. Fleming

Margo Hemsworth, a small-town reporter, finds herself covering a murder investigation, the first in 20 years in the town. Through following the story, Margo is thrust into a difficult situation as her father, James, is preparing to represent Kinser Alvin, the lone suspect.

Kinser, a long-time troublemaker, and all around bad boy, has just returned to Sagebridge after several run-ins with the law. After making his home with his aging mother, he is now wanted for murder.

When Margo’s need for sex without attachments comes around to bite her in the backside, there is only one person left to pick up the pieces, and another with murder on his mind.

Will Margo be his victim or will someone come to save her from the clutches of death before it’s too late?

Reader Advisory: An Action Thriller Romance of 11,996 words

• Language: English
• Publisher: Luminosity Publishing LLP
• Release date: Mar 24, 2017
• ISBN: 9781370583874

L.J. Fleming

Calling Indiana home, LJ is a busy mother of three and wife to the love of her life, who she met on a blind date, its own romantic tale. When not busy cheering at football games, attending band concerts or playing with her daughter, LJ finds time to enjoy comic books, reading, video games and snuggling her two cats, Zeus and Banjo.From the time she was a child, LJ has written about the world around her. From the first romance she wrote, she was hooked and writing has been an important part of her life ever since.

Book preview

BEFORE DEADLINE

A SAGEBRIDGE STORY

L.J. Fleming

Margo Hemsworth, a small-town reporter, finds herself covering a murder investigation, the first in 20 years in the town. Through following the story, Margo is thrust into a difficult situation as her father, James, is preparing to represent Kinser Alvin, the lone suspect.

Kinser, a long-time troublemaker, and all around bad boy, has just returned to Sagebridge after several run-ins with the law. After making his home with his aging mother, he is now wanted for murder.

When Margo’s need for sex without attachments comes around to bite her in the backside, there is only one person left to pick up the pieces, and another with murder on his mind.

Will Margo be his victim or will someone come to save her from the clutches of death before it's too late?

BEFORE DEADLINE

A SAGEBRIDGE STORY

L.J. FLEMING

WWW.LUMINOSITYPUBLISHING.COM

LUMINOSITY PUBLISHING LLP

BEFORE DEADLINE

A SAGEBRIDGE STORY

Copyright © March 2017 L.J. Fleming

Cover Art by Poppy Designs

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

No part of this literary work may be reproduced in any form or by any means, including electronic or photographic reproduction, in whole or in part, without the written permission of the publisher.

This is a work of fiction. All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is purely coincidental.

Dedication

The life of a journalist is never easy. I would like to dedicate this book to Clayton Doty who taught me to be a good journalist.

Chapter One

In the early morning light of July 4th, Sagebridge became a different place. No, the annual Fourth of July parade wasn’t ambling down Main Street in all its pomp, screams were coming from behind the local tavern, but they were quickly silenced.

Sagebridge would never be the same again…

Margo looked at the assignment board again. Listed below her name were the regular beats she covered. There were local governmental meetings, but the assignment scrawled at the bottom of the list made her frown. She was too experienced for such frivolity.

Walking with purpose, Margo crossed the small newsroom to Bill Levitt’s office. When the black word Editor came into view, etched neatly on the door, she didn’t even stop to even knock.

She had worked too many years with Bill to have to knock. Margo barged through the door and stood in front of his desk, her arms crossed defiantly over her chest, waiting for him to acknowledge her. Clearing her throat to get his attention, Margo started tapping her foot against the tile floor in annoyance.

What, Margo? Bill asked looking up from his computer screen, his glasses slipping down his nose making him appear like a kind, older gentleman and not the fierce newshound Margo knew he could be.

You gave me the dog parade? she asked incredulously.

It’s a Sagebridge tradition, he said as though it was a Pulitzer-winning assignment.

Ten years I’ve busted my ass, Margo said. I get the good stories. Give Amiee or Rudy the dog parade.

Bill sighed. Margo recognized it as a heavy sigh of someone who didn’t want to fight with her again. He was wearing down, just in two sentences. Margo knew she would win and tried to push him over the edge.

I know how long you’ve worked here, but a story is a story, Margo, he said.

Send Amiee. She loves this kind of news, Margo said tapping her foot louder to annoy him.

The phone in Bill’s office