Collateral Damage is the third thriller in the best-selling Annie Ogden series by Frederick Lee Brooke, fellow member of the BestSelling Reads group. I'm proud to participate in the blog tour launching this exciting title.
How good is Fred Brooke's Annie Ogden series? You could read my review of the first book in the series, the gripping and hilarious Doing Max Vinyl. You could follow the blog tour, starting with Chapter 1 on Shannon Mayer's blog, continuing with the Chapter 2 excerpt below, and then follow the tour according to the schedule, at the bottom of this page.
Or the best way: buy the books!What's Collateral Damage about?
A love story.
When Annie Ogden’s ex-boyfriend Michael Garcia
reappears, she has to confront a lie dating back to her time in Iraq.
Will she go back to hot, passionate Michael, who has developed a
disturbing interest in meth, or will she stick with her pudgy PI partner
and fiancé, Salvatore?
A murder.
The calculus changes
when Michael is arrested for murder. When Salvatore refuses to help
investigate, Annie is forced to try to find the killer herself.
Meanwhile her sister’s creepy husband, Todd, is making more of an ass of
himself than usual.
An obsession.
Annie's problems with three obsessive men suddenly pale in significance when she realizes the killer has set his sights on her.
Follow the blog tour every day, and leave a comment on each participating blog to win a $25 Amazon gift card AND a free signed paperback copy of any of Fred Brooke's books.
Now, get into it with this excerpt from
Chapter 2—Annie
I worked it up to a sprint for the last
five blocks, rising onto the balls of my feet. Various people with
toddlers and old people with canes moved aside. My attacker was
watching. He could have ditched the mask. I wouldn’t even know
which man he was. He knew where I lived, who I was.
I opened the door with the brass
nameplate engraved with D’Angelo/Ogden. Salvatore had affixed the
nameplate within three weeks of my moving in. At first, it bothered
me. Was I some kind of territorial prize for him to mark on his door?
Alison said I should be happy it was my own name. People wrote Mrs.
John Ogden on letters to my mother. My mother left her last name
and her first name at the altar.
Coffee perfumed the kitchen. I peeled
off my training jacket, looking for signs of my man, but the only
sound was the clicking of the steam radiators. I saw the bedroom door
standing ajar at the angle I’d left it. Salvatore cherished his
morning sleep.
I brought my mug in the bathroom and
cranked the shower. How many times in Iraq, all I wished for was a
shower. We’d be out on patrol somewhere, all night and then into
the morning. We’d set up and wait all day for nightfall. You’d
watch and wait for hours at a time. At a certain point, you started
to itch. You’d be thinking a shower would feel pretty good about
now.
I could make a list of the things I
will never again in my life take for granted. Showers would
definitely be on the list. Maybe not at the top of the list.
Salvatore stood there in boxers when I
came out of the shower, all cheerful and hangdog at the same time,
blocking my way to the towel. Normally I hang it on the peg by the
shower door, but with the events of this morning, I’d forgotten. I
stood there offering a full frontal, dripping clean.
“Happy anniversary,” I said.
“Don’t bother getting dressed.”
Salvatore handed me the towel, showing the dimples under his
three-day beard.
“Listen, I really can’t right now.”
“Okay. I was just thinking.”
“I was attacked.”
“No way.”
That got his attention.
Dressed in my towel, sitting on the
bed, I described the Romney mask, the heavy arm, and my aggressive
response. Salvatore is a former cop. He was on the Oak Park force for
seven years, and he’s been a private investigator since he quit. He
wanted to know details, as if we were going to go after my attacker.
“What about the shoes? Did you notice
the color? The brand?”
“No.”
“Think, Annie. Close your eyes.
Picture him in your mind.”
I did what he said. I saw the dude
backing away after I kicked him. I saw him taunting me as I prayed
for the bus to send him to kingdom come.
“I didn’t focus on the shoes. Some
dark color, like gray. Not white or orange or anything.”
“Did you recognize the voice?”
I shook my head. He was trying to put
together enough detail for a police report. He asked about rings,
tattoos, scars, or piercings. He didn’t lose patience at my
negative answers. He didn’t, but I did.
“It happened too fast. I just
reacted. He hit me, I hit harder. I think I got him in the nose. You
know, through the mask.
“So we’re looking for a guy with a
broken nose?” We sat on the edge of the bed. Salvatore’s hands
provided bookends to my face. He looked into my eyes. “How’s
Annie Ogden, after this? Ready to take on the world?”
“It makes me furious,” I said.
“I can imagine.”
“No you can’t. You always say that,
but you really can’t imagine what it’s like to be a woman and be
attacked. To be stared at just because you have blond hair. You can’t
imagine what it’s like to wonder if every stranger would be a
rapist if you gave him the chance.”
“I’ve got no hair.”
“You know what I mean.”
He wanted to joke around. I can’t
stand it when people are always cheerful. I put on my clothes while
Salvatore took his shower. Later we had another cup of coffee in the
kitchen.
“I’ve got something for you,” he
said.
We sat at the kitchen table, and I
picked up the little box. It looked like jewelry. The kind of jewelry
spelled R-I-N-G. Not on the day when I am attacked, I thought.
I wanted to postpone our half-anniversary. I wanted to postpone this
box.
He was asking me to marry him. When you
decide to marry someone, you go a long way toward defining the
principal arc of your life with that one decision. With that one
word. Fine, I thought, but I was attacked. When are we going
to talk about that? How could I think about getting married when I
had adrenaline gushing out of my eyes? How could he not see that?
I lifted the lid. In a pretty velvet
holder nestled the biggest diamond I’d ever seen, the kind a movie
star would wear. I turned the ring over and over in my fingers,
admiring the sparkle. I felt its weight. It brought back the memories
of another ring, another place and time, and the last time I was
asked. It’s eerie how the past trails you into the present, silent
and unseen, like a stalker. The stalker takes his time, he’s got
all the time in the world, but one day, I thought, he’ll pull the
trigger on me. I repressed that thought, those memories. Salvatore
deserved better.
Salvatore slid the ring on my finger.
He waited till I looked up.
“I love you, Annie. I’m ready.”
I kissed him. “Me too. Just not the
same day I’m attacked.”
Win a $25 Amazon gift card AND a
signed paperback edition of any book by Frederick Lee Brooke!
To win, all you have to do is visit
every blog on the 26-day Collateral Damage Excerpt Tour and leave a
comment showing that you read the excerpt. That’s it! See the blog
list and join the tour ...
Monday,
June 24: Chapter 1 on Shannon Mayer's News Blog
Sunday,
June 30: Chapter 7 on Anne Chaconas' blog
Thursday,
July 11: Chapter 18 on Connie M. Chyle's blog
Having lived in Switzerland for the
past two decades, Brooke has taught English, run a business and
learned French, German and Italian. You can find him online at
www.FrederickLeeBrooke.com.
Sign up for his newsletter and read all about his travels, recipes,
and upcoming works!
