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Authors: Christy Barritt

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BOOK: Hazardous Duty
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“I hate to cut this date short, Gabby.”
Parker’s pager had gone off, and he had to rush to another case. I nodded. In
the two weeks since we’d been dating, I was already getting used to it.

Parker’s lips brushed mine in a brief
goodnight kiss. Then he stuffed his hands in his pockets and sauntered down the
stairs. I watched him and smiled. He’d been such a support to me since the case
was behind us. A definite blessing. Especially now that Riley had moved.

Every day I stared at Riley’s vacant
apartment door and wondered who my new neighbor would be, wondered if I’d like
them as much as I’d liked Riley. I wondered when Riley and Veronica would get
married and if I’d be invited. I had no plans to attend, if I was.

Parker turned and fanned his fingers in
a wave before exiting the apartment building. After he disappeared outside, I
stuck my key in the lock and turned.

A familiar squawk froze me.

I turned around. Riley stood in the
doorway to his old apartment.

“Riley?” I resisted the urge to throw my
arms around him and tell him how much I missed his company. “What are you doing
here? I thought you moved to California.”

His sparkling eyes met mine. I’d missed
those eyes.

“Veronica and I called it quits. Neither
of us were happy. I’m not ready to be in the limelight. I just wanted to get
away from that scene.”

I swallowed, regretting the joy I felt
at his announcement. I was dating Parker. I shouldn’t feel this way toward
Riley.

“So, you’re here to stay?” I asked. It
seemed a safe enough question.

He smiled that same smile that always
melted my heart. “Yeah, I am.”

“Glad to have you back.”

“Glad to be back.” He nodded toward the
front door. “You and Parker together?”

Why did I suddenly want to deny it?
Parker and I were happy. The past couple of weeks had been really nice. “We’re
giving it a shot.”

His grin seemed to dim. Or was it
wishful thinking on my part? He looked to the ground before meeting my gaze. “I
just wanted to let you know I’m back. We’ll have to get coffee sometime and
catch up.”

“How about church instead?” I asked,
remembering the promise I’d made in desperation. I wasn’t sure there was a God
out there, but just in case there was, I decided I should keep my promises to
Him. Besides, I wanted what Harold and Riley possessed. I wanted the truth, the
whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

His eyes widened, and he grinned. “I’d
like that.”

I would like that too, I realized,
slipping inside my apartment. I would too.

 

 

 

Discussion Guide

 

·
        
How
has Gabby’s upbringing shaped her life today?

 

·
        
Which
of Gabby’s friends would you most like to have dinner with? Why? What qualities
do you appreciate in your own friends and why?

 

·
        
Music
has a huge impact on Gabby. Musicals have often been her escape, her way of
holding on to the hope that there’s a happy ever after. How has music affected
your life? If you had to pick a song to characterize your life so far, what
would it be and why?

 

·
        
Do
you think there’s a balance to be found between science and Christianity? Can
they go hand in hand? How can you argue with someone who says that science and
Christianity don’t agree?

 

·
        
How
does Gabby change throughout the book? What events trigger that change?

 

·
        
One
of the lessons that Gabby learns in the book is that “life isn’t God.” Have you
ever had a time in life where your view of life has skewed your view of God? Is
it hard for you to separate the two?

 

 

If you enjoyed
Hazardous Duty
, look for
these other books in the Squeaky Clean series:

 

Suspicious
Minds (Book 2)

 

In this smart and suspenseful
sequel to
Hazardous Duty
, crime-scene cleaner Gabby St. Claire finds
herself stuck doing mold remediation to pay the bills. But her first day on the
job, she uncovers a surprise in the crawlspace of a dilapidated home: Elvis,
dead as a doornail and still wearing his blue suede shoes. How could she
possibly keep her nose out of a case like this?

 
 

Organized
Grime
(Book 3)

 

Gabby St. Claire knows her
best friend, Sierra, isn’t guilty of killing three people in what appears to be
an eco-terrorist attack. But Sierra has disappeared, her only contact a frantic
phone call to Gabby proclaiming that she’s being hunted. Gabby is determined to
prove her friend is innocent and to keep her alive. While trying to track down
the real perpetrator, Gabby notices a disturbing trend at the crime scenes
she’s cleaning, one that ties random crimes together—and points to Sierra has
the guilty party. Just what has her friend gotten herself into?

 

Other
Books by Christy Barritt:

 

Death
of the Couch Potato’s Wife
(Suburban Sleuth Mysteries #1)

You haven’t seen desperate
until you’ve met Laura Berry, a career-oriented city slicker turned suburbanite
housewife. Well-trained in the big city commandment, “mind your own business,”
Laura is persuaded by her spunky 70-year-old neighbor Babe to check on another
neighbor who hasn’t been seen in days. She finds her neighbor, Candace Flynn,
wife of the infamous “Couch King,” dead, and at last has a reason to get up in
the morning in suburbia: murder. Someone’s determined to stop her from digging
deeper into the death of her neighbor, but Laura is just as determined to
figure out who’s behind the death-by-poisoned-pork-rinds.

 

The
Trouble with Perfect

 Since the death of her
fiancé two years ago, novelist Morgan Blake’s life has been in a holding
pattern. She has a major case of writer’s block, and a book signing in the
small mountain town of Perfect
sounds like just the solution to help her clear her head. Her trip takes a
wrong turn when, on her way there, she’s involved in a hit and run—she’s hit a
man, and he’s run from the scene. Before fleeing, he mouthed the word “help.”
She plans to give him that help, but first she must find him. In Perfect, she finds
a town that offers everything she’s ever wanted. But is something sinister
going on behind the town’s cheery exterior? Was she invited as a guest of honor
simply to do a book signing? Or was she lured to town for another purpose—a
deadly purpose?

 

 

BOOK: Hazardous Duty
13.78Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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