Title: Angelica; A Detective Mike Eiser Novel
Author: Clabe Polk
Genre: Mystery/Suspense
Book Blurb:
As a runaway at seventeen, a Las Vegas topless dancer, a magician’s assistant, a high-dollar call girl, and eventually the wife of the top enforcer for the Las Vegas Scarpone crime syndicate, Angelica did everything possible to survive. After her husband’s death, she fled back to Georgia fearing for her safety and that of her son.
Now, eleven years later, she is a solid citizen of Poplar Bluffs with a thriving business and a talented son who appears destined for a major university baseball scholarship.
Antonio Scarpone, her husband’s former boss, is facing a federal trial on multiple racketeering indictments. In the face of advancing age, his world is crumbling around him. Amid the wreckage, his greatest obsession is Angelica’s death. Not because of her testimony but he has slipped from sanity into a paranoid obsession. He will sacrifice himself and his whole organization to kill one woman before his trial begins.
Angelica’s determination to survive and two men stand between her and Scarpone’s obsession. Detective Mike Eiser, a local cop determined that she will not die on his watch; and Danny Salzano, the first assassin assigned by Scarpone, to whom Angelica has become the last ray of hope after the death of his family.
But, Scarpone is willing to sacrifice himself and everyone around him. Can the three of them stand against Scarpone’s obsession?
Excerpt:
“Got any extra time today?” Eiser asked from the door of Moore’s office.
“As a matter of fact, my entire day is at your disposal, my liege. How can a lowly serf be of help to the Lord of the Manor?”
Eiser snickered. “I need you to look into some car rental and plane ticket information for me.”
“About Capitano?”
“Yes. I think he’s staged a second rental car and a second set of flight arrangements to ensure his getaway.”
“Where do I start?”
“Start with a car rental at Atlanta Hartsfield. Then maybe a second rental place in Augusta. I think the second one is a silver Toyota Corolla. I don’t know what the first one is, but I’m guessing the Augusta police can find it if we can get a description.”
“What are we going to do when we find it?”
“Impound it as evidence in a felony case.”
Capitano drove automatically, oblivious to the peace and beauty of the late spring Georgia countryside that he’d enjoyed the evening before. His head was swimming, his stomach was cramping badly, and he was more than thirty miles from Poplar Bluffs. Pushing the accelerator harder, the Toyota tore down two-lane roads like a wood chip in a tornado. Capitano found himself praying that he wouldn’t come up behind slow-moving local traffic or worse, a farm tractor pulling out of a side road.
In the corner of his bleary eye, an animal crossed the road in front of the car. Too late to brake, he swerved into the ditch, skidding sideways in the grass, teetering on two wheels and nearly rolling over. Airbags exploded, wedging Capitano into the driver’s seat while a disgusting odor permeated the car. He felt fluid running into the fabric beneath him, soaking his clothes and the seat. With what, blood? He took mental inventory and came up without an injury, then thought back to his stomach cramps.
Aw, shit! The bull that had caused the accident paused at the edge of the road to nibble some grass, but soon lost interest and ambled away. Capitano fished in his pocket for a knife and sliced the airbag. The car started on the first try. Gently, he tried to move the car out of the ditch. Surprisingly, it came out easily and moved out onto the pavement, seemingly without major damage. He said a silent thanksgiving prayer, and then the cramps overcame him again with the inevitable result.
He shuddered in weakness and disgust, wondering how he would get into his hotel room without being seen. He drove off back in the direction of Washington, his stomach problems continuing the entire way.
***
Eiser’s cell phone rang. “Detective Eiser.”
“Mike, it’s Glenn Glassman. Can you have Angela in my office at noon?”
“I suppose. What’s up?”
“The FBI is coming here to interview her.”
“Wow, she’ll be impressed.”
“I’m sure she will. Please just get her here Mike. I’m trying my best to keep them from taking her to Las Vegas. That’s what they want to do.”
“I’m on it,” said Eiser. He hung up and dialed Angela’s phone.
“Cassetta Highland Properties, may I help you?”
“Rae, this is Mike, may I speak with Angela?”
“Angela, Mike is on line one,” said Rae Ann.
“What time and where?” answered Angela as she picked up the phone.
“Excuse me?”
“What time and where does the FBI want to see me?”
“How did you know?”
“Just a hunch. Call it unfinished business.”
“Glassman’s office at noon.”
“I’ll be there.”
Eiser hung up, leaned back in his desk chair, propped his feet on the garbage can, and booted up his computer. A knock on the door disrupted his focus. He looked up to see Mini Moore leaning on the doorframe.
“Earth to Eiser,” said Moore. “We have a newsflash.”
“What would that be?”
“Due to some flawless detective work by me, myself, and I, we were able find the rental company in Atlanta and identify a Chrysler 300 rented by one Marco Capitano.”
“Great work, Mini!”
“It gets better. As we suspected, the Augusta police found the Chrysler in a parking space at a shopping mall in Augusta. They impounded it at our request as part of an ongoing felony investigation. It appears that the great all-seeing Mike Eiser was correct about Capitano’s backup plan.”
“I’ll take my bow later. What about the plane tickets?”
“Yep, Charlotte to Las Vegas day after tomorrow.”
“No shit?”
“Yeah. He still has his return tickets out of Atlanta, too.
“What felony case? Linda Dunham will have a fit if you do that.”
“If no felony case develops, we’ll release it and the DA’s office will never be involved. Based on the earlier attempts on Angela’s life, we’ll probably be returning it to the rental company, driver deceased.”
“What about the plane tickets?”
“Just a hunch, but if it were me, I’d like a backdoor. Say, a flight from Charlotte?”
“Makes sense. I’ll check it out.”
Buy Links (including Goodreads and BookBub):
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/729888
Book2Read: https://books2read.com/u/meBad9
Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/angelica-clabe-polk/1123644087
Why is your featured book a must-read?
Feed your craving for intense, and sometimes humorous, crime action at its best!. Everybody has a past…but what if the past comes calling…in the form of a seemingly endless train of hitmen focused on one thing; killing Angela Cassetta. Prepare to stay up at night to see which of Antonio Scarpone’s thugs will be successful; and how many of them will die or be arrested by Detective Mike Eiser…a man determined Angela will not die on his watch!
Giveaway –
Enter to win an e-book bundle of all 42 books featured in the Mystery and Suspense Bookish Event:
Open Internationally.
Runs August 11 – 17, 2020.
Winner will be drawn on August 24, 2020.
Author Biography:
CLABE POLK is a multi-genre author of several novels, novellas, and short stories. Originally trained in biology and natural sciences, he is a life-long reader with a curious mind, who is retired from more than thirty years in professional environmental protection and law enforcement and who has too many interests to list.
He lives in Powder Springs, Georgia with his wife, two daughters, and the family’s Cockapoo named Annie.
Social Media Links:
Author website: http://clabepolkmysteryadve.ipage.com/index.html
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