Lakeland Series Novel Quotes
**All of these quotes were chosen by randomly scrolling through the table of contents with my eyes closed, then offering you the page which my spinning fingers landed on! Happy reading!
Book One: The Heart of Things
Chapter Thirty-One
He’d told her to stay in the car.
Like that was happening.
And when she’d opened the car door, Sly had leaped past her, then streaked off across the yard, tearing towards the man running towards her daughter.
“Abbie!”
She screamed it when he reached her, when he hauled Abbie backwards by the hair, when her daughter’s scream of pain punched through her gut.
And she would remember to the day she died, the sight of Drew taking a stance, raising both arms, aiming, firing.
Book Two: The Way of Things
Chapter Twenty-Five
“Is it just me,” Abbie said, “Or have we been spending a lot of time here lately?”
Drew looked up from watching the nurse squeeze the life out of his arm with the blood pressure cuff.
“What, have you got something against hospitals?” he asked.
Colleen and Abbie snorted in derisive unison.
“Yes, Abs,” Colleen said, “It does. Way too much time.” She hadn’t left the room since the doctor had finished examining Drew, and she didn’t take her eyes off him now as she spoke to her daughter.
“Stop worrying, Collie,” Drew said. “You heard the doctor say I’m fine.”
“I heard the doctor say you have a fractured collar bone and that they are keeping you overnight for observation. That is not fine. Not to me.”
The sound of Drew’s deep sigh was muted by the knock at the door of his room.
“Grandma? What are you doing here?”
“I called her,” Colleen said, “She’s going to take you and Sylvester home with her.”
“To Zara?” Abbie said in surprise. “But Grandpa doesn’t allow dogs at the vineyard.”
“He’s making an exception for special circumstances,” Elizabeth said, walking into the room and giving her granddaughter a one-armed hug. Then she looked at Drew, and her tone turned brusque. “How are you, Drew? And you do know there are other officers on the force. You don’t always have to be the hero, you know.”
Drew grunted, and Colleen saw the corner of his lips quirk up.
“There was a fire,” he said, his voice loopy.
Elizabeth looked at him blankly a moment, then turned her glance on her daughter. “Is he on painkillers?”
“Many,” Colleen answered, dryly.
Book Three: The Best of Things
Chapter Four
The crime scene was a mess. Grisham stood in between two rows of vines in one of Lakeland’s most celebrated businesses and couldn’t decide whether to be jubilant or completely pissed off.
A woman’s murdered body disposed of in the fields at Zara Vineyards: it was just the type of story that, in the hands of the right author with the right skills, could become a huge bestseller. Grisham had visions of film scripts and movie offers flashing through his head like giant neon lights. Dollar signs danced like Christmas in his head.
On the other hand, by the time he’d arrived pretty much everyone and their dog had managed to tramp through his crime scene. Literally, he thought, and scowled at the mess of paw prints crisscrossing the clearing. When he’d arrived, the dog had still been at the scene standing guard over the corpse, snarling at anyone who dared come near. And along with the dog’s prints, the ground had been pounded by what appeared to be massive numbers of people. From where he was standing, Grisham could see at least seven different sets of prints.
Three of the prints could be accounted for immediately. There was the guy who had moved the body -- Grisham had to pry the corpse out of the arms of the half-naked and completely distraught orchard worker. Roberto Leonardo De Luca. Went by Bobby. Claimed to have been in a relationship with the victim. Which, in Grisham’s books, made him suspect numero uno.
Then there was Charles Royston, the owner of the business, who had collapsed upon discovering the body. Grisham had passed the speeding ambulance on his way into the vineyard.
Charles’ prints ended at the spot where he’d collapsed -- nowhere near the body -- and mingled with them was a smaller set of prints likely belonging to his granddaughter, Abbie Lewis. She was none other than the soon-to-be stepdaughter of Grisham’s sometimes partner, Drew Hayes. No conflict there.
Book Four: The Merry Kind of Things
Chapter Sixteen
Colleen was absolutely exhausted.
The good news was it sounded like everyone she loved was safe. When that gunshot had gone off in her ear, her heart had pretty much just stopped until Abbie’s voice, scared but alive, had reassured her.
The bad news, she discovered once they left the hospital, was for the first time ever, she didn’t want to be alone in her own house.
Not everyone had survived the day safely, though. And that thought had her walking, restless, around the house.
The teller from the Value Mart had been young and new to town. Colleen didn’t know her personally, but the news had reported her name as Nicola, and said that she’d moved to town to be near her boyfriend. Colleen shuddered a little at just how terrible that was.
Nicola wasn’t the only one who’d died. Colleen’s features hardened slightly as she remembered how terrified she’d been when she’d heard those gunshots on Abbie’s phone. Her daughter had been scared, too, which was the only thing that had kept her mother from grounding the girl until she was thirty.