Sweet Romance Reads: Sneak Peek at Framed For Murder By Mary Alford

Hi Readers! This is one of my favorite times of the year. Soon, the air will be crisp and clean, and the trees will begin turning those beautiful fall colors we love so much. Fall is a time to rejuvenate. The heat of summer is over. Thanksgiving and Christmas are on their way. It’s a wonderful time of the year.

Today, I thought I’d share an excerpt from my October Love Inspired Suspense book, Framed For Murder. This is the third book in the Scorpion Team series. Each of these books have been challenging in their own way because they deal with a very real fear in the world we live in today. The threat of a terrorist attack.

Here's a little about Framed For Murder:

FALSELY ACCUSED

Framed for helping her partner smuggle guns—and then murdering him—CIA agent Liz Ramirez must find the evidence that will prove her innocence…before she's caught or killed. So when her squad's leader attempts to bring her in for questioning, she knows her future depends on convincing Aaron Foster to go rogue and help her. On the run from the rest of her team and the gun dealers who are convinced she knows the location of their missing weapons, Liz risks losing the proof that would clear her name. But will eluding her pursuers—and trying not to fall for the handsome commander—prove to be fatal?

You can buy the book on Amazon.

Excerpt:

ONE

You’re being set up... The moment Agent Liz Ramirez switched on the burner phone and read the text message, her stomach turned to ice.

The number attached had been blocked. The sender wanted to remain anonymous. That it had come through on her burner phone was disturbing enough. No one knew the number except...Michael.

Her fear for his well-being spiraled. It had been growing most of the day.

She thought about her partner, Michael Harris’ earlier depression. When she’d dropped him off at his home after he’d been released from the hospital, she’d sensed something was bothering him even though he refused to talk about it.

Now, standing on his front porch, the same feeling of unease that had followed throughout the day resurfaced.

Liz rang the doorbell. “Michael, are you in there?” she called out when nothing stirred inside.

His car was in the drive. The house looked the same as when she’d left Michael to get some rest, yet the hair standing at full attention on her arms warned her the feeling was neither a figment of her imagination nor a remnant of recent events creeping in.

With the Scorpion team’s latest capture of their top terrorist threat known as the Fox, and the weapons he’d supposedly smuggled into the US still missing, the implication hinted at by his second-in-command still troubled Liz. Was someone else involved in the operation? Someone closer than any of them wanted to believe?

She tried his phone once more. She could hear it ringing inside.

Liz reached for the door handle. It opened freely in her hand. As a member of the CIA’s elite Scorpion team, Michael would know security was critical. The team had been tasked with bringing down some of the most deadly terrorists operating around the world and because of it, they had enemies everywhere. Michael wouldn’t deliberately leave the door unlocked.

With her heart hammering in her chest, she reached for her weapon, eased through the door and into the house.

“Michael, where are you?” The quiet of the house settled around her without answer. Liz forced herself to breathe as she glanced around the living room. Nothing appeared out of place. His phone lay on the end table as if he’d tossed it there.

“Michael,” she called out as she eased to the bedroom. She touched the unmade bed. It was cold. He hadn’t been here in a while. A quick search of the closet and adjoining rooms proved fruitless.

That left just one more place. The kitchen. Her stomach chewed with tension. Something was wrong; her heartbeat drummed in warning. It felt as if she were walking through cement as she slowly entered the kitchen and saw it. In an instant, her world crumbled and her worst fear became a reality.

Michael lay sprawled facedown on the tile floor. A pool of drying blood framed part of his head.

Her hand flew to cover her mouth. “Michael,” she said in a broken voice then dropped to her knees next to him. He was cold to the touch. Rigor mortis hadn’t yet set in. A single gunshot wound to his right temple confirmed the method of death. But the murder weapon was nowhere in sight.

Bile rose in her throat and she sucked in handfuls of breaths before it finally subsided. She couldn’t wrap her head around the truth staring her in the face. Michael had been murdered.

Tears filled her eyes, spilled over and soaked her jeans, yet she was powerless to stop them.

The man who’d become like a brother to her was gone and she couldn’t have felt guiltier.

About the Author:

Publishers Weekly Bestselling Author Mary Alford grew up in a small Texas town famous for, well not much of anything really. Being the baby of the family and quite a bit younger than her brothers and sister, Mary had plenty of time to entertain herself. Making up stories seem to come natural to her. As a pre-teen, Mary discovered Christian romance novels and knew instinctively that was what she wanted to do with her over-active imagination. She wrote her first novel as a teen, (it’s tucked away somewhere never to see the light of day), but never really pursued her writing career seriously until a few years later, when she wrote her first Christian romance and was hooked. Today, Mary still lives in Texas, and still writes about romance. In fact, she can’t think of anything else she’d rather do. Learn more about Mary Alford at: www.maryalford.net where you can sign up for her newsletter. Also feel free to send her an email to maryjalfordauthor@gmail.com.