False Fortune
by Twist Phelan
Summary
Attorney/kayaker Hannah Dain is in deep water. The chance rescue of a drowning woman leads to Hannah’s appointment as lead trial counsel in her sister Shelby’s case—a case some people will do anything to keep out of court. Then a new friend pulls her into a treasure hunt—or is it fraud?—while a recently-discovered family member threatens Hannah’s relationship with Shelby. Only by taking a gutsy chance can Hannah expose the conspiracy and unite both halves of her family.
Excerpt
“I think we’re being followed.”
Hannah Dain adjusted her rearview mirror, trying to get a better view of the driver in the white SUV. Looking for a license plate would be pointless—Arizona didn’t require them in the front.
“Of course we are,” Shelby said. “This is the only road around the lake.”
“I mean the car behind us. I saw it when we stopped for gas.”
Her sister glanced over her shoulder, then rolled her eyes. “At the one station this side of town. Do you know how many SUVs there are in this state, especially white ones? Stop being paranoid.” Shelby consulted the map print-out on her lap. “Anyway, we’re almost at the fry bread stand.”
“If you say so.”
They hadn’t seen a road sign for at least twenty minutes, not even a mile marker. In this part of the desert, land took a long time to change. If you didn’t know where you were going, you didn’t belong out here, Hannah thought.
The grill of the white SUV filled the side-view mirror, shining through the words stenciled in the glass: “Caution: objects in mirror may be closer than they appear.”
No kidding, Hannah said to herself. If the hulking vehicle were any nearer, she’d be able to see the bugs splatted on its chromed front. She pressed down on the Subaru’s accelerator, pushing the needle on the speedometer from fifty to fifty-nine. Landscape rushed by in a blur of desert colors—sagebrush green, red rock, yellow sand. The SUV grew smaller in the mirror until it looked like a toy car.
Shelby grabbed the door handle. “Hey! Slow down! These curves are making me sick.”
Hannah eased up on the gas. The tortuous road was called El Espinazo del Diablo—the Devil’s Backbone—and ran along an arête, with canyons nearing a hundred feet deep dropping off to either side. The canyon to the south was filled with volcanic rock dotted with cacti, the one to the north with water. The latter was dubbed Lake Lagunita, one of those bilingually redundant names like “Table Mesa” and “Calle Road” that Hannah found so annoying.
They came up on another vehicle. Hannah checked for oncoming cars, then steered around a pickup with a sheep in its bed. Unlike the four-lane parkway that carried casino patrons to the west side of the rez—the Tohono O’odham Indian Community—the road to the south entrance was single lane, and cars came at one other at great speed. Most of the traffic was tribe members, and alcohol-fueled crashes were frequent.
“So tell me more about your case.”
All Shelby had said during last night’s phone call was that she was co-counsel in a toxic tort case involving radiation contamination, and needed to video the old mines that had been used as dump sites. The mines were on the rez, reachable only by a barely-maintained axle-busting dirt track—impassable via Shelby’s red sports convertible, but no barrier to Hannah’s trusty Subaru wagon.
Author's Biography
Twist Phelan is a world traveler and endurance athlete. Success as a plaintiff’s trial attorney suing corporate scoundrels enabled her to retire in her thirties. Author of the legal/sports-themed Pinnacle Peak mystery series, Twist also writes short stories set in the financial world.