FIRST LINES FRIDAY 56: There’s a Lot I Can’t Talk About and It’s Mostly the Exciting Parts

“If the show proposal goes through, it will really put Treasure Trail and Trinkets on the map!” Corinne Scott had the bouncy enthusiasm required of an agent, and it came across as clear over the phone as it did in person.

“It’s exciting, but let’s wait before we break out the champagne,” Erik Mitchell protested. He had been dealing with the chaos of unpacking boxes and living out of a suitcase for two weeks, since his move to Cape May, New Jersey, and the complete uprooting of his life. “If they’re counting on using my supposed notoriety to sell the show, they might be disappointed. There’s a lot I can’t talk about—and it’s mostly the exciting parts.”

“You traveled the world stopping art and antiquities fraud,” Corinne continued, undeterred. “It’s like something out of Indiana Jones.”

Erik winced. Much as he loved those movies, Indy was more like the kind of guy he helped bust for swiping relics. “Um…not really. I spent a lot of time in the back rooms of museums going over old stuff with a magnifying glass. And I only got shot at a few times.”

Right on cue, heavy footsteps sounded overhead, and Ben caught a whiff of cigar smoke where none had been present minutes before. Sean raised an eyebrow. “Then again, maybe you’re on to something. You up for seeing the rest of the house?”

“Yeah. Now I’m curious.” The same instincts that made him a good cop and a decent private investigator told him there was more to the story.

Sean gave him the full tour, pointing out architectural details and modern upgrades. It’s a shame the haunting drove off renters, Ben thought, because the house really was a gem. Maybe they could get to the bottom of the problem and put its cranky ghost to rest.

“And this is the room where the ghost puts on the biggest show,” Sean said as they walked into the back bedroom. It had a lovely view of the ocean and a deep-set window seat.

Ben felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up an instant before something shoved him hard enough to send him flying. He crashed down onto the window seat and felt the wood splinter beneath his back.

Erik Mitchell traveled the world uncovering art fraud and relic theft, which pitted him against spoiled billionaires, unscrupulous collectors, mobsters, and cartels. He worked with law enforcement across the U.S. and Europe, but then a sting goes wrong, Erik ends up injured and returns to find his partner cheating. He decides to stop globetrotting and buy an antique shop in scenic Cape May, NJ, rebuild his life, and nurse his broken heart.

Undercover Newark cop Ben Nolan went down in a hail of bullets when a bust went sideways, after a tip-off from a traitor inside the department. When he recovers, he spends a couple of years as a private investigator, only to tire of seeing the worst of human nature. So when his aunt offers him the chance to take over her rental real estate business in Cape May, it seems too good to be true. Now if he could just believe he could ever be lucky again in love.

Sparks fly when Erik and Ben meet. But when a cursed hotel’s long-ago scandals resurface, the two men are pulled into a web of lies, danger, and deception that will test their bond—and might make them Cape May’s newest ghosts!

Treasure Trail contains sexually explicit material intended for adults 18 and over. This is book #1 in the Treasure Trail series.