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Title: Under Suspicion

Series: Alexander Security and Invesitgations

Author: Marla Josephs

Genre: Romantic Suspense

Release Date: June 22, 2017

Ethan's story is finally here in this spin off series from Marla Josephs' Alexander Ranch series. The team is still fighting crime and solving cases with a few new faces. This case has Ethan working with Sasha to find out who is harassing a teacher at the local school and trying to frame their client. Or, is their client guilty? As the letters turn from harsh accusations to hostile threats, the team must work fast to solve this one before someone gets hurt.

Prologue

Principal Irene Collins was sitting at her desk opening her mail and thinking of the meeting she had coming up in the next hour. That Clark boy had hit another girl, and her parents were none too pleased about it. This kid seemed to get worse as he got older. He was in fourth grade now and had already punched his fist straight through a double paned glass window. Anger management was going to be required in this kid’s future if his parents didn’t get a handle on whatever was bothering him. She knew the parents, and knew he was adopted. He’d come to them with problems from a difficult home. She had sympathy for them. She really did. She had to give the parents credit. They’d been willing to adopt this child that they knew had issues. But, he was wreaking havoc on the boundaries she had to maintain for the safety and security of the other children in school here. 

Though he was a big kid for his age, to look at him with his mild manor, dirty blond hair, and shy smile, you’d think he was harmless. He was basically a quiet kid. That was until he flew into a rage. No one seemed able to figure out what triggered it. He’d be fine one minute, for days even. Then, he’d just fly into a rage at the slightest provocation. One thing was certain, it couldn’t continue. His tantrums had progressed to some pretty heavy destruction of property, not to mention the liability of him hitting other kids. After she tried to sooth the parents of his latest victim, she was going to have to sit down with his parents and make some tough decisions. Enough was enough.

She picked up the next letter in her pile. It had the appearance of another parental complaint. Great. Who was mad now? She wondered. She used her letter opener, slit the envelope, and pulled out the paper. What she read had her frowning. According to the letter, Mrs. Marshall, one of her best third grade teachers, was being accused of using drugs at school. She glanced down to the bottom of the typed page and noted there was no signature. Was this supposed to be some sort of hoax? Because, if it was, she wasn’t laughing.

The letter was brief. It started out like a formal letter, but simply stated that, as the principal, she should be concerned. It alleged that Mrs. Marshall openly used drugs at school, and this could not be allowed to continue. That was it. Nothing more. Ms. Collins turned the paper over. Nothing. She looked at the envelope. There was no return address. She glanced at her clock. She only had 45 minutes before her meeting. She took a deep, slow breath in, counting to 10. Then, she let it out just as slowly. She’d known Mrs. Marshall for some time now. She was a good teacher. She didn’t believe for a moment that there was any truth to this letter. And, considering the sender didn’t even bother to sign it, she took it even less seriously. But, she still needed to ask Mrs. Marshall about it, and at least let her know of the accusation. She picked up her phone and called Betty Marshall’s classroom.

Marla Josephs leads a busy life in Northern California with her husband and children. When everyone in the family isn't working or studying hard they are traveling and playing hard.

Now that her kids are older, she is very excited to be able to finally put her writing front and center.

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