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- Herausgeber: Next Chapter
- Kategorie: Krimi
- Sprache: Englisch
Most people only have a few folks that would prefer them dead. In Warner's case, everyone he met felt that way.
When Mindy Thomas's boyfriend is charged with murder, she turns to Wade for help. He soon learns that the victim was disliked by almost everyone he met. In debt and on the verge of divorce, his reputation was questionable to say the least.
Many people had a reason to hate Warner. But can Wade find out who pulled the trigger?
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Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2022
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MURDER OF THE PHILANDERING FATHER
WADE DALTON AND SAM CATES SHORT STORIES BOOK 1
JIM RILEY
CONTENTS
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Notes
Next in the Series
About the Author
Copyright (C) 2021 Jim Riley
Layout design and Copyright (C) 2022 by Next Chapter
Published 2022 by Next Chapter
Cover art by CoverMint
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author's imagination, or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the author's permission.
To the Most Beautiful
You always were and always will be
1
Tommy Larson eased the window open. He had never done anything like this before, evidenced by his nervous twitching and trembling hands. But the window was unlocked just as Marie had promised. He squeezed through the portal and turned on his penlight to find his way in the dark house. Marie had told him to go up the stairs and down the hall to the second bedroom. He took one short step after another, careful not to bump into a table or a chair. Ascending the stairs, Tommy held firm to the rail. After reaching the balcony, he tip-toed to the second bedroom.
Then his world got rocked! The sound of a gunshot exploded from the bedroom at the end of the hallway. The door to the bedroom flew open and a figure in black rushed by him. When the figure bumped into him, an object fell on the carpet. He watched the figure run out of the front door and then bent over to pick up the fallen object.
It was a gun!
Suddenly a door downstairs opened. He heard a woman scream. Then a door right next to him burst open. He saw Marie come out of her upstairs bedroom. She instinctively placed her hand over her mouth and gasped. Marie’s mother stared up at him from below. Tommy panicked, leaping down the stairs only touching every third step. When he reached the front door, he realized he was still holding the pistol and dropped it on the welcoming mat.
2
“Detective Ranger, you just have to help him.” Mindy pleaded.
Wade Dalton looked at her sympathetically. “Mindy, I’m a federal investigator, not a detective or an attorney.”
“But Mandy wants you. Not some detective or attorney she doesn’t know. Mindy said referring to her twin sister. “Tommy can get his own lawyer, but he can’t get you.”
“Why is Mandy involved in this case? Sam arrested a young man and from what she told me, the Sheriff’s Office has a strong case against him.”
“Because it’s Tommy Larson, that’s why.” Mindy was almost in tears.
“Okay, settle down. Who is Tommy Larson and how does Mandy know him?”
“He’s a boy that takes night classes with us at college. Mandy has the hots for him.”
“I see.” Wade rested his arms on the rocking chair on the veranda at his lodge.
Mindy rested her hand on one of his arms. “Please, Detective Ranger. Please help Mandy.”
Tears flowed down Mindy’s cheeks. Wade rubbed his free hand through his hair. Then he patted Mindy’s hand.
“I’ll go talk to Sam and see what she says. If, after I talk to her and if I think I can help, I’ll talk to Tommy. That’s all I can promise you, Mindy.”
Mindy stood, put both arms around him and kissed him on his cheek.
“Thank you, Wade. Thank you so much.”
It was the first time since he could remember Mindy had called him by his name and not ‘Detective Ranger’. He watched the tears roll down her face and gave her a huge hug back.
3
“Hey, Sam. How's the most beautiful lady in Mississippi today?”
Sam Cates looked up from her desk to see Wade enter her office.
“If we weren’t already engaged, I’d say you were trying to hit on me. Flattery will get you everywhere.”
“And―?”
“Not what you’re thinking. It’ll get you the information on the Warner Howard case.”
Wade sat in the chair opposite of Sam.
“Not as exciting as what I had in mind, but I’ll take it. What do you have?”
“Your client―”
“Hold on. He’s not my client yet. I told Mindy I would look into it for Mandy’s sake. I want to see what you’ve got on him before I get too involved.”
“Then I’m sure you won’t 'get involved', as you say. Tommy Larson, that’s the young man’s name, was seen standing outside Howard’s bedroom holding the gun that killed him just seconds after the fatal shot was fired. Howard’s wife and daughter both saw him. He fled the scene after he dropped the gun by the front door. The only prints on the gun belong to Tommy. He had gunpowder residue on his hands when we found him hiding at his parents’ home an hour after the shooting.”
“I don’t know of anything else you need to convict him. What does Tommy say? Why was he in the Howard home?”
“He said he went there to win a bet with the guys in one of his classes. Supposedly, he bet them he could get a picture of Marie sleeping in her bed. He was there to get the picture when he heard a gunshot and somebody ran out of the house and dropped the gun. He said he instinctively picked it up, and that’s when the mother and the daughter saw him.”
“Good story, even if he made it up. Have you been able to corroborate his story with any of the kids at school?”
“Partially. A couple of the kids he mentioned said they had talked about taking pictures of some cheerleaders like Marie, but none of them thought it was serious. Just boys talking like boys.”
“How'd he get in the house?”
“Through a window with a broken lock. He supposedly overheard Marie telling some of her friends she was worried about it and wished her father would get it fixed.”
“At least he has an answer for all the right questions.”
Sam sat back in her chair.
“The only problem is all of his answers don’t add up. Even if he was there to take a picture of Marie in bed, he still could've gone in the wrong bedroom and surprised Howard and had to kill him to protect himself.”
