ALL THE DEADLY LIES
by
Marian Lanouette
Genre: Mystery/Thriller
Pub
Date: 2/27/2018
Homicide detective Jake Carrington
takes murder personally…
The victim was bludgeoned, stripped,
and left for dead. Shanna Wagner deserves justice—and there’s no
better cop than Lieutenant Jake Carrington to find her killer. The
brutality of the crime reminds Jake of his sister’s murder
seventeen years ago, and the remorseless man responsible, now up for
parole.
Then another woman is killed—and Jake
goes dangerously close to the edge. He’ll have to face his personal
demons and focus his formidable skills if he hopes to stop a vicious
murderer from striking again—and hold on to his career, and his
life . . .
Chapter
1
“Sergeant,
in my office, please.” Captain Shamus McGuire stood at attention in
his doorway, all six-feet-four inches of him. His steel-gray hair cut
to military precision focused one’s attention on his matching gray
eyes.
Homicide
Sergeant Jake Carrington of the Wilkesbury Police Department looked
across his joined desk to his partner, and lifelong friend Louie
Romanelli and shrugged. Louie threw him a questioning look as he
adjusted his tie and started to rise from his chair.
“Just
Jake, Louie,” the captain said as he turned into his office.
Jake
picked up their latest case file to update the captain and walked in
to join McGuire.
“Take
a seat, Jake.” The captain pointed to one of the two
institutional-gray ones in front of his desk. He took off his glasses
and massaged his forehead.
Though
Jake preferred to stand, he took the less beat-up seat on the right.
The room was a monument to the man, all spit and polish. Sparse
furnishing with a few awards and medals hung on the walls. Paperwork
in precise piles, a picture of his family, the standard computer and
phone were all he had on his desk. McGuire’s appearance and stance
spoke of his military background and warned his cops he took no crap
from them. It wasn’t like him to stall but that’s exactly what he
was doing at the moment.
McGuire
turned his smoky eyes on him. Jake went on alert. Something was up,
something big.
“Captain?”
Instincts had Jake bracing for what came next.
“Spaulding’s
coming up for parole again. And this time he’s requesting a DNA
test before he comes before the board.” Jake’s stomach curdled.
McGuire continued, “He’s also requesting the DNA samples from
your sister’s crime scene be tested against his sample.”
“What
bullshit, Shamus.”
Jake
jumped up, roamed the office. His mouth went dry. Deep down he was
afraid the old samples somehow wouldn’t match and would set Eva’s
killer free. This new development would split his attention. What
could Spaulding gain from this maneuver? To catch a killer, you had
to get inside his head. Did Spaulding assume the system would release
him if he got a new trial?
He
looked out the window and studied the downtown area as he ran every
scenario through his mind. This was his town, though imperfect as it
was. He and Eva had been born here of immigrant parents. Its one
hundred thousand residents depended on him and those who had come
before him to protect it.
Outside
of his tour of military duty overseas he didn’t venture far from
it, a good city, though down on its luck since all the manufacturing
jobs went overseas. Wilkesbury recently had the distinguished honor
to be named one of the top five saddest rust belt cities. And it’s
the one that was farthest south of the belt. In its glory days,
nothing could touch
Wilkesbury.
Most of the crime in the city came from the twenty percent of the
Wilkesburians living under the national poverty level. The city had
its mix of people, businesses, homeless, shoppers, and kids. More
kids claimed the downtown area since UConn had put a branch right
across the street from the station. Today some of the kids wore
shorts to celebrate the hot weather. Last week it was in the forties.
Today the temperatures hit the seventies. New
England, you gotta love it, he thought.
Clearing
his mind, he focused on The Palace Marquee. Next month Johnny Mathis
would be here for two days. He thought it a monument to the citizens
of Wilkesbury when private citizens and businesses raised the money
to save the Palace. It had been closed for eighteen years. The last
performer had been Tony Bennett in 1987. Bennett had opened the newly
restored theater in 2004 and it was still going strong. Jake loved
the old theater. It brought back good memories from his childhood.
The grand old theater done in the tradition of the Met was a step
back in time. Since it had been refurbished it drew some big-name
performers and plays. It’s
about time we got something decent in the downtown area, he
thought. Murders were down in recent years but overall crime
continued. Eva’s death was the
reason
he became a cop instead of going on to play pro ball after college.
Turning
from the window, he walked back to stand in front of Shamus’s desk.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t hear the last part,” Jake said.
“The
sperm gathered at the time of the autopsy was preserved, and with new
technology he has the right to ask for the testing.”
“When
will it happen? I want to be there through the whole process from
collection to testing to make sure there aren’t any switch-ups.”
What a way to start a
Monday.
“It
hasn’t been granted yet. His lawyer is working on the request,”
McGuire stated.
“When
will it happen?” Jake rubbed his temples where a headache was
forming.
“The
board acts in their own time. I’d say toward the end of the month.
I’m behind you, as is the entire department, Jake, to make sure Eva
gets justice.”
Jake
paced the room. Seventeen years and it seemed like yesterday.
“When
they took him out after the trial, Spaulding whispered to me he’d
done it and enjoyed every moment of it,” Jake said. It was a moment
in time he would never forget.
There
were nights after the trial he dreamed up ways of killing Spaulding,
making him suffer as much, if not more, than Eva had. Even today,
when his moral code screamed there was no justification for taking a
life, he understood deep down in his soul that, if given the chance,
he’d remove George Spaulding from the face of this Earth and not
look back. Captain McGuire’s voice floated back into his head. Jake
felt shame standing in front of Shamus with thoughts of murder in his
head. If he did kill, what would separate him from the ones he hunted
every day of his life?
“As
a cop, you and I both understand the evidence is what convicts, along
with a smart prosecutor. Spaulding’s lawyer has petitioned the
court. Even if the DNA isn’t a match, it wouldn’t get him an
immediate release. There was other evidence putting him at the crime
scene. And there was an eyewitness who saw him push Eva into his car.
All it will get him is a new trial. If I remember this right, all of
the evidence pointed to him. Have faith, Jake.”
“Faith?
Is that what I should tell Eva? Oh wait. I can’t. Because she’s
dead!”
The
captain ignored his outburst. “If he goes to trial I promise we’ll
reopen the case and work it along with our current files. But, you
can’t touch the file when we do.”
“That’s
bullshit.”
“No,
it’s not. If we want the chain of evidence to remain pure you can’t
touch it. I’ll respect and appoint whoever you want to work it,”
McGuire said.
“Louie.”
“It
can’t be him either.” McGuire held up his hands before Jake could
interrupt him. “He’s too close to you.”
“What’s
not to say any of the men in my department aren’t too close to me?”
“Whoever
you pick will have a state trooper working with him.”
“You
don’t trust your own men?” Aggrieved, Jake threw up his hands.
“Do
you want answers?”
“Shamus,
I already got my answer. I’ve no doubt Spaulding is guilty,” Jake
said.
“Then
this is the best way to handle it. When we catch the killer, it will
ensure a conviction,” Shamus said.
Jake
pushed a hand through his hair. The air thinned, cutting off his next
breath. “I need to get out of here.”
He
rushed from McGuire’s office. At his desk Jake grabbed his car keys
and ignored Louie’s questions. He didn’t trust himself to speak.
The pit of his stomach burned. What if the DNA didn’t match
Spaulding’s?
Damn,
he wanted to punch something. No, not something. He wanted to punch
out Spaulding.
I
swear if they release him—I’ll—I’ll kill him.
“Jake,
wait up.” Louie Romanelli followed him out of the bullpen.
“Not
now.” Jake kept walking.
Louie
caught up to him and grabbed his arm as he would a suspect and
twirled him around. If he wanted to, Jake could’ve decked him. They
were evenly matched in height and weight. Instead, he stood rigid.
“Talk to me,” Louie said.
“Give
me a couple of hours to pull myself together. We’ll meet at my
house later if you can. In the meantime, work the Wagner case. I’d
hate not to give the Wagners the answers they need.” He didn’t
bother to mention the case was similar to Eva’s that, he too needed
the closure.
“Tell
me what’s wrong. Did McGuire fire you?” Louie’s olive
complexion whitened as he asked the question. His dark eyes searched
Jake’s face for an answer.
Leave
it to Louie. For the first time in over a half hour, he laughed. “No,
I’m not fired. Spaulding’s up for parole again and has requested
new testing.”
He
stared down his friend as Louie processed the information. If it
wasn’t for Louie and his family during the weeks and months that
followed Eva’s death, he wouldn’t be standing here today.
How
different we are,
Jake thought. Louie, married for seventeen years to his grade-school
sweetheart, now had three kids. He, on the other hand, liked being
single. Side by side, though they matched each other in height, his
skin tone paled next to Louie’s dark Italian coloring.
“Shit.”
“Go
back to work. I’ll talk to you later.”
Jake
walked away with his head down and his mind spinning out in every
direction. No matter what Shamus said, he owed it to Eva to find the
answers.
It’s
my fault she died.
A self-described tough blonde from
Brooklyn, Marian Lanouette grew up as one of 10 children. As
far back as she can remember, Marian loved to read. She was
especially intrigued by the Daily News crime reports.
Tragically, someone she knew was murdered. The killer was never
found. Her Jake Carrington thrillers are informed by her admiration
for police work, her experience in running a crematorium, and her
desire to write books where good prevails, even in the darkest times.
Marian lives in New England with her husband.
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1 comment:
Thank you, Karyn, for hosting me today.
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