Crossing the Rainbow (eBook)

A. L. Gomortis (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2023 | 1. Auflage
1000 Seiten
Bookbaby (Verlag)
978-1-6678-9446-1 (ISBN)

Infos

Special Agent Alex Thatcher returns to Southern Arizona in a new role, working with regional law enforcement agencies to identify and investigate links between suspicious deaths. She never expected to be looking into accidental falls and suicides - until it turned out that maybe those deaths were homicides instead. Is there a serial killer on the loose? It's up to Alex to find out.

Textauszug

CHAPTER TWO

Steve glances around the bar and calls out, “Anyone need another drink? I have to grab some stuff from the cooler; might take me a little while.”

“Hey, Steve, gimme one more beer, and one for Mike too.”

“No way, Randy. Didn’t you promise your wife you would pick up the kids from school this week? I don’t want her to ground you again. You better get going,” Steve says.

Randy curses and looks at his watch. “Oops, time for me to fly. I don’t know how Steve knows, but I did promise the wife I would pick up the kids at school.”

“She told me on our date last night!” calls Steve from the other end of the bar.

“I’m right behind you, Randy,” replies Mike, laughing along with Steve.

As they head out of the door, Randy starts telling Mike about his upcoming fishing trip to Colorado. Mike has heard this news already, more times than he can recall, but decides not to ruin Randy’s excitement, instead putting his interested listening face on. As they walk past the alley, Mike glances down the alley and suddenly stops. Randy, still chatting away, takes a few more steps before he realizes that Mike is no longer beside him. He stops, turns, and sees Mike heading down the alley. Randy pivots and soon recognizes the reason for Mike’s concern: a body lying in the alley. Mike reaches into his pocket for his cellphone, frantically dialing 9-1-1. After speaking to the 9-1-1 operator, he heads back to the street in anticipation of the ambulance. He looks over his shoulder and sees Randy performing CPR. Mike sees brain matter oozing from the laceration on the right side of Ace’s head and realizes the futility of Randy’s efforts. Before he can say anything, Mike hears the whine of the siren and steps out into the street to flag down the ambulance. The ambulance screeches to a halt upon seeing Mike. The paramedics race to the back of the ambulance to retrieve the stretcher as Mike shouts, “C’mon, he’s this way!”

Randy looks up and sees the paramedics running towards him. He steps aside and lets the professionals take over. One paramedic reaches into his jump bag and retrieves a packet of EKG leads. He swiftly cuts away the shirt with his trauma shears, then deftly applies the leads to the chest and abdomen, snaps on the wires, and turns on the EKG monitor. Everyone sees the flat line on the display and hears the accompanying monotone beep. The paramedic calls the local emergency room to transmit the EKG recordings so the on-duty emergency room physician can pronounce death.

The paramedics remove the sheet from the stretcher and place it over Ace’s body.

“I guess I’m too late,” proclaims a very young-appearing police officer. “I’m Officer Ray Schmidt.”

“Hello, Officer!” reply the paramedics in unison.

“Whatcha got?”

“Looks to be a thirty-something Native American male with head trauma, probably from a fall. Looks like he’s coming from the bar there and is probably drunk. We just sent the EKG to the hospital to get the official pronouncement.”

Officer Schmidt lifts the sheet and says, “With that amount of brain tissue visible, you probably did not have to contact the ER.”

“Gotta follow protocol.”

“Speaking of protocol, my supervisor will be here soon. Second week on the job, and it’s my second death. The other was an old woman with cancer. Were there any witnesses?”

The paramedics point to Randy and Mike. “They called it in. Anyway, we’re outta here. I’ll leave you with a copy of our run sheet. Our names are on the bottom.”

“Thanks, and drive safe.” Officer Schmidt puts the run sheet on his clipboard and walks over to Mike and Randy. “Hello, I’m Officer Schmidt. I’ll need to speak to each of you separately.”

“I’m Mike, and this is Randy.”

“You guys see what happened?”

“No,” both reply in unison.

“Do you know this guy?”

“I think his name is Ace,” replies Mike.

“You think?” inquires Officer Schmidt with a quizzical look on his face.

“Well, we were in the bar, and a bunch of folks shouted out ‘Goodbye, Ace’ when he left. Some guys were chanting ‘Ace, Ace, Ace’ and cheering for him.”

“Got it. Come with me, Mike. You stay here, Randy, and I’ll get your version after I talk to Mike.”

Mike and Officer Schmidt walk towards the parking lot. After walking about twenty-five yards, Officer Schmidt looks over his shoulder and estimates that they are far enough away. He takes down the basics about Mike, including his address and phone number. “Tell me what happened.”

“Randy and I stopped off at the bar after our midterm exam to have a few beers and complain about the exam. Randy had to go pick up his kids, so we left the bar. I just happened to look down the alley as we were passing and saw the body. That’s when I called 9-1-1, and Randy started CPR.”

“So, he was in the bar this afternoon?”

“Yeah.”

“Did you talk to him?”

“No. In fact, we probably would not have even noticed him if there had not been such a commotion when he left.”

“How long do you estimate he left before you left?”

“I would say fifteen to twenty minutes.”

“Did you see anyone else in the alley?”

“Nope.”

“Anything else you want to add?”

“Nope.”

Officer Schmidt finishes writing in his notebook, looks up at Mike, and says, “Okay, I think I have enough from you. Go over and tell your buddy to come over here.”

“Hey, Randy, the cop wants to talk to you!” yells Mike.

Officer Schmidt looks at Mike and grumbles, “I could’ve done that.”

Randy ambles over and greets Officer Schmidt, who goes through the same line of questioning as he did with Mike. There are no differences in their stories, and as he finishes up, he hears the voice of his supervisor.

“Schmitty, what have you got?” inquires Detective Carl Johnson as he lifts the corner of the sheet covering Ace.

“A dead Native American male with obvious head trauma. He goes by the name ‘Ace’,” replies Officer Schmidt. “I took a quick peek at the body, and it could be a homicide.”

Detective Johnson drops the sheet and glares at Officer Schmidt. “Yeah? What did the medics tell you?”

“Oh, they think it is probably a fall.”

“Did you get their names?”

Officer Schmidt glances at his notebook and replies, “Jackson and Robinson.”

Johnson scowls and replies with a grumble, “Do you know these guys?”

“No, just met them over this dead body.”

“Well, they are probably two of the most experienced medics in the county. They seem to think it was a fall. And now I have a rookie cop who’s just out of the academy and is claiming homicide. Pray tell, why do you think so?”

“Well, sir, I think that the laceration does not match the fall pattern. It is on the side of the scalp, which really does not match the typical location of a fall.”

“And did you learn this in the academy in your one week of forensic lectures?”

“Yes, sir.”

“So based on a few photos, you’re now an expert? Did you find the weapon?”

“There’s nothing obvious next to the body.”

“How about those bricks?”

Officer Schmidt looks over at the body and the adjacent bricks. He walks in that direction and sees some blood on the bricks. “Yes, sir, there is blood on the bricks.”

“There is, but it appears to be spatter. There’s no hair or brain on the bricks, which I would expect if a brick was used.”

“What about in the dumpster? I have not looked in the dumpster yet. The killer could have whacked him and thrown the weapon away before leaving the scene.”

“Okay, have a look in the dumpster.”

Officer Schmidt walks over to the dumpster. As he opens the lid, he is briefly overwhelmed by the smell of stale beer and rancid grease. He swats away a few flies as he peers into the dumpster, which is nearly empty. “Nothing in here but a few cardboard boxes that are stuck to the bottom. They probably didn’t fall out when the garbage truck came by. We’ll have to check with the local shop owners for the garbage pick-up schedule.”

“Yeah, Sherlock, and I’m sure the garbage truck would have ignored the dead body.”

Officer Schmidt frowns, realizing that he missed the obvious. His face lights up, and he says, “Yeah, but what if the killer took the weapon away?”

“Anything else missing?”

“Hmm, not that I can think of.”

“What about blood dripping from the weapon as the killer carried it away?”

Officer Schmidt frowns again. “Well, no sir, I cannot see any, but what if we get the crime lab out and try luminol?”

Detective Johnson lets out a heavy sigh and rolls his eyes. “What time will the medical examiner be here?”

“I didn’t want to call them until after you had a chance to look at the scene.”

“So, what have you been doing?”

“I interviewed the two men who found the body.”

“Have you spoken to anyone else?”

“No.”

“Well, look around, and you can see a crowd forming. If your instinct tells you this is a homicide, why do I not see any crime scene tape?...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 19.3.2023
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Krimi / Thriller / Horror
• ISBN-10: 1-6678-9446-3 / 1667894463
• ISBN-13: 978-1-6678-9446-1 / 9781667894461