Total pages in book: 94
Estimated words: 89224 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 446(@200wpm)___ 357(@250wpm)___ 297(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 89224 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 446(@200wpm)___ 357(@250wpm)___ 297(@300wpm)
“Can you pop the trunk?” I could easily do it from inside, but if there are any fingerprints, I don’t want to accidentally compromise them.
I meet Martinez at the rear of the vehicle as the trunk opens, and the air around us instantly grows heavy with silence. Inside are Grace and Anna, the two girls still fully clothed, each with what appears to be gunshot wounds to the chest and head.
I look over at Mr. Taylor when I hear his strangled moan and watch him fold over before his knees hit the pavement.
“I got him. You wanna call in crime scene?” I ask Martinez, and when he lifts his chin, I go to the man who just lost his granddaughter and will now have to tell his own child that her baby is dead.
I stand back and watch as Grace’s car is carefully wrapped in tarps on the back of a tow truck, in hopes we don’t lose any evidence. It’ll be taken to Nashville by the crime scene unit. Both bodies were taken away earlier to the coroner’s office, where their autopsies will be performed along with the gathering of any evidence that might be left on them. I noticed a few things as the girls were moved. One was that both were fully dressed, and their clothes were wet, as if they had been in water at some point. And since it didn’t rain last night, I have to assume that came from another location. I also couldn’t see any evidence that they put up a fight before being shot. Their hands appeared clean, there was no bruising or scrapes, and there was also a lack of blood in the trunk, making me wonder if they weren’t placed there until after they were already dead for a period of time.
With the car now fully wrapped and the driver of the tow truck done securing it, I walk toward my SUV. Martinez is on the phone, acquiring the video footage from the Waffle House the girls were at last night, along with the security footage from the other businesses in that area.
While I wait for him to get off his call, I take out my phone and quickly read the text from Karen letting me know that she and Winter are home and hanging out, since there is no school tomorrow. I text her back and tell her I’m going to be late. Most nights, I’m lucky to be home for dinner, but tonight, I probably won’t get home until Winter is going to bed, maybe even after she’s already asleep. The first forty-eight hours of a new case are the most crucial. People’s memories are still fresh, and there are a lot of leads to untangle and follow up on.
When I get over to the driver side door, I open it and swing in behind the steering wheel, and Martinez hops in next to me. Even just looking at him, I can tell he’s as exhausted as I am. Between dealing with Grace’s granddad, the crime scene unit, and the coroner’s office, it’s been a fucking day, and it’s just beginning.
“What did Waffle House have to say?”
“They’ve got the video, and they just upgraded their system, so hopefully that will equal us having some clear footage.”
“Hopefully.” I make a U-turn. “I spoke with Gray, one of Grace and Anna’s friends, who was with the girls last night. He told me that everyone who was there is planning on meeting up at rehearsal this evening. They’ll be there until nine, so we can go over the camera footage before we head that direction.”
“Sounds good.” He pulls out his phone. “I’m gonna call my son and make sure he’s home for his sister.”
“How old are your kids?”
“Seventeen and fourteen.”
“Their mom?”
“Are we suddenly friends, Thatcher?” he asks, and I glance over at him. We might have just met, but I already have the impression he’s got more walls up than my brother, Tucker, which is saying something. He lets out a sigh. “Their mom is in New York. She got remarried a year ago, and the kids both hate her new husband.”
“That’s gotta be hard.”
“It is what it is.” He glances to the back seat. “You got a kid?”
“A daughter, Winter. She’s seven going on sixteen.”
“I remember that age, and I gotta tell you—you’ve got it easy right now.”
“That bad?”
“Worse,” he mutters, and I smile. “Her mom?”
“She’s in Colorado. We’re not together, but we are close, and she’s solid. Winter is with me until she’s a little older.”
“Her mom agreed to that?” Everyone is always surprised that Hazel agreed for our daughter to live with me without putting up a fight, and I know it’s far from the norm.
“We both know there’s gonna come a time when Winter really needs her mom, and I’m not gonna have a choice but to let her have that time. Hazel gets that, so Winter is with me until that time comes.”