Category: Mystery/Suspense Publisher: Charles Shea
Type: Fiction
Pages: 196
Copyright: Feb 2012
ISBN-13: 9781301089819
John Lasham, a Catholic priest, is burned alive in his car in the parking lot of Piedmont Hospital. Detectives with the Atlanta Homicide Unit have no motive for the horrific attack, but there is one person who has a pretty good idea why the priest was incinerated - Travis Knight.
John Lasham, a Catholic priest, is burned alive in his car in the parking lot of Piedmont Hospital. Detectives with the Atlanta Homicide Unit have no motive for the horrific attack, but there is one person who has a pretty good idea why the priest was incinerated - Travis Knight. He’s the criminal defense attorney who just days before successfully defended Father Lasham and two other priests at their trial where they were charged with molesting 6 year old Kevin Riley.
The priest’s shocking murder launches Detectives Brikler and Gordon on a frantic chase to bring the maniacal angel of death to justice before the Hellfire weapon is unleashed again. Unfortunately, the list of suspects is long, and time is running out.
Excerpt
Chapter 1
Dixie, his Chocolate Labrador Retriever, was waiting for Travis as he came through the garage door and into the house. “There’s my good girl,” he said as he scratched her favorite spot just behind her ear, causing her tail beat a staccato rhythm against the hallway wall. After the appropriate amount of scratching, Travis continued down the hallway. Dixie followed him to the kitchen. The kitchen was dark, and as usual, there was nothing cooking. Damn! he thought, looks like another microwave dinner night. Maybe I’ll call for a pizza instead. He flipped the light switch on, and then dropped his car keys and cell phone into a wooden bowl on the kitchen counter. Next he made a beeline for the bottle of scotch at the other end of the counter. It had been many months since his wife had met him in the kitchen with a scotch on the rocks. After he had his drink prepared he called out, “Hello!”
“In here!” came the reply from the family room.
Travis found his wife, Julie, sitting in a large leather chair reading her Kindle.
“How was your day?” he asked.
“Fine,” she answered without looking up from the e-reader.
Travis waited a few seconds, but no more conversation followed. He took a big swallow of scotch then said, “Aren’t you going to ask me about my day?”
“I know how your day went. I heard it on the radio on the way home tonight. You won an acquittal for those child molesters.”
Travis looked up at the ceiling as he spat, “Oh, here we go again. I don’t want to argue about this anymore; you need to just let it go.”
I don’t want to argue either…we need to talk,” she said as she laid the e-reader on the end table, and then stood and said, “I want a divorce.”
Travis eyes narrowed as he glared at her for a moment and then slowly shook his head. “Oh, you want a divorce. Shit, I’m the one that wants a divorce. I’m the only one doing any compromising in this relationship. Remember, a little over a year ago I stopped taking murder cases because of you.”
Julie balled her hands into fists at her side and then blurted, “How could I forget that! You remind me regularly. And now you defend child molesters, which is just as vile as defending murderers. Thanks to your expert use of legal smoke and mirrors, those priests are free to continue to molesting children, and spare me the justice for all crap. I’m done, I want out.”
Travis drained his glass, and the stared at her for a long moment before saying, “Fine by me, but I get Dixie.”
The pair discussed some of the details of the split, matter-of-factly, for the next few minutes; things like the disposition of the house and the splitting of their checking and savings accounts, and their investment portfolio. It was obvious to Travis that she’d previously put some thought into the split, much like he had done many time during the past few months. After they had the basic framework agreed upon, Julie turned and left the room. A moment later he heard the bedroom door close. Travis headed for the den. Dixie came into the den as he poured himself another large tumbler of scotch – straight-up this time. After he sat down Dixie nuzzled his hand. He looked down at her and smiling said, “Well girl, it looks like I’m back in business.”
Dixie sat down and put her paw on his thigh. “I bet you need to go outside.”
Her ears perked up and she titled her head. “Okay girl.” Travis set down his tumbler and then took a cigar from the humidor on his desk. He notched the tip with his cutter then struck a wooden match. After a few seconds the end was glowing cherry-red. He and Dixie made their way through the house back towards the garage door where Dixie’s leash hung from a peg on the wall. Julie was nowhere to be seen. Normally he would stay in his den with the door closed and turn on his smokeless ashtray when he smoked as a courtesy to Julie, but after today that was no longer a concern. As he walked, he made an extra effort to leave a large plume of smoke behind him. He put the leash on Dixie and they walked out through the garage and into the back yard, which was just a small section of the twenty acres that surrounded the old, thirty-five-hundred-square-foot antebellum plantation house he’d bought a couple of years ago. Part of his twenty acres included a six-acre pond that was stocked with stout Largemouth Bass and huge Brim. Most of the time he practiced catch and release, but every now and again he would harvest a few fish in an effort to control their numbers.
The pair walked for a few minutes in the illuminated areas of the yard, stopping from time to time as Dixie smelled an interesting odor here and there. She did her business and scuffed her paws as usual and then went statue-still. She was looking into the darkness towards the detached building that served as Travis’s workshop. A low menacing growl began emanated from her. “What is it girl? Do you see a deer or a raccoon? I bet you’d love to chase whatever it is…wouldn’t you? Sorry girl, not tonight.” He half-dragged her back towards the house. Dixie kept trying to look back. She definitely didn’t like whatever creature was lurking by the workshop.
The next morning Travis decided not to go into the office, he wasn’t in the mood to talk about his personal life with everyone at the firm. It was seventy-two degrees and sunny with just a slight breeze, perfect for fishing on the pond. He needed time to contemplate his future without Julie, and there was no better way to accomplish that than by spending a few hours rowing around his pond and casting a Texas-rigged rubber worm at the places where largemouth bass liked to hide as they waited to ambush an unsuspecting meal. The exercise would also help to relieve some of the stress he felt building within.
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