A Thin Dark Line by Tami Hoag

Author:Tami Hoag [Hoag, Tami]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Fiction, Mystery
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 2008-10-02T04:00:00+00:00

27

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“Our topic tonight: double standards in the justice system. You’re tuned to KJUN, home of the giant jackpot giveaway. This is your Devil’s Advocate, Owen Onofrio. We’ve learned today that Hunter Davidson of rural Partout Parish, the father of murder victim Pamela Bichon, was released from jail this weekend after an unprecedented private bond hearing. Sources in the DA’s office say a deal was struck late today that will likely sentence Davidson to little more than community service for the attempted assault of murder suspect Marcus Renard.

“What do you think out there? Everyone with a TV saw it on the news last week: Mr. Davidson charging down the courthouse steps with a gun in his hand as the man accused of killing his daughter walked away on a technicality. Curtis from St. Martinville, speak your mind.”

“Is it a double standard? I mean, they let Renard go. Why shouldn’t they let Davidson go too?”

“But the court has yet to prove Renard guilty of a crime. Davidson committed his crime in front of a crowd of witnesses. Doesn’t Davidson’s obvious intent to kill deserve worse than a slap on the wrist and community service? Instead, we’ve been touting this man as a hero and turning him into a celebrity. He’s reportedly had offers from Maury Povich, Larry King, and Sally Jessy to appear on their shows.”

Lindsay listened with disgust as she drove toward Bayou Breaux. She detested Owen Onofrio. The man’s sole purpose in life seemed to be irritating people to the point of outburst. She disliked his devil’s advocate game. She had no time for people without solid convictions, and yet she listened to the program more often than not on her drive home from the Association of Women Realtors meetings in Lafayette. The elevation in her blood pressure kept her from falling asleep at the wheel.

Without Pam for company, she had come to dread the monthly trip. They had always used the drive back for girl talk—True Confessions Time, Pam had called it—the kind of talks best held in the dimly lit interior of a car on a dark stretch of road. Soul-searching, souls-bared kinds of talks about life, love, motherhood, sisterhood.

She glanced at the empty passenger seat and felt a bottomless ache in her soul. She couldn’t look at the night out here where houses were scarce and the only laws were nature’s without thinking of Pam, alone with her killer where no one could see, no one could hear her cries for help.

Needing anger to fight off the despair, she hit the speed dial button on the car phone. As much as she hated Owen Onofrio, he had become a part of her self-therapy.

“You’re on KJUN. All talk all the time.”

“This is Lindsay from Bayou Breaux.”

“Hey, Lindsay, it’s Willy,” the assistant said, his voice a little too oily and intimate for her liking. “If you don’t win that jackpot soon, it won’t be for lack of trying.”

“I’ll donate it to Pam’s daughter. Consider it payment for KJUN throwing her family into the public arena like the Christians to the lions.

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