Beyond A Reasonable Doubt: A David Brunelle Legal Thriller Short Story (David Brunelle Legal Thriller Series) by Stephen Penner

Author:Stephen Penner [Penner, Stephen]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Published: 2013-11-12T05:00:00+00:00

THE END

The following is an excerpt from PRESUMPTION OF INNOCENCE, the first of the full-length novels featuring David Brunelle:

Chapter 1

'Don't go inside. Call 911 and wait for the police.'

Brunelle examined the note taped to the impressive front door of the Montgomerys' suburban home. Its neatly penned letters were bathed in the red and blue strobe of the cop cars the neighbors never thought they'd see in their subdivision.

"The parents went inside, didn't they?" Brunelle asked without taking his eyes from the warning.

"Of course they did," answered Detective Chen. "The poor fools. Now they'll never get that sight out of their heads."

Brunelle shook his head. "That's too bad," he said. "You and I get paid to forget, at least once the case is over. Forget and move on to the next one."

Chen put a hand on Brunelle's shoulder. "You're gonna have trouble forgetting this one, Dave."

Brunelle frowned. He was a prosecutor with the King County Prosecutor's Office. He'd been there nearly twenty years, working his way up from shoplifting, through drug possession and burglary, to robberies and assaults, and finally homicides. He'd tried over a hundred cases and handled literally thousands more. He had to forget the details of each, at least a little bit, to be able to prosecute the next. He didn't want to get his facts mixed up in front of a jury.

But Larry Chen had been a Seattle Police officer for going on thirty years. He'd worked his way up from beat cop, to sergeant, to detective. From property crimes, through drugs and vice, to special assaults, and finally major crimes and homicides. Brunelle only saw the cases the cops could solve, but Chen saw all the ones the criminals committed. If Chen thought it was bad, it was bad.

Brunelle pushed the door open.

It was worse.

Hanging from the balcony banister at the top of the sweeping staircase that framed the palatial foyer, blocking what would otherwise have been, as designed, a breathtaking view of the perfectly decorated and immaculately clean home, was the upside-down and very lifeless body of thirteen-year-old Emily Montgomery.

"Fuck," exhaled Brunelle, the dead girl's lifeless eyes swinging grotesquely only a few feet from his own.

"Exactly," agreed Chen.

"Okay!" called out a woman from the other side of the entryway. "You can let her down now."

Brunelle watched as two patrol officers on the balcony slowly began to release the rope holding the victim aloft by her ankles. The woman who had called out to the officers stepped over to guide the body to the floor with latex-gloved hands.

Brunelle had never seen her before.

"Dave Brunelle, assistant district attorney," Chen commenced the introductions. "This is Kat Anderson, our new assistant medical examiner."

Kat was already kneeling next to body, checking for signs of rigor. She looked up long enough to offer the quickest of hellos, then set back to her examination.

"Uh, nice to meet you," Brunelle stammered. He wondered how someone so pretty had ended up choosing cadaver-carving as a career. "I'm David."

Kat glanced up again and smiled. "Got it," she winked.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.