Cause to Kill (An Avery Black Mystery—Book 1) by Blake Pierce

Author:Blake Pierce [Pierce, Blake]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Publisher: UNKNOWN
Published: 2016-07-27T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Avery sat hunched over the wheel of her car, still in the prison parking lot, destroyed, a mess, a husk, tears streaming down her face. Horrible sobs broke free from her throat. At one point, she jerked up and screamed and slammed the wheel.

Words.

Every time she heard one of his words, she cried harder.

Molester. Alcoholic. Murderer.

“No, no, no.”

She banged her head to get the images out: her father in the woods, gun in hand. The body behind him. Varicose veins. Gray hair. That green dress.

“Get out, get, out, get out,” Avery begged.

She’d almost forgotten until then. So many years had been spent trying to forget the past, to get out of Ohio and wipe away her terrible history. In only a few words, Howard Randall had brought it all back.

You’re just like them, she cried in misery.

Murderer.

Alcoholic.

Just like them…just like them.

No! She mentally rallied. You’re nothing like them! You’re no murderer or drug addict. You’re not sick in the head. You do your best every day. Mistakes? Sure, but you try your hardest, all the time.

Get him out of my head.

Get him out of my head.

Fists rubbed away her tears.

Sobs were stifled.

Pull yourself together, she commanded.

Tears came again, only this time, they were softer, gentler—not about her old, painful past, but her new life, her lonely, tormented existence.

She hit the wheel.

“Pull it together!”

A detailed clarity came to her in that moment. Everything felt sharp and focused: the border of the windshield, her arm, the cars parked around her, the sky. Not exactly herself but fully in control, Avery picked up her phone to call Finley.

“Yo, yo,” he answered.

“Finley,” she said, “where are you?”

“I’m in the office working my ass off. Where the hell are you? I should get a raise for this, you know? Aren’t I supposed to get the day off for finding a psycho? I just had one of the greatest chases of my life and now I’m stuck in an office. I should be out there having a beer.”

His entire monologue had come out like a single word.

Avery rubbed her eyes.

“Finley, slow down. What have you found so far?”

“Why are people always telling me to slow down?” he complained as if he were truly upset. “I talk just fine. Everyone in my crew understands me perfectly. Maybe other people are the problem, ever think about that? My mother used to say.”

“Finley! The update.”

“The body is with the coroner,” he said, calmer and slower. “Crime scene wrapped up. They found some fibers but it looks like they’re the same ones from Jenkins: cat hair, a few dabs of plant extract on her clothes. Last few hours I’ve been looking for connections, like you asked. Different majors: economics and accounting. One a junior, one a senior. Different sororities, no family connections at all. Blah, blah, blah. Talked to Ramirez. He said Cindy’s parents mentioned an art class she took in Cambridge last semester. Place called Art for Life. Located on Cambridge Street and Seventh. Called Tabitha’s friends for a connection.

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