Leila Kahana Maui Mysteries Bundle by R. Barri Flowers

Author:R. Barri Flowers
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: thriller, crime, suspense, murder, mystery, police procedural, woman sleuth, serial killer, hawaii, maui
Publisher: R. Barri Flowers

CHAPTER EIGHT

"Parker Breslin's death can definitely be ruled a homicide," coroner's physician Patricia Lee told Detectives Rachel Lancaster and Trent Ferguson routinely, having completed the autopsy.

Even if this almost went without saying, Rachel still felt badly for the victim in that moment, as murder was the worst of the worst ways to die in civilian life. The fact that he left behind a young child made it even more unsettling.

"What else did the post-mortem show?" she asked her.

"The victim died as a result of a single gunshot to the head, which tore through his brain. Mr. Breslin was already dead by the time the second bullet went into the back of his head. The initial bullet lodged in the victim's back, severing his spine."

"Thanks for spelling it out," Ferguson said wryly, standing erect at over six feet tall. He frowned. "It was a nasty execution."

Patricia looked up at him. "Is there really any other kind?"

He shrugged. "I suppose not."

Rachel sighed. "What about the bullets?"

"I believe they were .45-caliber," said Patricia. "I turned them over to the crime lab for further analysis."

They listened as she ran through the victim's height, weight, hair color, and other identifying marks for the record.

Patricia made a face. "I hope you get whoever did this."

"So do we," Rachel said, knowing no case was ever a slam dunk.

"Count on it," Ferguson stated. "This was definitely personal for someone. We'll get to the bottom of it and make one or more arrests."

Patricia batted her lashes. "You seem pretty confident about that."

"What can I say—this is serious business."

"Tell me about it," she said. "Playing with dead homicide victims like this and one from the other day—Joyce Yashiro, who was suffocated—is no laughing matter."

"We hear you," Rachel chimed in, knowing that Leila Kahana and Jonny Chung were trying to solve that case. "No funny business here. Just the task at hand."

"Don't let me keep you from it," Patricia told them. "And it's time for me to get back to work, too."

"Aloha," Rachel said dryly.

Ferguson saluted. "Later."

The crime lab was their next stop in the building.

"So what do you think?" Ferguson asked on the way. "Are we talking domestic violence or another type of homicide?"

Rachel had to move her short legs that much quicker to keep up with his long strides. "Could be either," she responded diplomatically. "I need more to go on."

"That's a cop-out," he said.

"No, there are just too many possibilities to speculate." She grinned humorlessly, while knowing some possibilities had, in fact, crossed her mind. But they were more standard, based on what they were aware of thus far. "Ask me again after we see what forensics has to say."

Ferguson seemed content with this. "You're on."

* * *

Forensic examiner Gil Delfino had been expecting the detectives handling the latest homicide to hit the island. Though he was damn good at his job, he took no pleasure doing it at the expense of innocent victims, when that was the case.

"What's the news?" Rachel asked him pointblank.

Delfino, who thought she was hot with the prettiest blue-green eyes, decided not to mince words.

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.