Living Two Lives by Erin Wade

Author:Erin Wade [Wade, Erin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: romance, Writer
Publisher: Indie Print Publishing
Published: 2018-04-10T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter 22

Tanner West watched through the one-way glass as her partner questioned Roy Craft. Craft had returned home from work to find his wife badly beaten and dying. He had called 911 and then tried to revive her, wallowing in blood as he gave her mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. By the time the ambulance and police had arrived, Roy was covered in Ashley’s blood and had compromised the crime scene.

Angry at the man for being so stupid, Tanner had arrested him on the spot as a suspect. She was certain he hadn’t murdered his wife, but he’d certainly made it impossible for forensics to determine who had. Thanks to Roy, the Forensic Pathology Panel Report was useless when it came to identifying DNA.

She scanned the FPPR the medical examiner had just handed her. Ashley had been beaten to death. Only Roy’s DNA was smeared all over the crime scene. Roy’s salty tears, his saliva, and even his vomit had contaminated everything else. She wished she could pin the murder on the idiot.

Medical Examiner Shannon Freeman’s handwritten note caught her attention. “She had consensual sex prior to dying.”

Tanner closed her eyes to think. Unfortunately, the battered face of Ashley Craft floated in her mind. Beaten to death! Tanner wondered if the average Joe even realized what an atrocious act of violence that was; what it took to beat the life from another human being; how angry the assailant had to be to inflict such damage. Breaking a nose didn’t do it. Crushing cheekbones didn’t do it. Kicks to the torso didn’t end a life. It was a culmination of all the violence that climaxed when a final kick was delivered beneath the chin, severing the windpipe. Tanner knew all too well.

Ashley Craft had died violently, killed by someone in a rage. Someone with the strength and size of her husband. Tanner was rethinking her appraisal of Roy Craft. Maybe she could pin the murder on him.

Tanner returned her focus to the interrogation and watched her partner, Detective Pat Patterson, lean over the table, his face inches from Roy’s. Roy shrank back, obviously intimidated by the burly detective. Hell, I’m intimidated by Pattie, Tanner thought as she watched Patterson leave the interrogation room.

A minute later, Pattie joined her in the observation room. “I don’t know, Tanner. The fecker’ may have killed her.”

Tanner hid her amusement at Pattie’s Irish accent. He was the only man she knew who could get away with profanity in any situation.

“Let’s send him home and put a tail on him. Maybe we can figure out what he’s up to.”

Pattie nodded. “I questioned the neighbors, and they all said Mrs. Craft was hospitalized a couple of weeks ago. Said she fell down the stairs. I’m going to see what I can find out from the hospital.”

“Good idea. Did you question the woman in the house on the hill?” Tanner asked.

“Jules Divine? Nah” Pattie couldn’t hide his blush. “It was late and she’d just lost her mother and all. I thought I’d interview her today.

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