The Witness by Sandra Brown

Author:Sandra Brown [Brown, Sandra]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Hachette Digital, Inc.
Published: 2013-06-25T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-Four

“MY NAME IS KENDALL DEATON BURNWOOD. What I’m going to tell you will sound beyond belief. You’ll think I’m insane. I assure you I’m not.” She paused to take a sip of the Coke she’d bought at the motel vending machine.

“I’m listening.”

Agent Braddock of the FBI sounded sleepy and put out. Too damn bad. What she had to tell him would jar him awake. To lend plausibility to her implausible story, she had introduced herself as a public defender. Otherwise, he might have thought he was talking to an absolute kook.

“For almost two years I’ve been living and working in Prosper. Tonight I discovered a secret vigilante group that is committing unspeakable crimes, including murder. The group is comprised of some of the town’s most prominent men. They call themselves the Brotherhood. My… my husband is one of them.

“By his own admission, they mete out punishment to anyone they feel deserves it, but who has somehow slipped through the cracks of the legal system.

“I can’t guess how many people they’ve eliminated over the years, but I witnessed a murder tonight.” She then told him about Michael Li’s execution and finding Bama’s remains. “He wasn’t a criminal, but I suspect them of killing him, too.”

She told the agent what she had seen in the woods, keeping her account factual and precise, her voice composed. Too much emotion would jeopardize her credibility. “This clearing is deep in the woods in a remote area. They slaughter hogs there. And, I guess,” she added shakily, “not only hogs.”

She paused, realizing that he had remained silent throughout the telling. “Are you still there?”

“I’m still here. It’s just… Well, ma’am, this is quite a tale. Did you report this alleged murder to the local police?”

“They’re in on it.”

“The police, too? I see.”

Clearly, he didn’t see at all. She was being humored. What could she say to convince him that she wasn’t a mental case? She pushed back her hair and took another sip of her drink. Tension had brought on a stabbing pain between her shoulder blades. She had driven 150 miles before she felt it was safe to stop. For each of those miles, she had kept one eye on the road ahead, and one on the rearview mirror.

When would Matt regain consciousness and alert the other members of the Brotherhood that she was on to them? Or if she had killed him with that vase, when would his body be discovered? She hoped it wouldn’t be before eight o’clock that morning, when Gibb would come to the house to cook waffles. She looked at her watch. It was already past two. Time was running short.

“Agent Braddock, I warned you that this would sound unbelievable.”

“You must admit it is a bit farfetched. What I know of Prosper is that it’s a neat little community.”

“That’s how it appears, but the innocence is camouflage. Look, I know you get outrageous stories from wackos every day, but I swear to you I’m telling the truth. I saw that boy nailed to a cross.

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.