Split Decision by Jacquelyn Smith

Author:Jacquelyn Smith [Smith, Jacquelyn]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781989650066
Published: 2023-02-20T16:00:00+00:00

14

Detective Nick Foster of the La Valentia PD slumped over his desk, his eyes glazed over. Several piles of paper lay before him. The precinct was quiet. It was after eight-thirty, and almost everyone else who owned a desk had gone home for the night. He stifled a yawn.

I should be home too.

He had already put in a full day’s work, but it wasn’t as if he had a wife or family to get home to. He spent most of his evenings at the precinct, trying to work cases that had gone cold. He had learned long ago that if he didn’t stay and put some extra time in, he would only go home and think about them and the victims who still deserved justice. He was still fairly new to his role as detective, and he was the youngest one on the squad at thirty-two, but his strong work ethic—combined with uncanny instincts—was what had gotten him promoted after he had transferred to La Valentia a little over a year ago as an LA beat cop.

He ran a large hand through his short, dark hair, furrowing his brow as he focused on the file of a man who had become his ongoing obsession.

Peter Croft was a wealthy investor, who had made his fortune in oil. He had moved to La Valentia from Austin, Texas several months ago. A detective in Austin had reached out to the La Valentia PD shortly before the move to let them know what they would be dealing with. His file had landed on Nick’s desk.

Croft was like many other men with money to spend. He enjoyed nice homes, cars, fine art, and music. He also had a passion for young women—usually just out of high school or even younger. While his tastes didn’t run toward minors, he was not a gentle man, and the exchange of sexual favors was rarely consensual, at least as far as the Austin detective had been able to determine.

In Croft’s earlier days, girls who came forward to speak against him later retracted their statements, suddenly claiming they had been either lying or mistaken. Eventually, he got better at hiding his tracks. No women came forward, but many went missing, never to be found. Austin PD had Croft pinned as their main suspect for most of the disappearances, but Croft always managed to have an alibi. Still, multiple questionings by the local precinct hadn’t been good for his reputation in the area, so he had decided to move on to new territory.

Nick had been keeping a close eye on him ever since he had come to La Valentia. There wasn’t much he could do, but he had some of the officers from the precinct keep a covert eye on Croft’s new place whenever they could to see if anyone of interest was coming or going. He even made a point of watching from his car several times a week, either before or after work if he got the chance and had an hour to spare.

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.