The Color of Bone: a serial killer thriller (Wren Delacroix Book 5) by V. J. Chambers

Author:V. J. Chambers [Chambers, V. J.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Punk Rawk Books
Published: 2020-01-11T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Wren crossed the living room to dig her cell phone out of her purse. It was evening, and they’d come home late, after digging through way too many of the Highway Butcher’s victims. She was a little wired, though, having trouble settling in. She looked at the screen of the phone, but she didn’t recognize the number.

She answered it anyway. “Hello?”

“Ms. Delacroix?” said the person on the other end of the line. “It’s Arnold Davis from the district attorney’s office. I spoke to you about Mr. Marner and the deal.”

“Oh, right,” she said.

“Well, I’m glad you decided to talk to him.”

“I didn’t really,” said Wren. “Why, did he take the deal?”

“Signed it this morning,” said Davis.

“Oh,” said Wren, sitting down heavily on the couch. “Wow.”

“I know it’s not what you wanted,” said Davis. “And I know it’s not what the families of those little girls wanted either. But we really didn’t want to go to trial with this one. There were too many variables and not enough physical evidence. This really is better. We can guarantee he’s off the streets for this. And, look, the good news is that all the cases of the girls are officially still open. We haven’t actually indicted him on those.”

“I know,” said Wren softly.

“So, should evidence come to light,” said Davis, “we can go for that with him. This buys us time.”

“Right,” said Wren. She leaned into the couch, and she felt like crying.

Davis sighed. “Look, it’s not what I wanted either. I don’t know how long you’ve been at this, but you seem young, Ms. Delacroix, and I gotta tell you, this system, it’s broken in so many ways. We do the best that we can with what we have. It’s not always black and white.”

“I know that.” Wren took a deep breath. “I know that, of course I do. But eighteen years? Only eighteen years?”

“He’ll do more than that,” said Davis. “Trust me, there’s no judge out there sympathetic to this guy.”

“Even so, he’ll probably get out someday. The max on that deal was forty years.”

“That’s true.”

“He’s going to live forty more years,” said Wren. “And then he’ll be free. And you didn’t look at those little girls’ bodies.”

“I saw pictures, ma’am.”

Wren sat up on the couch, and her whole body felt like a tightly coiled spring. “He killed them. They were only tiny, little girls. He stole their lives from them. And he’s going to get out?” Suddenly, tears were coming out of her eyes.

“I’m sorry, Ms. Delacroix,” said Davis quietly. “I wish I could tell you this was an anomaly, and that usually everything worked out well. But it’s not, and you need to find a way to survive it, because the truth is, we are the good guys, and we do make the world a better place. So, we have to keep fighting, even if we don’t win every battle.”

He sounded like Reilly.

“Thank you for telling me, Mr. Davis,” said Wren, her voice thick with tears. “I need to hang up now.

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