The Crystal Cave Trilogy by Susan Wittig Albert

Author:Susan Wittig Albert [Wittig Albert, Susan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Persevero Press
Published: 2019-06-30T00:00:00+00:00

• • •

What they have is a dead man in a tent, facedown in a sleeping bag, a knife plunged into the middle of his back. The front flap of the tent is closed, and the cloying scent of blood hangs in the air.

Connors tightens his jaw. “Knifed in his sleep, looks like.”

“Fancy knife,” Larry says, squatting down. “Decorative hilt. Unusual. Might tell us something.”

Connors can see that the hilt is polished black, inlaid with a silver scroll and with matching scrollwork on the elaborate crossguard. He can’t get a good look at the face without moving the victim’s body, but he appears to be young, in his early thirties—a talented artist, if he was the one who crafted the dozens of pieces of stained glass on display in the tent.

Connors feels, as he always does, a sharp sense of sadness for the life lost, the hopes and dreams unrealized, the relationships shattered. Why? What had he done that might have provoked the attack? Who hated him enough—and was cowardly enough—to plunge a knife into his back?

Larry gets to his feet. “Our forensics guys will be here in a few minutes. The ranch owner told Peterson—the deputy who was first on the scene—that the knife was stolen from the vendor next door.” Dryly, he adds, “Who also just happens to have discovered the body.”

“Okay,” Connors says slowly, understanding the implications. “Wonder how the two of them are connected. The vendor and the victim, I mean. Friends? Lovers? Competitors, maybe?”

“Right.” Larry nods. “I’ll leave that question to you. One of the ranch owners—Marianne Harrison—is waiting outside now. I know both her and her husband Jason, so I’ll do those two interviews. You can talk to the woman who discovered the body. And also supplied the knife.”

“On it,” Connors says. He is glad to get out of the tent, away from the smell of blood, from the body on the floor.

But he can’t escape the sadness. From experience, he knows it will stay with him until they learn who did this thing, and bring him—or her—to justice.

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