The Ophelia Killer by Valerie Geary

Author:Valerie Geary [Geary, Valerie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: suspense, Mystery
Publisher: Broken Branch Books
Published: 2021-08-12T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 12

The day after showing Brett her sister’s file, Jimmy comes home during his lunch break to walk Trixie and finds his apartment door standing open. From somewhere inside, he can hear Trixie’s muffled barks. Anger and panic flares in his chest. He hesitates outside the door, slowing his breathing, steadying his shaking hands, wishing he was the kind of man who carried a gun.

All of the neighbors’ doors are closed. He’s never home long enough to get to know them anyway, but certainly, one of them would let him use their phone to call the police. From inside his apartment comes a muffled thump and the sound of someone rifling through drawers. A shadow flashes across the doorway, then another. A male voice thunders, “Jesus, how many pens does this guy need?”

“You’re not here to count pens, Fred.”

Jimmy recognizes the second man’s voice immediately, and his anger flares hotter, fueled by the fear he no longer feels. He steps over the threshold into his apartment.

The three uniformed officers moving through the small space is overkill. They keep tripping over one another and bumping elbows. Jimmy recognizes one guy as the bumbling Clodfelter from Cherish Spalding’s crime scene.

Clodfelter flaps his hands at another man with short red hair and says, “I already looked over there.”

Detective Michael Rausch stands apart from it all in the kitchen. He’s facing away from the commotion, staring through the balcony door at the duck pond. Trixie is locked out on the balcony, presumably by Rausch. Her breath fogs up the glass with each demanding bark to be let back inside, but the detective ignores her. His fingers are laced behind his back, and he taps one thumb in a slow rhythm.

It takes Jimmy four long strides to get to the kitchen. One officer sees him, and his mouth hinges open, but he doesn’t say anything or try to stop him.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Jimmy shoves Rausch to one side and reaches to open the balcony door.

Rausch lays a hand on Jimmy’s arm, stopping him. “She’ll only be in the way.”

“No, she won’t.” Jimmy wrenches his arm back. “Because you’re all leaving.”

A smug, self-satisfied smile creeps onto Rausch’s face as he pulls a folded piece of paper from his jacket pocket and holds it out to Jimmy. “We’ll leave when we’re good and ready to leave. And I’m only going to ask you once to not interfere. I’d hate to have to arrest you for obstruction.”

Jimmy snatches the paper from Rausch and scans the fine print, trying to figure out what kind of lies the detective told a judge to get him to sign off on this ridiculous search. He shoves the paper back into Rausch’s hands. “You know you’re wasting your time, right?”

“We’ll see.” He gestures to the kitchen table. “They’re almost finished. Why don’t you and I sit down and have a little chat.”

“I have nothing to say to you.” He grabs Trixie’s leash hanging by the front door, returns to the kitchen, slides open the balcony door, and kneels down beside her.

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.