The only thing helping the mood at all was the woman attending to the body: Brunelle’s girlfriend, medical examiner Kat Anderson. When Chen had called Brunelle, he’d jokingly asked if Kat was lying next to him. But they hadn’t moved in together—not yet, anyway—and it was a school night. Kat had a teenage daughter and, girlfriend or not, she was a mom first.
Brunelle stepped over to where Kat was visually examining the bindings on the body, her hand hovering over, but not quite touching them. She was lost in thought and hadn’t reacted to their arrival.
He knelt down next to her. “Dr. Anderson, I presume?”
She snapped her gaze at him and smiled. “David. Fancy meeting you here.”
Brunelle looked around. “We should try this place under different circumstances.”
Kat grinned. “You think so, huh?” She nodded back toward the hallway. “Have you seen the cock-and-ball cages yet?”
Brunelle’s eyebrows shot up. He hadn’t seen those. He didn’t even know what they were. But the name suggested he’d rather not find out. A blush burned his cheeks and he changed the subject. “So what happened here?”
What had happened there was open for all to see—at least the part up until the victim had died. She was a woman—that much was obvious. Her breasts were completely exposed and she wasn’t wearing any clothes below her waist, except for a pair of knee-high, high heel boots. Her ankles were tied to the back of her thighs with expertly knotted rope and her face was covered in some sort of leather hood. The only openings were for her eyes and her mouth, but the one for her mouth seemed superfluous since the mouth was gagged with a red rubber ball tied around the back of her head with black straps. There was also a decoratively applied coil of rope around her throat, raising from her collarbone to her jaw, then secured behind her to the rope on her ankles.
It was a lot to take in all at once. Brunelle pointed to the woman’s arms, which were held behind her back and straight down by a long leather sheath that laced up the back. “And what the hell is that?”
“It’s called an arm-sleeve,” Kat replied. She shook her head. “You really should get out more, David.”
The blush deepened. “So what did she die of?” he deflected, “Embarrassment?”
Kat shook her head. “Oh, very sensitive. Wow. Maybe don’t say that in front of the jury.”
Brunelle regretted the joke. It was disrespectful. Maybe more importantly, it was unprofessional. So he got professional again. “I only get in front of a jury if this is homicide.” He nodded toward the bound corpse in front of them. “How did she die?”
Kat looked again at the young woman’s remains. She frowned thoughtfully. “I’m guessing she was strangled to death, by the rope around her throat.”
Brunelle looked at the ligature. “Good guess.”
Kat shrugged. “Maybe. I’ll need to do a full autopsy. My suspicion is that the rope alone probably wasn’t enough, but add the leather over her nose and the ball in her mouth, and I’m guessing she asphyxiated.”
Brunelle looked again at the dead woman. If they’d found a body bound like that in the trunk of a car or somebody’s basement, there would have been no doubt it was murder. Somehow, though, at that club, the bindings themselves seemed to suggest accident.
He stood up again. “Come on, Larry,” he said to Chen. “Let’s go talk to Master Michael.”
End of Chapter 1
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Other David Brunelle Legal Thrillers
NOVELS
Presumption of Innocence
(David Brunelle Legal Thriller #1)
Homicide prosecutor David Brunelle faces the most difficult case of his career. An innocent young girl is murdered in a heinous, unforgivable way. The only evidence against the killer is the full confession of his accomplice—another young girl he also victimized. But the accomplice is charged with the murder as well, which means she has the right to remain silent. And she’s so scared of the killer, she refuses to take a deal to testify against him. Brunelle can’t just let the murderer walk, but how can he get a conviction when he has no admissible evidence and the killer is protected by the Presumption of Innocence?
Tribal Court
(David Brunelle Legal Thriller #2)
A man is murdered in Seattle’s Pioneer Square. The killer is caught just blocks away, blood still on his hands. When it’s discovered that both killer and victim belong to the same Native American tribe, the tribe asserts jurisdiction and homicide D.A. Dave Brunelle has to prosecute the case in their Tribal Court. It’s bad enough when the defense attorney claims the killing was justified under the ancient custom of ‘blood revenge.’ It gets worse when blood revenge turns into a blood feud. The bodies start piling up and it looks like Brunelle may be next. Can he stay alive long enough to win the case?
By Reason of Insanity
(David Brunelle Legal Thriller #3)
Sometimes the easiest cases are the hardest. The defendant absolutely, positively murdered her own mother. She is also absolutely, positively mentally ill. Homicide prosecutor David Brunelle is tasked with holding her responsible despite the best efforts of her defense team, which includes a psychologist who’s convinced she’s innocent. As the case proceeds, the pressures mount and Brunelle begins to question his own sanity. Will Brunelle crack the case, or will the case crack him?
Substantial Risk
(David Brunelle Legal Thriller #5)
A sex club. A dead “submissive.” A “dominant” in custody.
Homicide D.A. Dave Brunelle barely understands the terms. How can he ever hope to understand the bondage subculture well enough to hold a killer responsible for the apparently accidental death of his own girlfriend? Brunelle embarks on a voyage of discovery, both of himself and of things he never even knew existed. In so doing, however, he risks losing not only his case, but everything—and everyone—dear to him.
SHORT STORIES
(available exclusively for Amazon Kindle)
Case Theory
District attorney David Brunelle has a problem: a woman and her child have been murdered, a killer is in custody, but something doesn’t add up. Namely, the bullets. Either the cops botched the crime scene, or there’s more going on than Brunelle knows. He’ll need to figure it out quick, before the defense attorney walks a murderer out the door.
Beyond A Reasonable Doubt
A woman is brutally murdered, and it’s district attorney David Brunelle’s job to put the killer away. The defendant fled barefoot, abandoning her shoes in the pool of blood under the victim. It looks like an open-and-shut case, but Brunelle should know better. If he doesn’t figure out the truth—and fast—it’s his blood that might be spilled next.
About the Author
Stephen Penner is an attorney, author, and artist from Seattle. He writes a variety of fiction, including thrillers, mysteries, and children’s books.
His other works include the Maggie Devereaux paranormal mystery series, starting with Scottish Rite. He also wrote and illustrated the children’s books Katie Carpenter, Fourth Grade Genius and Professor Barrister’s Dinosaur Mysteries.
For more information, please visit www.stephenpenner.com.
www.ringoffirebooks.com
A Prosecutor for the Defense (David Brunelle Legal Thriller Series Book 4) Page 19
