Lost Witness
Page 29
"Been here long, have you?"
"Since midnight."
"Good boy to hang in." Finn swung his head in sympathy. "Tough times. I know how it is. Very rough for you, don't let anyone tell you different."
A little sympathy was all it took for the kid's mouth to run away with him. He stepped down, lowered his voice, and grabbed onto Finn's open window.
"The only people that came through belonged here. I logged every single car and called up to the houses to confirm visitors. I swear I did. Nobody walked through. I would have done something if somebody tried to walk through. I have a good sense for stuff. If somebody tried to come in who shouldn't have been here, I would have known. If they had tried to talk their way in, I wouldn't have let them. I would have called someone… I would have called… I…"
Finn winced as he listened to the boy. He had made those same declarations to anyone who would listen after his brother's death. If he had only known, Finn swore, he would have done heroic things. But he hadn't known because Finn had been seventeen and full of hisself as his mother told anyone who would listen. That day he was behind the bleachers, so lost in the deep wet kisses of a cheerleader that he forgot to pick the little boy up from school. The next time Finn saw Alexander he was in a coffin, dressed in a stiff shirt and dark suit bought especially for the occasion of his burial. Still, if he had known what was going to happen, Finn swore that he would have been brave and he would have saved Alexander – or died trying. Finn's father had nodded as if he knew that to be true, his mother had held her oldest son to her and said she believed the same. It was bull but people were kind all those years ago, so Finn was kind now.
"There's no stopping the devil from his rounds. There's nothing you could have done," he said. "And if there had been, I know you would have done it. I can tell you're a brave sort by looking at you."
With that, the young man actually focused on Finn and the detective saw that he had eyes the color of caramel and a heart that was just as soft. He wouldn't have known a liar if he saw one. Finn lifted the edge of his lips and gave him the slightest nod. The boy's chest caved with relief. His relief proved Finn right; the boy didn't know a liar when he saw one.
"We're going to be needing to talk to you, so don't go upsetting yourself when someone calls. It will probably be me; might be my partner. Can't give you a name on that yet, but they'll identify themselves as working with Detective O'Brien. You being in law enforcement yourself, you know how an investigation goes. We'll want to be thorough. You understand?"
The kid nodded, and licked his lips, and nodded some more. He looked like a bobble-head doll.
"Rest up when you get home," Finn went on. "Calm yourself. Don't think too hard about what happened last night. Sometimes you remember more things when you don't think too hard."
"Yeah, okay. Okay." The young man swallowed hard. Color was coming back to his cheeks, but it wasn't the right color for a healthy person. He straightened up. His voice was more measured when he said:
"The last car came in at one-thirteen. By the book."
"Good man." Finn handed him a card. "Hang on to that log of yours and give it over to your supervisor, not your replacement. If you think of anything call me. If you just find yourself needing someone to talk to, I can manage some time for that too."
If the boy answered, Finn didn't hear him. The detective's eyes were on the gate. The boy with the caramel eyes now knew what was what, and they both had to get on with this terrible day. The kid stepped back, punched whatever button raised the gate, and by the time the arm lowered again he was slumped back in his chair. Now he was holding tight to the card with the name Finn O'Brien, Detective printed neatly under the logo of the LAPD.
As Finn drove on, he took note of his surroundings in the same way a boyo at the pub might admire a beautiful girl who was out of his league. Fremont Place was an impressive enclave: wide streets, big, beautiful houses, set backs the size of small parks, and garages bigger than most people's apartments. These stately homes were built of brick and stucco, leaded windows faced tree-lined streets, and inside the walls were crafted of real lathe and plaster. New money owned them, but old money had built them in the thirties. There were two elite schools and a tennis club within the boundaries.
Just beyond the wall surrounding Fremont Place, the real world was a mash-up. Wilshire high rises, bustling during the day, were deserted after seven. A few blocks over were neighborhoods that had no names where people of color owned houses with bars on the windows. A little further to the east was downtown Los Angeles. Hollywood spread north into the hills. Koreatown, Little Tokyo, and Chinatown were all within spitting distance. Fremont Place was a suburb held hostage in the heart of a big, ugly city and it just got a reminder of that in spades.
When he arrived at his destination, Finn parked his car behind a black and white and two panel vans. There were two more black and whites parked a half a block down. A uniformed officer watched the perimeter of the house while one stood on the porch, eyes forward.
Finn took note of the time and of the well-kept women huddled together in the street. They swayed like tall grass every time a whispered speculation or murmur of disbelief passed from one to the other. When Alexander was killed the women came to Finn's mother, too. They had casseroles and arms to wrap around her while the men lamented the horrible crime over their whiskey. These women would not bring casseroles to whoever was inside and there was no doubt someone was in the house from the looks of the Jaguar in the driveway. The car was bronze-colored, top-of-the-line, and new. The trunk yawned. There was a suitcase still inside and two on the ground. One had burst open, and the contents had spilled over the concrete and brick. A wrought-iron gate stood open in front of the car and past that, deep into the property and hardly visible from where Finn stood, was a large garage. The folks of Fremont Place seemed to be fond of fancy, useless gates.
When Finn got out of his car, it was a lady with red hair who saw him first. She did a double take, touched the woman next to her, and said something. That woman looked at Finn and then another and another. It had been that way since he was thirteen and puberty ambushed his childhood. Overnight he had become a strapping man with a swagger. Of course, that was God's doing and not his. Kicking a soccer ball half his life had made him quick and graceful on the run but the swagger left no doubt he was not meant to fly. He did not regret that he looked like a tough – it was good for the job – but Finn regretted that, at times, the good people feared him because of it.
He went past the gaggle of neighbor ladies, acknowledged no one, and looked for anyone who didn't seem overly curious, stunned, or horrified. That would be the person to talk to. Finn saw no one who fit the bill, so he didn't break his stride. When a news van pulled up Finn O'Brien gave it the evil eye for good measure, picked up the pace, and was past the cop on the porch before the van doors opened and the fools with microphones saw him.
* * *
GET SEVERED RELATIONS NOW!
ALSO BY REBECCA FORSTER
* * *
THE WITNESS SERIES
HOSTILE WITNESS
Book #1
A prominent judge is brutally murdered. The accused killer is a 16-year-old girl with shocking secrets. Josie Bates takes her case, a decision that will change both their lives forever.
HANNAH'S DIARY
A Spotlight Novella
A free gift exclusively for subscribers to Rebecca Forster's mailing list.
Unsure of where she belongs and what the future holds, Hannah strikes out on her own only to find that dreams can become nightmares and the road home is treacherous.
SILENT WITNESS
Book #2
Josie Bates is blindsided when Archer is accused of murder. Reluctant to come clean about his stepson's suspicious death years ago, Josie finds her faith tested as she defends the man she loves.
PRIVILEGED WITNESS Book #3
The wife of a senate candidate falls to her death, his disturbed sister is ac
cused and a critical election is at risk. Josie Bates must face her ex-lover to fight for justice in a world corrupted by lies, power, and abuse.
EXPERT WITNESS
Book #4
When Josie Bates disappears without a trace, Hannah and Archer must pull together to connect the dots between the woman they love, the ruthless attorney she used to be, and all the people who want her gone for good.
EYEWITNESS
Book #5
Three people are massacred in a California beach house; a latchkey kid Josie cares about is accused. The justice she seeks is brutal, barbaric and buried in a blood- soaked past half a world away.
FORGOTTEN WITNESS
Book #6
A madman's ramblings put Josie Bates on the road to find the teenage runaway she loves. But Josie's journey puts her on a collision course with the United States government that wants to keep the truth top secret at any cost.
DARK WITNESS
Book #7
In a remote wilderness, in an unforgiving land, Hannah's life hangs in the balance. To save her, Josie Bates invokes the fierce, primal law that she knows the girl's captors will understand: survival of the fittest.
LOST WITNESS - NEW!
Book #8
In the hold of a cargo ship off the Port of L.A., a powerful man is dead and the woman who killed him is mortally wounded. On shore a man staggers from the surf, a man once thought dead, a man whose plea for help Josie Bates cannot refuse even if it means hers might be the next life lost.
FINN O’BRIEN THRILLERS
SEVERED RELATIONS
Book #1
Two children and their nanny are slaughtered in the home of a rich young attorney and his beautiful wife. Detective Finn O'Brien follows a trail of bodies and shattered relationships only to be faced with a choice that could be deadly
FOREIGN RELATIONS
Book #2
When a woman hurtles from a freeway overpass in Los Angeles, Finn O'Brien discovers she is not what she seems. More than one person wanted her dead, two countries want her forgotten, and Finn O'Brien won't rest until justice is served.
SECRET RELATIONS
Book #3
They're illegal. They're undocumented. They're disappearing. Fighting a system that wants to turn a blind eye, Finn tracks a serial killer who preys on the most vulnerable and navigates a shadowy world where life is cheap - even his own.
MORE THRILLING READS
BEFORE HER EYES
A mountain grocer is executed and a fading model is missing. Sheriff Dove Connelly embarks on an investigation that drags him into a twilight world where nothing is at it seems, life and death hang in a delicate balance and his very thoughts could tip the scales toward hell.
THE MENTOR
When homegrown terrorists bomb an IRS building, fledgling U.S. Attorney Lauren Kingsley looks to her mentor to guide her through a prosecution fraught with peril. Little does she know that those closest to her are the most dangerous people of all.
BEYOND MALICE
When beautiful, arrogant Nora Royce is accused of murder, her sister, Amanda Cross, is the only one willing to defend her. Outgunned and outmanned, Amanda peels away the layers of entitlement and political protection surrounding L.A.'s legal elites to uncover a truth that could end Amanda's career and both their lives.
KEEPING COUNSEL
Attorney Tara Linley takes on her best friend's lover as a client and gets more than she bargained for. A killer smile and smooth talking ways can't hide this psychopath's insanity as he pushes the boundaries of client privilege, sexual desire and the limits of friendship.
CHARACTER WITNESS
(A stand-alone thriller, not a Josie Bates novel)
Kathleen Cotter, junior partner at a past-its-prime Beverly Hills law firm gets a doozy of a first case. A dead man's ex-wife says its murder; the insurance company says suicide. Kathleen thinks everyone is nuts until she uncovers a trail of lies and corruption that threaten to make her first case her last.
Yes, you can still SIGN UP for my spam-free mailing list and I'll send you HANNAH'S DIARY, an exclusive Witness Series Spotlight Novella, FREE.
About the Author
Rebecca Forster started writing on a crazy dare. Now with almost forty books to her name, she is a USA Today and Amazon bestselling author. She lives in Southern California, is married to a superior court judge and is the proud mother of two sons.
* * *
FIND OUT MORE ABOUT REBECCA
or follow her on any of these sites