By His Own Hand
Page 30
“So I’ve heard.” Travis asked, “You miss working at the Pig?”
“Nah,” Connor said, looking around at the crowd. “This is working out great. I’ve got almost fifty vendors coming in every weekend. Selling like crazy.”
Tia beamed. “The whole 53206 Farmers Market thing was Connor’s idea. He’s gotten some great press about bringing fresh produce to the inner city.”
“That’s awesome, Connor,” Travis said.
“People have to eat.” Tia loved hearing the pride in Connor’s voice.
“It’s kind of weird to think of it this way,” Tia said, “but you can thank Sam Mills for all this.”
“How’s that?” Travis asked.
“All those victims coming forward meant the end of the Church of the Rock. Sam had his lawyer work it out so that the Church of the Rock assets would be dissolved. Most of the money went to a victims’ fund, but he took a slice and formed a nonprofit. The 53206 Transformation Project. The board of directors is made up of folks from right here in the neighborhood.”
“Where is Ezekiel now?” Travis asked.
“Out on bail, on an ankle monitor, doing everything he can to put off going to trial as long as possible. Eventually he’s going to have to answer up, though, and last I heard, there were over a dozen victims going back twenty years. Most of them pretty damn credible. When they get done stacking the charges, he’ll be looking at more time than his son.”
“Sam Mills went from social activist to murderer,” Travis said, looking around, “and back to social activist. You have to wonder how something like this comes together.”
Tia surveyed the hundreds of people around them. Most were from the neighborhood, but some had driven in from the suburbs, and the diversity of the crowd was impressive. She thought back to her first visit with Sam Mills. She was saddened by the waste of his promise, but she still felt that same sense of hope in the air.
“Mysteriously, TJ,” she said. “Very mysteriously.”
BOOKS BY NEAL GRIFFIN
Benefit of the Doubt
A Voice from the Field
By His Own Hand
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Originally from a small town in Wisconsin, Neal Griffin is the author of the crime novels Benefit of the Doubt and A Voice from the Field. During his career in law enforcement, Griffin was a tactical operations team leader, narcotics investigator, hostage negotiator, and supervisor of a homicide unit. He’s written about police ethics and the relationship between police and the communities they serve.
Griffin’s fictional cops are familiar not just with the ins and outs of police procedure but with the reality of cop life, of trying to serve the community and the cause of justice and knowing that those forces often conflict.
Recently retired from the force, Griffin spends most of his time in Southern California with his wife, Olga Diaz, and their family, and regularly visits Wisconsin.
Visit him online at nealgriffin.com, or sign up for email updates here.
Goodreads:Neal Griffin
facebook.com/authornealgriffin
Twitter: @NCG207
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CONTENTS
Title Page
Copyright Notice
Dedication
Acknowledgments
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Five
Chapter Thirty-Six
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Chapter Forty
Chapter Forty-One
Chapter Forty-Two
Chapter Forty-Three
Chapter Forty-Four
Chapter Forty-Five
Chapter Forty-Six
Chapter Forty-Seven
Epilogue
Books by Neal Griffin
About the Author
Copyright
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
BY HIS OWN HAND
Copyright © 2018 by Neal Griffin
All rights reserved.
Cover design by Michael Graziolo
Cover art © 2018 Shutterstock.com
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The Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.
ISBN 978-0-7653-9558-0 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-0-7653-9559-7 (ebook)
eISBN 9780765395597
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First Edition: April 2018