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Back Lost Hills Save as PDF
Chapters (49)
  1. TITLE PAGE
  2. COPYRIGHT PAGE
  3. DEDICATION
  4. Contents
  5. CHAPTER ONE
  6. CHAPTER TWO
  7. CHAPTER THREE
  8. CHAPTER FOUR
  9. CHAPTER FIVE
  10. CHAPTER SIX
  11. CHAPTER SEVEN
  12. CHAPTER EIGHT
  13. CHAPTER NINE
  14. CHAPTER TEN
  15. CHAPTER ELEVEN
  16. CHAPTER TWELVE
  17. CHAPTER THIRTEEN
  18. CHAPTER FOURTEEN
  19. CHAPTER FIFTEEN
  20. CHAPTER SIXTEEN
  21. CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
  22. CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
  23. CHAPTER NINETEEN
  24. CHAPTER TWENTY
  25. CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
  26. CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
  27. CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
  28. CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
  29. CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
  30. CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
  31. CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
  32. CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
  33. CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
  34. CHAPTER THIRTY
  35. CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
  36. CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
  37. CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
  38. CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
  39. CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
  40. CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
  41. CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
  42. CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
  43. CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
  44. CHAPTER FORTY
  45. CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
  46. CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
  47. CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
  48. Author’s Note and Acknowledgments
  49. About the Author

Burnside didn’t argue the point. “Okay, let’s get back to the killing. Is there any other evidence that’s been found in his mobile home or car that ties him to the murders?”

Duncan spoke up, clearly trying to take some of the pressure off Eve: “The camera and the earring put him in Tanya’s house.”

“Wasn’t he in her house before the murders fixing their toilet or something?” Burnside asked.

“Coyle was sent to her house twice by Mr. Plunger,” Duncan said. “That’s when he stole a spare key or unlocked a window so he could slip in later.”

“How do we know he didn’t steal the camera and the earring during those two prior visits?” Burnside asked.

“We don’t,” Eve said, sparing Duncan from being the target of Burnside’s contempt.

“So even if we get lucky and find his DNA in the house, it’s worthless,” Burnside said. “His lawyer will simply argue it was left during those previous visits.”

There was a knock on the door. Before Eve could get up to answer it, the door swung open and Captain Moffett came in, followed by Sheriff Richard Lansing.

The sheriff glanced at their faces.

“I was expecting a celebration,” he said. “So why does it look like I just walked in on a funeral?”

CHAPTER THIRTY

CHAPTER THIRTY

Moffett and Lansing were both in uniform, as if they were actually prepared to hit the streets for patrol duty, something neither one of them had done in years. Eve, Duncan, and Burnside immediately stood up when they saw the sheriff.

Lansing was in his late fifties, square-jawed, square-shouldered, and socially square, the son of a preacher and currently a man besieged, facing a beating scandal at the county jail that seemed to be getting worse every day. Now that he was here, Eve understood who tipped off the media and why, and it made her uncomfortable. He wanted to announce a big arrest to take some of the pressure off himself, even if it was far too soon to do so.

“Please sit down, everyone. The captain informed me of the arrest in the Topanga Massacre,” Lansing said, closing the door behind him. Eve wasn’t aware the case now had a title, and a lurid one at that. “Where do we stand with Coyle?”

“On thin ice,” Burnside said.

Eve felt her face flush with anger. Burnside’s blunt assessment riled her but, at the same time, she could see the truth behind it. Eve knew with complete certainty Coyle was the killer even if there wasn’t yet enough evidence to prove it in a courtroom.

“How do you figure that?” Lansing said, taking a seat at the other end of the table. “From what I’ve heard from the captain, we’ve got a shitload of evidence.”

Moffett sat to one side of the sheriff and looked down the long table at Burnside at the far end.