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Back The Silenced Women Save as PDF
Chapters (50)
  1. Front Cover
  2. Title Page
  3. Copyright
  4. Contents
  5. Part I
  6. Chapter One
  7. Chapter Two
  8. Chapter Three
  9. Chapter Four
  10. Chapter Five
  11. Chapter Six
  12. Chapter Seven
  13. Chapter Eight
  14. Chapter Nine
  15. Chapter Ten
  16. Chapter Eleven
  17. Chapter Twelve
  18. Chapter Thirteen
  19. Part II
  20. Chapter Fourteen
  21. Chapter Fifteen
  22. Chapter Sixteen
  23. Chapter Seventeen
  24. Chapter Eighteen
  25. Chapter Nineteen
  26. Chapter Twenty
  27. Chapter Twenty-One
  28. Chapter Twenty-Two
  29. Chapter Twenty-Three
  30. Chapter Twenty-Four
  31. Chapter Twenty-Five
  32. Chapter Twenty-Six
  33. Chapter Twenty-Seven
  34. Chapter Twenty-Eight
  35. Chapter Twenty-Nine
  36. Part III
  37. Chapter Thirty
  38. Chapter Thirty-One
  39. Chapter Thirty-Two
  40. Chapter Thirty-Three
  41. Chapter Thirty-Four
  42. Chapter Thirty-Five
  43. Chapter Thirty-Six
  44. Chapter Thirty-Seven
  45. Chapter Thirty-Eight
  46. Read on for a sneak peek at the next Violent Crime Investigations Team mystery!
  47. Chapter One
  48. Acknowledgments
  49. About the Author
  50. Back Cover

The work on the mannequin unfolded a few feet away in a cone of dim light—Rivas holding the flashlight, while Bailey moved slowly across the surface of the plastic skin with a brush and jar of latent powder. It was an echo, a farce of their real work to solve three homicides.

He suddenly felt all the tiredness he had ignored for the past three days. Every part of him, down to his bones, ached from exhaustion. Then he knew he didn’t want to be there any longer.

Mahler tapped Rivas’s shoulder and gestured behind him. Then he walked alone back on the dark trail toward the parking lot.

Part III

Chapter Thirty

(i)

(FRIDAY, 8:00 A.M.)

Mahler hung his shirt on a hook in the men’s restroom. He washed his face and took shaving cream and a fresh razor out of his kit. His cheeks and chin were smeared with foam when Rivas came into the room.

“How’d you make out last night?” Rivas asked. “I heard you picked up the guys who left the mannequin in the park. Three of them, was it?”

Mahler ran the razor across his cheek and dipped it in the sink water. “Yeah, the copter spotted the truck six or seven blocks from the park. One of the geniuses was passed out in the front seat. The other two were hiding in a backyard a block away. All three had jackets for small shit: drug possession, public intoxication.”

“You talk to them?”

“If you can call it that. They were pretty wasted. Said they smoked some crack and thought it’d be funny to plant the mannequin. The DA’s charging them with obstruction.”

“Truro there?”

“Yeah,” Mahler shrugged. “He was there. He’s doing a press conference at nine. Bailey get what she needed?”

“Fingerprints, shoe prints, even some fibers. More than enough. Is the forensics team letting you back in your house?”

Mahler felt his newly shaven skin with a fingertip. “After lunch. They’re still looking at the type of hacking used on the alarm system.”

“You’re welcome to shower at our place. Teresa’s at work all day.”

Mahler smiled. “Thanks. I’m okay for the time being. Anyway, Eden and I are headed up to Dry Creek in a few minutes to talk to Thackrey.”

“So, are we going to meet the chief’s deadline? Do we have enough to charge Thackrey?”

“No. Arturo Peña ID’d him in a drug buy with the victim two nights before. But that doesn’t connect Thackrey to the homicide, and Peña makes a terrible witness. Only other evidence is Thackrey’s name in the victim’s book of poetry and the note about someone killing her. I’ve written a search warrant for his house and vehicle. Maybe we get lucky and find a judge to sign it.”

Mahler finished shaving.

Rivas handed over a paper towel. “Your headache any better?”