Going Under_ A Bill Roberts Thriller - Silas Payton Page 0,4

of her husband and we went over her rights, but she seemed to be in a state of shock. Although, she did say she called a lawyer before calling the police."

"She called it in?" Bill asked.

"Yes, she did."

"Did she say anything helpful before she was taken away?"

Evans responded. "When I got here, there were two uniformed cops first on the scene. They reported entering when they saw the victim from the window in the front door. The constables found her still sitting in the chair opposite her husband. She apparently just kept saying, 'I just shot my husband,' over and over again."

Bill looked to Cliff. "A guy should never piss off his wife," he said. "They can kill you, and plead that you drove them nuts."

A staff photographer came around the corner and said to Cliff, "Sarge, I'm all finished for now. If it's all right with you, I'm gonna head back and get started on these. If you need me for anything else just call and I'll be right back," he said. "I'll have the blowups in your conference room in an hour."

"Go ahead. We'll call if we find anything else."

The Inspector and his two detectives moved into the foyer to assess the scene. Other than a gun on the floor in front of the chair, and a dead body, there was nothing out of place. The garage door looked intact, apart from a bullet hole and blood stain. The table and lamp were upright, and the phone was sitting on the table, as it should have been. The victim still had his jacket and shoes on.

"Let's start asking some questions here. This doesn't appear to be spontaneous. She must have been pretty upset to kill him walking in the door. I know when my wife was alive, I could get her pretty upset, but she would have likely talked about it for a while before she shot me. Or at least, she'd make me clean up the kitchen or do something useful before she got rid of me."

"If she waited for you to clean it up properly, she would have fallen asleep long before you got it done -- I know what your desk looks like," Cliff responded, smiling at his boss.

Bill raised his eyebrows and nodded, acknowledging his sergeant might be right.

"Evans, you take a few officers and find out this couple's story. Go knock on some doors." Then he looked at Cliff and said, "Why don't you stick around and make sure the fingerprint crew and the coroner don't mess anything up. Poke around the house a while...see what else you can find. I'll see you both back at the office later tonight."

Chapter 4

Andrew Livingston

Looking a hundred and twenty feet straight down at the water below would normally separate those who fear heights from those who don’t. Where Andrew would usually be paralyzed with fear and have a death grip on the nearest pole, tonight he felt as relaxed as could be. The water looked tranquil.

From this far up, the details blurred and the individual waves merged into a brush stroke of an impressionist painting. Even from this height, the sounds of the waves could still be heard crashing against the supports of the bridge. The occasional truck driving past created a rhythmic hum in the background, and caused the sections of the bridge to move back and forth. The sun had gone down and although he was hidden in the shadows of the support beams, Andrew was no longer concerned of being seen. He relaxed and took in the surroundings, and a view that normally turned the heads of the drivers -- a view that postcards were made of.

His arms casually wrapped over the top bar of the railing behind him -- as if he were leaning against the fence in his back yard watching his kids play. Instead of the wind and swaying of the bridge bothering him, it added to the sense of peace overcoming him.

The ends of his feet hung over the edge. Time seemed to pass without notice until his toes started to go numb. The unwanted distraction taking away from the blissful state he was in. He shifted his weight, standing on one foot at a time to move the other, increasing the circulation. After a few minutes the sensation returned and he again settled his breathing.

"Focus on the rhythm of your breathing," he heard in his head. "Feel the worries fade away. Breathe. Count your breaths slowly down from