Grace Anne - By Kathi S. Barton Page 0,54

that she blamed him.

“They didn’t say, but then I doubt very much they would tell us. They took both bodies to the coroner’s office to see what they could find. I did hear that both of them died about the same time and that one had been cut up, the other stabbed through the heart.” Joey sat down on the couch next to Michael as she continued. “They have him for the other two murders, so I don’t suppose they care one way or the other if he killed these two or not.”

Joey glanced over at the cop she’d forgotten about. He’d not left the room since Thomas had been brought back from surgery. She wondered if he would save Thomas if someone, the supposed woman, came back to finish the job. She doubted it. She also doubted that she would care all that much either. The thought made her feel like a horrible person and she felt more tears fall. Before she could say anything Lucas started talking.

“The older man was the super of the apartment complex where he died. They aren’t sure what the connection was, only that he had been stabbed in the heart and that he had a blunt force to the back of his head. They are doing a room to room search to see if he was killed there. The younger man had been cut badly. They said that he’d been wrapped in plastic and put down there first because he was beneath the older man. He’d been stored down there for at least twenty-four hours.” The cop coughed, but didn’t speak as her husband continued. “There are seventy-two apartments in that complex and most of the people are…less than trustworthy. I understand that any one of the residents there could have killed either man as it seems to be a regular occurrence in that neighborhood.”

“Four to five per week,” the cop said. “We get a call there four, sometimes as many as ten times a week for one thing or another. The man, the younger one, he’s a known prostitute in the area about three blocks from there. And the kid here is going to trial. It’s a capital to kill a cop in this state.”

Joey shuddered. The death penalty was almost a guarantee for Thomas. She looked at him again before she spoke to the cop. “Did you know him; the other policeman, did you know him? And did he have a family? I’m not sure…my family would like to make a donation to whatever fund you have for them. And I know you’ll keep that to yourself.’

He nodded. “Officer Bill Abbott, ma’am. And Officer Tyler and I will. I know…your husband is a good man, fair too. I was before him on a few cases.”

Joey smiled as she looked at her husband. He’d been a sitting judge for a few years before they’d married and he’d become a well-known and very well respected circuit court judge before he’d retired. He still presided over some cases when needed, filling in for vacations or some other thing, but he’d been retired for a few years now.

Thomas stirred and they all looked at the bed expectantly. The doctor had told them that he would be out for a bit, but when he came around they would make sure that he could move about before sending him on his way. They’d been told they could stay with him until then, but after being transported he was going to be in lock down. Mostly, they’d been told, for his own safety.

The bullet had entered his right arm. The doctor who had treated him said that it had gone through his bicep. He said that it hadn’t been anywhere near as life threatening as the person who had called it in had said and he’d wondered to them if it was a lover’s quarrel and that she’d had remorse over trying to kill him. Thomas had been awake when they’d brought him in and, at that time, they hadn’t discovered the bodies. Nor, it seemed, had they realized who they had. It wasn’t until he was transported that they made the connection to him and the cop killer at his home. By then Thomas had already been taken to surgery.

“Dad? Where…what am I doing here?” Thomas pulled on the cuff at his wrist. “What the fuck is this? Why am I…am I in trouble for something? That bitch shot me and you have me in cuffs? I