The Competition - [29]
“One looked tall.”
“Taller than you?”
He nodded.
“I’m going to play a part of a video taken by one of the students in the gym. Tell me if you recognize this voice.” I played the snippet of the crazy laugh.
Carson shook his head, a barely perceptible move. “Is it…one of the shooters?”
“Yes,” I said.
He mouthed, “Motherfucker.”
“Does it sound like anyone you know?”
“Kinda sounds like Otis. But it’s not.”
“Why not?”
Carson snorted. “Fucking wuss. Couldn’t even cut up a frog.”
The frog lesson plan didn’t seem to have a lot of fans. But it didn’t mean Otis wasn’t one of the shooters. Animal lovers can be psychopaths too. Hitler had scientists working on a more humane way to cook lobsters. Couldn’t bear the fact that they were boiled alive. “But you agree, it does sound like Otis’s laugh?”
“Sort of.”
“Did Otis ever talk about guns?”
“No…wait. He told me about someone…this dude who said he could get stuff online.” Carson’s voice was starting to sound like it was being squeezed through a narrow tube.
“What kind of stuff?”
“AKs and shit.”
“Do you remember who that was?” I crossed my fingers behind my back.
Carson closed his eyes. Suddenly, he gave a sharp inhale and curled into a fetal position. One of the monitors started to shriek. Papa James stepped forward and pressed the call button for the nurse. “Okay, that’s all. You’re finished.”
Just as abruptly, Carson’s body relaxed. He lay on his back, panting. “S’okay, Dad.” He took a few deep breaths and I found myself doing the same. When he spoke again, his voice had dropped to a whisper.
I leaned toward him, winding my body around the father, who’d stepped in even closer. “I didn’t catch that. One more time?”
“Logan Jarvis.”
“Do you know him?” I asked.
Carson shook his head.
I stepped back, and his father held up a thick hand. “That’s it. I mean it. You have to stop.”
I was about to tell him we had stopped when a nurse trotted in and shooed us all away. “Officers, whatever it is you need, it’ll have to wait.”
As she began to check his monitors, Carson whispered, “That school…bunch of fucking assholes.”
“Angry young man,” I said.
The nurse raised an eyebrow. “You blame him?”
Not now I didn’t.
16
Tuesday evening, October 8
The sun had dropped low on the horizon, taking the day’s warmth with it. I shivered and pulled my thin wool coat closer. It really was time to break out the winter wardrobe. Bailey and I trotted back to her car in silence. We talked as little as possible when we were in public because you never knew who was listening. Especially in a case like this.
As soon as we got into the car, Bailey handed me her cell phone. “Call the unis at the rec center. It’s rush hour. I want to get on the road.”
The phone rang six times before someone picked up. “Sharven here. What can I do for you, Detective Keller?” The din of frantic parents swelled over the young officer’s voice. And mine. I had to yell my question four times before he could make out the name.
“Logan Jarvis?” he asked. “Is that J as in John, V as in Victor?”
“I think so.”
“Hang on.”
I started to bite my cuticles-my go-to stress coping strategy when there was no room to pace. Bailey slapped my hand. “Knock it off, Knight. What are you, twelve?”
I turned my back to her and attacked my right hand. I’d just gone to work on my thumb when the officer came back on the line.
“Detective Keller? Looks like your guy was reported missing-assuming the spelling’s correct.”
My heart began to pound. I told him to have the parents meet us at their house and got the address, then punched it into the navigation system. When I hung up, neither of us said anything about Logan looking good. No more jinxes.
We hit the 101 freeway in the middle of rush hour. We’d roll a few inches, stop, roll a few more, stop. I couldn’t stand it. I had to do something. “What else can we check?”
“You could get the unis to check the juvy records, see if he’s got anything.”
“Didn’t they already check the kids who had records? I thought they were all accounted for.”
“Doesn’t hurt to double-check.”
It kind of did. I needed progress, forward motion. I stared at the line of cars ahead of us. “Wait…if the killers left the scene, at least one of them had to have had a car, right?”
“I’d guess.”
I called DMV, got Logan Jarvis’s license and registration, then called the unis and had them check it against the cars in the school parking lot.
“And?” Bailey asked.
I kept my eyes forward. “Not there.”
Having one idea pay off gave me another.
I put in a call to my buddy in the coroner’s office, investigator Scott Ferrier. “Hey, Scott, how you doin’?”
“What do you want?” His voice was wary. Not that I blamed him. Generally speaking, a phone call from me meant two things: (1) I wanted him to get me something I wasn’t supposed to have and (2) I’d bribe him with lunch at Engine Co. No. 28, his favorite restaurant, to get it. So Scott was always conflicted about taking my calls.
“Just one bit of information. Has Dr. Shoe finished the autopsy on those two kids in the library?”
“Yeah, took him a while. They were a mess. He just finished a couple of hours ago.”
When the daughter of a billionaire Hollywood director is found murdered after what appears to be a kidnapping gone wrong, Los Angeles Special Trials prosecutor Rachel Knight and Detective Bailey Keller find themselves at the epicenter of a combustible and high-profile court case.Then a prime suspect is revealed to be one of Hollywood's most popular and powerful talent managers-and best friend to the victim's father.With the director vouching for the manager's innocence, the Hollywood media machine commences an all-out war designed to discredit both Rachel and her case.KILLER AMBITION is at once a thrilling ride through the darker side of Tinseltown and a stunning courtroom drama with the brilliant insider's perspective that Marcia Clark is uniquely qualified to give.
Without a Doubt is not just a book about a trial. It's a book about a woman. Marcia Clark takes us inside her head and her heart. Her voice is raw, incisive, disarming, unmistakable. Her story is both sweeping and deeply personal. It is the story of a woman who, when caught up in an event that galvanized an entire country, rose to that occasion with singular integrity, drive, honesty and grace.In a case that tore America apart, and that continues to haunt us as few events of history have, Marcia Clark emerged as the only true heroine, because she stood for justice, fought the good fight, and fought it well.
First in a new series from bestselling author and famed O. J. Simpson trial prosecutor Marcia Clark, a "terrific writer and storyteller" (James Patterson).Samantha Brinkman, an ambitious, hard-charging Los Angeles criminal defense attorney, is struggling to make a name for herself and to drag her fledgling practice into the big leagues. Sam lands a high-profile double-murder case in which one of the victims is a beloved TV star – and the defendant is a decorated veteran LAPD detective. It promises to be exactly the kind of media sensation that would establish her as a heavy hitter in the world of criminal law.Though Sam has doubts about his innocence, she and her two associates (her closest childhood friend and a brilliant ex-con) take the case.
TROUBLE IN PARADISE is an all-new short story featuring Rachel Knight, star of thrillers GUILT BY ASSOCIATION and GUILT BY DEGREES.Rachel Knight and her friends Toni and Bailey are taking a break from their busy, crime-focussed lives with a trip to tropical island paradise Aruba. But trouble is never far away from these three, and on their first day their investigative skills are called on when a reality TV child star goes missing…
Someone has been watching D.A. Rachel Knight-someone who's Rachel's equal in brains, but with more malicious intentions. It began when a near-impossible case fell into Rachel's lap, the suspectless homicide of a homeless man. In the face of courthouse backbiting and a gauzy web of clues, Rachel is determined to deliver justice. She's got back-up: tough-as-nails Detective Bailey Keller. As Rachel and Bailey stir things up, they're shocked to uncover a connection with the vicious murder of an LAPD cop a year earlier.
Смерть – какая она? Страшная? Или наоборот – освободительная? Кто решает кому жить, а кому нет? Журналист Максим Котов недавно пережил самую страшную потерю. Неизвестный вирус унёс жизнь его ребёнка. «Так бывает…» – сказали врачи. Но Максим уверен, что смерть его дочери – не случайность, а часть большого заговора. И в этом заговоре его ребенку была отведена роль пешки, которой с легкостью пожертвовали ради достижения «большой цели». Котов решает найти виновного и отомстить. Но чем больше он углубляется в расследование, тем запутаннее становится история.
Красивая хозяйственная жена, муж-военный с белозубой улыбкой, очаровательная дочка – казалось бы, рецепт идеальной семьи. Но если бы все было так просто, журналистка Лола, которая прославилась на всю Италию репортажами о самых громких криминальных происшествиях страны, осталась бы без работы. Жена исчезла, муж безутешен, весь городок Черенова – от военной части до местного ночного клуба – переполнен жуткими слухами. Видимо, Лоле снова предстоит броситься в самую гущу событий, обходя конкурентов на поворотах.
Май 1899 года. В дождливый день к сыщику Мармеладову приходит звуковой мастер фирмы «Берлинер и Ко» с граммофонной пластинкой. Во время концерта Шаляпина он случайно записал подозрительный звук, который может означать лишь одно: где-то поблизости совершено жестокое преступление. Заинтригованный сыщик отправляется на поиски таинственного убийцы.
Молодая женщина, известный в сети блогер, однажды исчезла из своей квартиры. Какие обстоятельства стали причиной ее внезапного исчезновения? Чем может помочь страница в «Живом журнале» пропавшей? На эти вопросы предстоит найти ответы следователю Дмитрию Владимирову. Рассказ «Затерявшаяся во мгле» четвертый в ряду цикла «Дыхание мегаполиса», повествующего о судьбах наших современников — жителей больших городов.
А с вами случалось такое? Когда чья-то незримая жизнь играет внутри вас будто забродившее вино, она преследует вас с самого детства и не даёт покоя ни днём, ни ночью. С ней невозможно договориться, у неё нет ни ног, ни тела, ни голоса. У неё нет ничего. И, тем не менее, она пытается по-своему общаться и даже что-то рассказывает. Что это: раздвоение сознания или тихое сумасшествие? А может, это чья-то неуспокоенная душа отчаянно взывает о помощи? Тогда кто она? Откуда взялась? И что ей нужно?
Первый официальный роман по мотивам культового сериала «Нарко» от Netflix. Удивительно подробное и правдивое изображение колумбийской наркоторговли изнутри. Хосе Агилар Гонсалес – sicario, наемный убийца медельинского картеля. Он готов обрушиться на любого врага Пабло Эскобара – и сделать с ним все, что прикажет Патрон. Он досконально изучил весь механизм работы кокаиновой империи, снизу доверху. Он глубоко проник в мысли и чувства Эскобара. Он знает, как подойти к нему даже с такой просьбой, которая другим показалась бы самоубийством, – и получить желаемое.