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Kate bided her time. She let six months go by without saying another word about the district attorney to anyone. She wanted to make sure she put a significant amount of distance between her previous encounter with Carl Martin and her next one. During that time, she found out everything she could about the man. The more she learned, she more she came to hate him. Not only did she discover that his office was teeming with corruption: she also learned that he had been married before and that his first wife had died under mysterious circumstances. She had drowned in a bathtub after overdosing on sleeping pills. Given what Kate knew, she could only wonder whether the D.A. had killed her and then staged her death to look like an accident or suicide.
Kate kept digging into the D.A.’s life, even though she knew she would never be able to formally charge him with any crimes. And she made it a point to keep in touch with his wife. Never pushing her, never bringing up what had happened, but just checking in, like a friend. So when Melanie mentioned that she and the baby were leaving the next day to visit her parents for a long weekend, Kate wished her a safe trip. And then she hung up the phone, and smiled and knew that the time had come.
The next night, Kate worked her usual graveyard shift. When it was over, she drove to the station, filed her paperwork, and followed her usual routine. Then she got into her car and drove to the Martins’ house. She parked halfway up the mile long driveway – there were no visible neighbors – the house sitting in the middle of ten acres of silent woods. She knew that the district attorney’s security detail left him alone during the night – after all, he had a top-of-the-line security system. But the times she had spent dropping in on Melanie had given her all the information she needed to get around the system. Kate knew that when she broke in, she would have twenty seconds to enter the code before the alarm sounded. The Martins had it programmed that way so the district attorney wouldn’t wake the sleeping baby when he came in late at night, as he often did.
After she entered the house and disabled the alarm, Kate crept up the stairs to the master bedroom. She remembered exactly where it was: the second door on the right, just next to the nursery. She opened the door and stood quietly, allowing her eyes to adjust to the darkness. She saw the figure on the bed, motionless, except for steady breathing, the covers moving up and down in rhythm. She inched her way into the room, until she stood next to the bed, looking down at Carl Martin, his face as sweet and innocent as his baby’s.
In one quick motion, she yanked the covers back, revealing his upper body. As his eyes flew open, she stabbed him in the heart and then watched as he gasped and grabbed for the knife. Before he could pull it out, his fingers loosened their grip and fell away, his hand resting on his chest, as the last of his life blood pooled out onto his pajama top.
Her hands covered in surgical gloves, Kate reached down and felt for his pulse just as she had felt for his wife’s six months ago. “That’s for Melanie,” she whispered. With the D.A.’s track record, she knew there would be plenty of suspects in his murder. The man had made lots of enemies, and no one even knew she was one of them.
On her way home, Kate stopped at the cemetery. The sun was coming up, and the groundskeeper was unlocking the gates. He smiled and waved at her – she was a frequent visitor. She drove in and parked her car near her mother’s grave. As she knelt next to it, she pulled at a few weeds that had sprouted during the week since her last visit. “I’m so sorry that I couldn’t save you from Dad, but at least I saved another woman’s life. And I hope her daughter grows up never witnessing any abuse – that she breaks free of that ugly cycle.”
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www.LindaJohnson.us
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Other works by Linda Johnson:
“A Tangled Web” - a novel
Divorce is unpleasant and messy. Murder is simple. Cathy Nelson is a young, successful career woman and mother. When her marriage sours, she turns to a time-honored solution: arsenic. Toni Ambrose is a young, but relentless detective, assigned to the murder case. Her instincts tell her that Cathy is guilty and she defies her superiors to doggedly build a case against this black widow disguised as a grieving wife.
“Trail of Destruction” - a novel
Brad Newcomb believes he is destined to be President of the United States. When he has an affair with a staff member and gets her pregnant, there is nothing he won’t do to fulfill his destiny – including murder. Brad’s brother, Ryan, is a journalist who uncovers the story and is faced with a monumental decision that could determine the fate of the entire country: bury the truth and see a murderer elected president or destroy his brother's life.
“Winner Takes All” - a short story
Robert Lewiston has fled the country. After executing the largest Ponzi scheme in history, he changed his name, had plastic surgery, and escaped to Rio de Janeiro, where he's living the high life on billions in stolen funds.
John Henderson is an ex-employee of Lewiston's who is helping the FBI track down his former boss. When John discovers information that could lead to Lewiston's whereabouts, he is faced with a crucial decision that could lead to dangerous and unexpected consequences.
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