Silent Justice (12 page)

Epilogue

Jason opened the door to the interrogation room
and stepped inside. Dressed in the orange jumpsuit of a Texas prison inmate, cuffed at both the wrists and ankles, sat Sammi Jo Barker.

Her strawberry
-blonde hair hung in a stringy mess, mascara had run down her cheeks from crying, and her hands shook, even though she pressed them to the table.

When she heard Jason come in, she looked up
, meeting his stare. Jason saw defiance and anger burning from behind her green eyes.

He took a chair opposite Sammi Jo
.

She recognized him
. “You’re the one who tackled me.”

“You’re the one who shot me.”

“I wasn’t aiming for your shoulder.”

“I wasn’t staying around to find out where you were aiming.”

She slumped back in her chair, causing the handcuffs to jangle, and she looked at them as if surprised to see them. Jason thought he saw something in that look.

“You didn’t think we’d find you
.”

“No
, and you almost didn’t. I only had two kills left.”

“Why?”

“Why only two?”

“No, why did you do it? These people didn’t hurt you.”

She lunged forward, leaning on the table, and glaring at Jason.

“
You’re wrong! They took everything!”

He maintained
an evenness to his voice.

“How so?”

She regained her composure and sat back.

“
A cop’s bullet killed my mother.”

“It wasn’t intentional; you know what happened that day.”

“It doesn’t matter; they took the most important person in my father’s life. Do you know how he ended up in a wheelchair?”

“He said it was his own fault.”

She snorted in disgust.

“It was the fault of the cop who killed his wife. He
couldn’t stand the pain, so he got drunk one night, put a twenty-two pistol to his chest, and tried to shoot himself through the heart. Unfortunately for him, he was so drunk, he missed, and the bullet ended up severing his spinal cord.”

Jason could start to see the reason for the bitterness in both Sammi Jo and her father. It
didn’t excuse what she did, but he began to see her twisted motivation.

“Why the family members, not the officers themselves?”

“That’s easy. Justice required each of them to feel the same pain as my father. That could only come from losing the one most important to them.”

Jason stood up.

“Well, I guess you forgot something.”

“What’s that?”

“Now your father will have to go through it again, only this time it’s from losing his daughter.”

Tears welled up in her eyes as his words
tore into her, physically rocking her back in the chair.

Jason turned and left the room, both angry at what
she’d done and sad for what she’d become. Another arrow to her father’s heart.

*******

Vanessa was waiting for him outside the interrogation room. Jason’s first concern was for the lieutenant.

“Have you heard from the hospital?”

“Yes. He came through surgery in decent shape, and he’s listed in stable condition.”

“Awesome.”

They took Jason’s car to the hospital, riding in silence most of the way. Vanessa spoke first.

“Did you get your answers from Sammi Jo?”

“Yes.”

“And?”

“She picked her victims so the officers would feel the same loss her father felt.”

“Sad.”

“Very.”

Jason parked
, and they took the elevator up to the lieutenant’s room. He was awake but groggy.

Jason walked up next to the bed after giving Lindsey a hug.

“I figured a tough old coot like you would be too stubborn to let an arrow get him.”

“Darn straight…I’ll be outta here in no time
.”

Jason looked at Mrs. Patton, who was rolling her eyes
. She pointed her finger at her husband.

“You’ll be out in no time
, if by no time, you mean a week!”

Everyone laughed
, and even John Patton managed a smile. Jason laid his hand on the lieutenant’s good arm.

“I think you’ve been out-ranked this time, Lieutenant!”

A Note from the Author

I finished the third novella in the series back in September of 2012, almost six months ago. The holidays and some renovations around the house took up most of my time until after Christmas. It was with great anticipation I began to write the novella you just read.

If this is the first book of mine you’ve read, I hope you enjoyed meeting Det. Strong and the rest of the gang. But if you have read the other books, then like me, I hope you’ve missed hearing about everyone.

It was a lot of fun to get back to the lives of the entire group and see what
was happening with them.

As always, thank you so much for taking the time to read our books. Contact me at my web page
www.jcdalglish.webs.com
or my email
[email protected]
.
Visit Jason on Facebook www.facebook.com/DetectiveJasonStrong

God Bless, John

I John 1:9

With Thanks to all who helped.

Cover
by Beverly Dalglish

Editing by

Samantha Gordon,

Invisible Ink Editing