Mystery: Family Ties: Mystery and Suspense (27 page)

They walked into the room to find the form of Damien kneeling by the body of Kathleen. He was crying his eyes out.

“Who is this and why is he here?” Ashford asked James. He was very much a traditional copper who didn’t like obnoxious civilians interfering in a crime scene, no matter what the reason.

“This is Damien, the lady’s boyfriend,” he told the detective. “He came up with her from the South to spend the weekend.”

“Sir,” Ashford said to the grieving form beneath him. “You’re going to have to leave the room. This is a crime scene. We can’t have you hear until the technicians have photographed and sampled everything. The medical examiner is on the way too and you’ll have to go to some other room.” He turned to James. “Was he staying in the room too?”

“I said he was the boyfriend…” James began.

“I have to ask the question,” Ashford said.

“Yes he was,” James responded. “What do I do because he can’t stay here now?”

“Put him in another room. Do you have one open?”

“Down the hall.”

“Good. He can’t leave anyway. The man’s going to be a witness and we’ll need to interview him.”

“Sir,” Ashford said again to the form of Damien who was still kneeling on the floor. “I know this is hard, but you’ll have to go to another room. Jim here has one you can use until we’ve finished talking to you. You can’t leave because you’re a witness.”

Damien stood up and nodded. His face was red from all the tears he’d shed. It was a horrible thing to see, Ashford knew and a scene he’d witnessed too many times in his career as a state trooper. As a detective, he saw it again and again. The really bad part was that it no longer bothered him. He was counting down the days till retirement when he could become a human being once again.

James walked Damien out of the room and into the hall. Ashford watched them leave and turned to look at the body. She had been a very beautiful woman, he could tell. What would possess someone to kill her in such a violent fashion? She had been struck with a blunt object. Ashford had been around enough crime scenes to tell and he knew a victim of force trauma when he saw one. There wasn’t much anyone could do now other than find the killer.

He glanced around the room, being careful not to touch a thing. It was amazing what the crime scene boys could do these days, but there were still procedures to be followed. He looked at the room and realized this was the first time he had ever been in Jim and Giselle’s hotel. He wished he’d come here under better conditions. It appeared to be a nice place, just the sort of location you could take a woman for the weekend to impress her. Those days were long over for him, although there were still a few women he did see on occasion. They just couldn’t understand he was married to his job.

His walkie-talkie crackled and Ashford picked it up. It was Jane the dispatcher letting him know a trooper was on his way to do the interviews. The barracks was sending over Eric Shepard. Ashford was pleased. Shepard had just made sergeant and he was pretty bright. This would be good experience for him. Ashford was feeling the early spring heat and wiped the sweat from his brow.

There was a knock on the door. “Come in,” Ashford called out. “Just be informed this is crime scene.”

“That’s why I’m here,” a voice called out as a tall man walked into the room.

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I hope you enjoyed Family Ties(Mystery and Suspense) and would love to know what you thought about it. If you have a moment to spare, I would appreciate it if you could leave a review of this book at Amazon. Your opinion goes a long way in helping others decide if a book is for them.

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James Kipling

Author of Family Ties(Mystery and Suspense)

A list of other mystery thriller suspense books published by James Kipling: