At the Scene of the Crime (35 page)

“Oh, I think you do,” Liam said, but he’d been at it for eight hours, with Kurt changing his story on average once per hour, and he needed more coffee if he was going to stay awake.

On the other side of the door a district attorney in a three-piece suit with a miniskirt and four-inch heels cocked a hip, displaying her admittedly killer legs for his appreciation. “A nutcase, but he knew what he was doing and he knew it was wrong. Slam dunk.”

 

At trial, the defense claimed that Kurt Fraad was suffering from a paranoid psychosis with delusions of persecution, exacerbated by being in the middle of a killing field, pieces of dead caribou and blood all around him, with three Natives who couldn’t or wouldn’t speak English to him. “Mr. Fraad was totally unprepared for this hunt,” said the defense shrink. “He felt himself to be in danger of losing his life, and he shot these men in self-defense.”

The jury didn’t buy it, finding Kurt guilty on all three counts. After the trial, the foreman told a reporter that the testimony of Dr. Brill and the graphic description of the multiple gunshot wounds in all three victims
were what had put the prosecution’s case over. Liam had testified to finding the rifle and to tracing the registration back to Fraad senior, and jury members were warmly complimentary of the professionalism of the state’s finest. Wy’s name hadn’t come up.

Outside the courtroom, Brill tapped Liam on the shoulder. “You going back up to the scene anytime?”

Liam shook his head and hooked a thumb over his shoulder. “No need to.”

Brill raised an eyebrow. “You that sure you got the right thirty-thirty? There were two of them, Adams’s and Nageak’s. I’d like to have just one bullet from a test round, and be sure.”

Liam thought about Wy that day, snowshoeing determinedly upriver, goaded by some force she feared to identify and that he would not, could not question. “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,” he said beneath his breath.

“What?” Brillo said.

Liam adjusted his cap and slapped Brill on the shoulder.

“Forensics isn’t everything,” he said.

N. J. AYRES
has published three forensics-based novels and numerous short stories and poems. When not indulging in common writers’ delusions, Ayres edits reports and proposals dealing with the cleanup of spent lead and cartridges at firing ranges in the Northeast, frequently going onsite to better document the challenges and processes. Of course, a story will emanate from these experiences as well as from special locales in each of the nine U.S. states in which she has lived.

 

A police officer with the Matteson, Illinois, Police Department for twenty-nine years,
SERGEANT MICHAEL A. BLACK
is the author of two different series: one featuring Chicago-based private investigator Ron Shade
(A Killing Frost, Windy City Knights, A Final Judgment)
and the other featuring the male/female police detectives Leal and Hart
(Random Victim and the upcoming Hostile Takeovers)
. This award-winning author has also written two nonfiction works for young adults, two stand-alone thrillers
(The Heist and Freeze Me, Tender)
, a pulp-era adventure
(Melody of Vengeance)
and a novel with a celebrity who shall at the moment remain nameless. In addition, Mike collaborated with his writing partner, Julie Hyzy, on the recently released
Dead Ringer
(Five Star) in which Mike’s private eye, Ron Shade, and Julie’s protagonist, Alex St. James, team up to solve a baffling conspiracy. Please visit:
www.michaelablack.com

 

MAX ALLAN COLLINS
is the author of the
New York Times
best-selling graphic novel
Road to Perdition
, made into the Academy Award-winning film starring Tom Hanks and Paul Newman. His other credits include such comics as
Batman, Dick Tracy,
and his own
Ms. Tree;
film scripts for HBO and Lifetime TV; and the Shamus Award-winning Nathan Heller detective
novels. His tie-in novels include the best-sellers
Saving Private Ryan, Air Force One,
and
American Gangster.
He lives in Muscatine, Iowa, with his wife, Barb, a writer.

 

MATTHEW V. CLEMENS
has collaborated with Collins as forensics researcher and co-plotter on eight
USA Today
best-selling
CSI
novels, two
CSI: MIAMI
novels, and tie-in novels for the TV series
Dark Angel, Bones,
and
Criminal Minds
. He and Collins have published over a dozen short stories together (some gathered in their collection
My Lolita Complex)
. He is the coauthor of the true-crime regional bestseller,
Dead Water.
He lives in Davenport, Iowa, with his wife, Pam, a teacher.

 

BRENDAN DUBOIS
is an award-winning author of short stories and novels. His short fiction has appeared in various publications, including
Playboy, Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine,
and
Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine,
as well as numerous anthologies, including
The Best Mystery Stories of the Century.
He has twice received a Shamus Award for his short fiction and has been nominated for three Edgar Allan Poe Awards. DuBois’ long fiction includes six previous books in the Lewis Cole mystery series, as well as several other suspense thrillers. DuBois lives in New Hampshire with his wife, Mona.

 

LOREN D. ESTLEMAN
is the author of more than sixty novels. He has earned five Spur Awards from the Western Writers of America, four Shamus Awards from the Private Eye Writers of America, and three Western Heritage Awards from the National Cowboy Hall of Fame. In 2007, the Library of Michigan named his twentieth Amos Walker, private detective, novel
American Detective,
a Notable Book of the Year, and
Publishers’ Weekly
singled it out as one of only eight mysteries on its list of 100 Best Novels of 2007.

JEREMIAH HEALY,
a graduate of Rutgers College and Harvard Law School, is the creator of the John Francis Cuddy private investigator series and (under the pseudonym “Terry Devane”) the Mairead O’Clare legal thriller series, both set primarily in Boston. Jerry has written eighteen novels and over sixty short stories, sixteen of which works have won or been nominated for the Shamus Award. He served a four-year term as the president of the International Association of Crime Writers (IACW), and he was the American Guest of Honour at the 35th World Mystery Convention (or “Bouchercon”—phonetically: “BOUGH-shur-con”) in Toronto during October 2004. Currently he serves on the National Board of Directors for the Mystery Writers of America.

 

EDWARD D. HOCH
(1930-2008) was a past president of Mystery Writers of America and winner of its Edgar Award for best short story. In 2001 he received MWA’s Grand Master Award. He had been the guest of honor at Bouchercon, twice winner of its Anthony Award, and recipient of its Lifetime Achievement Award. The Private Eye Writers of America honored him with its Life Achievement Award as well. Author of some 950 published stories, his fiction appeared in every issue of
Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine
for the past thirty-five years.

 

JULIE HYZY’S
newest series debuted last January with
State of the Onion
featuring Olivia (Ollie) Paras, a White House chef who feeds the First Family and saves the world in her spare time. The second book in the series, tentatively titled
Hail to the Chef,
is due out soon. Julie has also written two books in her other series featuring Chicago news researcher and amateur sleuth Alex St. James,
Deadly Blessings
and
Deadly Interest,
which won the 2007 Lovey Award for best traditional mystery. Julie’s short story, “Strictly Business,” in the Bleak House anthology,
These Guns for Hire,
won a 2007 Derringer Award from the Short Mystery Fiction Society. In addition, Julie collaborated with her writing partner, Michael A. Black, on the recently released
Dead Ringer
(Five Star) where Julie’s Chicago news reporter, Alex St. James, works with Mike’s private eye, Ron Shade, to uncover a shocking

JOHN LUTZ
is the author of more than forty novels and approximately 250 short stories and articles. He authored the book that was made into the hit movie
Single White Female,
and coauthored the screenplay for the HBO movie
The Ex,
adapted from his novel of the same title. He has won both the Edgar and Shamus awards, the Golden Derringer Lifetime Achievement Award for mystery short fiction, and the Shamus Lifetime Achievement Award. He has been president of both the Mystery Writers of America and Private Eye Writers of America. His latest novel is the
New York Times
bestseller
In for the Kill
.

 

KRISTINE KATHRYN RUSCH
is an award-winning mystery, science fiction, romance, and mainstream author. Her latest mystery novel, written as Kris Nelscott, is
Days of Rage.
Her latest science fiction novel is a science fiction mystery called
The Recovery Man.
To find out more about her, look at her website,
www.kristinekathrynrusch.com
.

 

DANA STABENOW
was born in Anchorage and raised on a seventy-five-foot fish tender in the Gulf of Alaska. She knew there was a warmer, drier job out there and she found it in writing. Her first science fiction novel,
Second Star
sank without a trace, her first crime fiction novel,
A Cold Day for Murder
won an Edgar award, her first thriller,
Blindfold Game
hit the
New York Times
bestseller list, and her twenty-fifth novel and sixteenth Kate Shugak novel,
Whisper to the Blood
, comes out in February 2009. No, she doesn’t believe it either

 

JEANNE C. STEIN
was raised in San Diego, the setting for her Anna Strong Vampire series. She now lives with her husband outside Denver, Colorado. where besides working on her books and short stories, she edits a newsletter for a beer importer and takes kick boxing classes to stay in shape.

 

MAYNARD F. THOMSON
is the author of numerous novels, short stories, and articles. A lawyer, he was for many years a partner in one of America’s
leading law firms, specializing in litigation on behalf of large, well-heeled corporations hoping to shield their plunder from the red horde. Today he lives with his wife, Laura, and Airedale, Abby, in northern New Hampshire, where he plots crimes and climbs rocks.

© 2008 by Tekno Books and Dana Stabenow

(Individual stories copyrighted as per page 4.)

All rights reserved under the Pan-American and International Copyright Conventions

 

 

Digit on the right indicates the number of this printing

 

Library of Congress Control Number: 2008928969

 

eISBN : 978-0-786-74508-1

 

Typography: Minion and Trade Gothic

 

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