BoneMan's Daughters Read Online Free PDF Page B

collateral damage.

4
    RICKI VALENTINE SAT with her right leg crossed over her left, slowly swinging her foot as she studied Mort Kracker’s brooding
     gray eyes. A crew cut topped the Assistant Director in Charge’s large square head, giving him the appearance of a softer,
     kinder version of Frankenstein, sans scars.
    The conversation in the room had stalled. If the defense attorney’s latest filing with the court bore up under judicial scrutiny,
     Phil Switzer, aka BoneMan, could very well be walking the streets two weeks from now and all eyes would be on the DA who’d
     put him behind bars.
    Burton Welsh, the man who now served as Austin’s district attorney in large part
because
of his highly touted prosecution of BoneMan two years prior, stared at them from his perch against the windowsill, one hand
     across his waist, the other stroking up his chin, as though scratching at a thought.
    Welsh might be on the bubble here, but Ricki had been the FBI’s lead investigator in the case. She, more than the DA, had
     been responsible for BoneMan’s capture and conviction. There would be more than enough scrutiny to go around if the folder
     on the chief’s desk contained the truth.
    “So?” Welsh demanded.
    “So”—Kracker glanced between them—“we have us a problem.”
    Although not directly responsible for the investigation, Mort Kracker’s oversight of the case wouldn’t be dismissed. Not to
     mention the well-known fact that Kracker had essentially fed the case to Burt Welsh, whose relationship with him extended
     all the way back to UT School of Law.
    Here, in this room, sat the three law enforcement professionals who may very well have put an innocent man behind bars; even
     worse, they had possibly left a serial killer to take more victims, always careful to cover his tracks.
    “You’re not actually suggesting you believe this load of crap,” Welsh said, shoving a thick finger at the wall. “That man
     is as guilty as a pregnant nun. That’s why we prosecuted; that’s why he’s serving time.”
    He crossed the room and towered over Ricki. “You led the investigation; the file on him is a foot thick.”
    Uncomfortable under his shadow, Ricki stood. Welsh wore a tailored blue suit that hid his muscled frame well, but at six foot
     three, there was no hiding his power. Standing a mere five feet two if she stretched, Ricki felt like a mouse next to him.
    She walked toward the window he’d vacated. “And you know as well as I do that the blood samples from the last victim connected
     the evidence and sealed the case.”
    Kracker put his elbows on his desk. “Which they say was contrived. Defense says that they can prove it came from the same
     sample taken to run him through VICAP, and that we broke the chain of evidence. Like I said, we have a problem.”
    “Assuming this evidence of theirs pans out,” Welsh said. He took a seat in the chair Ricki had left. “Either way, Switzer’s
     as guilty as sin.”
    Ricki nodded. “Probably. But that doesn’t help us in appellate court. Double jeopardy—he can’t be tried for the same crime
     twice. Unless and
until
we find another victim to link to the case, we’re stuck.”
    “I understand the legal problem,” Welsh shot back. “But if you think I’m just going to sit by and wait for him to take another
     victim before I do anything, you don’t know me. When news of this leaks, the city will go nuts.”
    TheBoneMan, so dubbed by Ricki for his MO of killing his victims by breaking their bones without breaking their skin, had
     left a total of seven victims behind, all in plain sight, all in quiet Texas neighborhoods, from El Paso to Austin, where
     he’d taken his last two before being caught.
    Assuming the man they’d put away really
was
BoneMan.
    “I’m not saying we have the wrong man,” Ricki said. “I’m simply pointing out the challenge we’re facing.”
    Welsh exposed his true concern. “I don’t need to restate what this means