Dominion Read Online Free PDF

pursuit of Clarence.
“I warned Mr. Abernathy not to come in,” the officer said.
“Look,” Detective Chandler said to Clarence, “the yellow tape there—you might have read it as you crossed it—it’s the one that says a kazillion times Do Not Cross? It’s to keep the rubbernecks away from a crime scene that needs to remain undisturbed. So please, Mr. Abernathy…hang on. Clarence Abernathy? From the Tribune?”
“Yeah.” Clarence felt a glimmer of satisfaction. Recognition had gotten him in a lot of places. Maybe now he’d get an apology.
“Well, then,” Detective Chandler said, “you’re especially unwelcome.”
“What?”
“Nobody messes up a crime scene like a reporter. They think they’re above all the rules. Guess you’re a case in point, aren’t you?”
“This is Dani’s house. This is my baby sister’s place.”
“Dani Rawls is your sister? I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”
“I just came from Emanuel Hospital. My niece is there, but I can’t find my sister. Did they take her somewhere else? Is somebody with her? What’s going on?” The voice now sounded more pleading than demanding, and Ollie Chandler’s defenses dropped. He looked down at the dark pavement, sighing deeply.
“I’m sorry, Mr. Abernathy. Your sister—”
“What? What?”
“She’s…dead.”
Clarence dropped down knees first to the sidewalk. Another man in plainclothes, a young Hispanic, moved quickly toward him, obviously concerned about Clarence disturbing evidence. Ollie waved the man off. “I’m really sorry,” Ollie said to Clarence.
Clarence looked up, he and the Hispanic now eyeballing each other. “This is my partner, Manuel,” Ollie said.
Clarence didn’t hear the introduction. He stood slowly, in disbelief. He looked from the porch to Dani’s bedroom. He gazed at the window that had the duct tape on it, the one he was going to fix next week. Wait, had someone already fixed it? He blinked hard. No, it only looked okay because the glass had been obliterated. There was barely a shard left hanging from the edges. All that remained were shreds of vanilla blinds hanging limply on the far side of the window frame.
The whole front right side of the house looked like a piece of meat that had been tenderized, then picked at with a filleting knife. It appeared an explosion within the wall itself had popped parts of it outward.
Clarence looked up at the porch, which extended three or four feet out from Dani’s bedroom window. It was covered with yellow triangular markers, each with a bold black number. At first Clarence thought they must be some of the twins’ playthings.
“What are those?” he asked weakly.
“Evidence markers,” Ollie replied. “One for each shell casing.”
The highest number he saw was forty. “But…there’s forty of them?”
“Yeah.”
Forty shells? It couldn’t be.
“Did they take her away?”
“Not yet. They’re waiting,” Ollie said. He pointed past the yellow tape crossing the street eighty feet on the other side of the house. Clarence saw a beige paneled van with someone putting away a small box behind the driver’s seat. “We have to finish a couple of things before we move her. We’re using a laser unit to document the crime scene before anything gets disturbed.”
“I’m going in to see her.”
“I’m sorry, Mr. Abernathy. You can’t. No way.”
Clarence raised his foot above the yellow tape at the bottom of the stairs. Manuel stepped right in front of him, glaring up at his eyes, which had the effect of waving the red cape in front of a bull. Without lifting his arms Clarence moved forward, pushing the smaller man back.
A uniformed officer on the porch pulled a big .45 from his holster and said “Hold it.” Manuel opened a fanny pack at his waist and smoothly pulled out a smaller gun, a nine millimeter, with his right hand and cuffs with his left.
“Hands behind your back. Now!”
“Hold it, hold it,” Ollie said. “Back off, Manny.”
“He’s disturbing