Don't Say a Word Read Online Free PDF Page B

Chattanooga. They helped us bring down the Rocking Chair killer. Your brother was lead on that one and did a hell of a good job. So did Will Brannock. It hit a little too close to home for a lot of us. Audrey Sherrod, especially.”
    “I’m sorry to hear that.”
    Audrey Sherrod was J.D.’s new girlfriend. Julia had met her several times and had been rather impressed. She was quite a nice lady, not the kind of woman Julia was used to seeing her brother date, but Audrey was a good influence on him. One thing for sure, she had made him happier than Julia had ever seen him, and that was all Julia cared about.
    When they reached Will Brannock, the chief addressed him directly. “I’ve assigned Detective Cass as the CPD detective to help you on this case. Phil asked for our assistance, and we’re glad to oblige.”
    Will looked down at Julia, and she wasn’t exactly sure that he was pleased that they’d be working together. All the previous levity on his part had flown the coop; he was dead serious and his next words proved it. “Okay, just so you know, Detective. I’m in charge. You follow my orders, understand?”
    Not exactly thrilled by that little speech or his condescending attitude, Julia nodded politely and prayed he wasn’t hopelessly clueless about investigatory procedures. She had no idea what kind of experience he’d had with the TBI. J.D. had never mentioned Will’s background to her. Come to think of it, he’d never mentioned much about Will that wasn’t job-related.
    “Phil called in our crime scene vehicle out of Knoxville when he got the call early this morning, Chief. They should make it here any time now,” Will said to Chief Mullins. “He thought it best under the circumstances.”
    Mullins nodded. “That’s fine with me. We’ve got two other murder cases that we picked up yesterday. I need my investigators to work those scenes, as soon as we can get them there.”
    As Chief Mullins moved away to speak with Phil Hayes, Will said, “Well, looks like we’re working together right off the bat, Detective.”
    “Sure does.” Julia pulled Jasper’s grooming brush out of her back pocket. “You might want to get rid of any dog hair on your clothes before we get started. Wouldn’t want to contaminate the scene.”
    “Right. Thanks.”
    While Will moved a few yards away to brush himself down, Julia walked down the sidewalk to where Judge Lucien Lockhart’s body was hanging. She stood there for a moment by herself, observing the scene while it was still basically undisturbed, realizing at once that this murder wasn’t some random act of violence. The victim had definitely been staged. He was naked except for a pair of white swim trunks, and blood had streaked its way from his mouth, down his chin, and over his chest and legs. Below his dangling feet, the killer had placed a small set of metal scales with a crossed-swords finial. What did that mean? The scales of justice? Some kind of equality statement?
    “Here, put these on,” Brannock told her, handing her plastic gloves and paper booties. She snapped on the gloves and stretched the paper booties over her white Nikes. Brannock already had on his protective gear.
    “Is that what I think it is on the left side of that scale?” she asked him.
    “We think it’s part of the judge’s tongue. It looks to me like the perp pulled his tongue out and sliced it off about three inches back. He left it here for us to find and took the tip of the tongue with him. A souvenir, I guess.”
    Despite being a veteran homicide detective, Julia was somewhat shocked that such a mutilation murder could happen in an exclusive and gated area of Chattanooga, Tennessee, and involve such a well-known and distinguished citizen. Julia stared at the small amount of blood pooling in the left tray of the scales under the piece of Lockhart’s tongue. She stooped down and examined it, then looked at the coins stacked neatly in the right-hand tray. “That’s a bunch