Helen Hanson - Dark Pool Read Online Free PDF Page A

His attorney figured that was one of the reasons he received such a stiff sentence. Man’s body. Boy’s brain. What result could be expected but disaster?
    The officer led them through a door labeled No Entrance.
    “Travis Fender. So you’re the kid who got busted for hacking into The Rockstag Group.”
    She wondered how long it would take. Not a trace of smirk remained on Travis’ face. Or color.
    His gaze cut to Maggie. “I was set up.”
    “Sure. I’d stick with that too.” He opened a door. “In here, please.”
    The room employed a blind decorator’s touch. Gray table. Gray chairs. Gray walls. They’d have to spend some serious money to bring it up to dreary.
    The interview was routine, if the kind of routine Maggie wanted to avoid. Like proctology exams. Travis told the officer the same set of details that she gave Sergeant Garcia. His story detoured during the time they went separate ways in search for their father, maybe minutes. The officer finished his notes and excused himself from the room but asked them to await his return.
    The last traces of adrenaline seeped from her blood stream. Nearly midnight. Over twenty hours since her day started. She laid her head on the table to rest. Travis paced. In the small room, he didn’t have space for many full strides. His gym shoes squeaked with each switchback.
    “Tired woman trying to sleep here.”
    Travis didn’t slow his gait.
    The door opened. She jumped from the seat. “Daddy!”
    Travis got to their father first. His arms didn’t hug back, but stuck out stiffly in front of him, like Frankenstein out for a stroll. At first Dad seemed confused, but Travis’ grip around his chest squeezed in some acknowledgement.
    “Travis?”
    “It’s me, Pop. I’m home.”
    The blank expression flowed into a smile. The arms softened to an embrace. “Hey, buddy. I’ve missed you. Where’ve you been?”
    Travis wiped an eye with the heel of his hand. “I missed you too.”
    Maggie came to the side and hugged them both. Hung on to them both. Her father. Her brother. Her family.
    What a mess.
    She stepped back to give them a moment. “Daddy, what happened to your shirt?”
    She turned to Sergeant Garcia. She hadn’t seen him enter with their father. “That’s not his shirt.”
    “Ms. Fender, we’re keeping your father’s shirt as evidence and releasing him at this time. We don’t expect to file any charges against him, but all the same, don’t let him leave town. ”
    She heard hesitation in his voice.
    “We believe your father was defending himself. There are a series of small wounds on his back consistent with the knife he was holding when we found him. The dead man’s wrist was broken. It likely happened when your father wrested the knife from the attacker. No one noticed your father’s injuries until he we got him to the station.”
    Travis let go of his father and pulled up his shirt to inspect the wounds. His father stood obediently still. “Did you call a doctor?”
    “He’s in no danger. The punctures weren’t deep, and the bleeding stopped by the time we found them. We cleaned him up, but you might want to have the wounds checked out by your own physician.”
    Maggie’s many concerns collided. “What happened to him?”
    The officer sat on the corner of the table. He laid a file on his right knee. “The county investigators found drops of blood on the pavement leading toward a car in the parking lot. Based on the wounds, we think the blood is your fathers.”
    Maggie and Travis both cringed at the news. But Dad showed no emotion as if they were discussing some else.
    Sergeant Garcia continued. “The current theory is that the guy, John Doe, met your father on the beach. He pulled a knife out and held it to your father’s back, forcing him toward the car. You can see slight marks along his throat area, probably where the shirt stretched across his neck. John Doe was shorter, so he pointed the knife at your dad’s back with an upward