Violent Crimes Read Online Free PDF Page B

while he crab-walked toward the front porch, keeping below the windowsills in the front rooms. When he was alongside the front door, he signaledand Hotchkiss and the SWAT team members spread out along the wall on either side of the door. That’s when Hotchkiss figured out what was bothering him.
    â€œGreg,” he whispered. “There might be a problem with the affidavit for the search warrant. One of the dates—”
    â€œNot now,” Nowicki said as he leaned forward and knocked loudly.
    Hotchkiss realized that Nowicki was right. He had to concentrate, because he might be fighting for his life in the next few seconds.
    â€œPolice—open up!” Nowicki shouted.
    There was no response. Nowicki nodded and two officers used a battering ram to smash the flimsy lock on the front door. Two other SWAT members moved inside.
    â€œIt doesn’t look like anyone’s home,” one of them shouted after a few minutes.
    Nowicki walked inside and flipped on a light switch. The front room was neat. The only thing out of place was a newspaper that had been dumped onto a coffee table.
    Hotchkiss heard a door open, and the members of the SWAT team who had approached the house through the woods announced their presence.
    â€œAll right, guys,” Nowicki said, “I want a lookout to alert us when Beatty comes home. The rest of you spread out and search.”
    The house was small. Nowicki started in the kitchen while Hotchkiss walked down a short hall to the back of the house. The door to a small bathroom was open and the detective took a brief look inside before stopping in front of a closed door he assumed opened into Beatty’s bedroom. Hotchkiss wasn’t going to takeany chances—Beatty could be lying in ambush in the dark. He gave a hand signal to one of the other officers while he waited beside the door. The officer turned the knob slowly before shoving the door into the bedroom. They waited. Nothing happened. Hotchkiss ducked inside and felt for a switch. The light came on. One of the men behind him whispered “Holy shit” at the same time the detective’s jaw dropped.
    â€œUntil I’ve completed the autopsy I won’t draw an official conclusion about the cause of death, but I’d be shocked if she didn’t die from trauma as a result of a severe beating,” Dr. Sally Grace said. The assistant medical examiner was a slender woman with frizzy black hair. Hotchkiss liked her because she had a dry sense of humor and a keen intelligence, and made a dynamite witness.
    â€œTime of death?” Hotchkiss asked Grace. They were standing around Tom Beatty’s bed, staring down at a blond female in her early thirties who was dressed in a black business suit and a white silk blouse. She had been so badly battered that it was hard to look at her face.
    â€œShe’s been dead for a while,” Grace said. “Not more than a day but not recently. And I don’t think she was killed here. There’s some blood on the covers but no spatter that’s consistent with her being pummeled in this room. Did you find any blood anywhere else in the house?”
    â€œNo,” Nowicki answered.
    â€œThen I’d say she was probably killed elsewhere and brought here.”
    Before Nowicki could say anything else his phone vibrated.
    â€œSomeone’s headed this way,” he said when he disconnected.
    The lights in the front part of the house had been turned off. Hotchkiss switched off the light in the bedroom and moved into the living room. Moments later, a car parked out front. As soon as Tom Beatty got out, he was surrounded by police officers. Hotchkiss walked out the front door, with Nowicki close behind him.
    â€œWhat’s going on?” Beatty asked.
    Hotchkiss held up the search warrant. “We have a warrant to search your house, Mr. Beatty.”
    â€œFor what?”
    â€œHeroin, sir.”
    â€œHeroin! You’re not