Knife Edge (A Dead Cold Mystery Book 27) by Blake Banner (best motivational books to read .txt) 📕

“We are conducting a multiple homicide investigation, Dr. Mitchell. If you try to obstruct us, I will prosecute you to the full extent of the law. You had better pipe down before you go too far. We will give Marcus every care and help we can, but we will talk to him.”

“Get out.”

I nodded. “OK, we’ll go. But we will come back, and we will continue talking to him.”

She pointed a trembling hand at the door.

“Out!”

I glanced at Brad Mitchell, but he avoided my eye. I gave Dehan the nod and we left, stepping out into the cold, bright morning. We walked to Dehan’s Toyota. She opened the driver’s door and I turned, leaned my back on the car, looking at the broad, living-room window where I was in full view, and pulled my cell from my pocket.

The chief answered after a couple of rings.

“John, how’s it going? All good?”

“The Mitchells weren’t in when we arrived. The nurse allowed us to see the kid and we managed to get him to say a few words.”

“Oh, you did? That is extraordinary.”

“Yeah, nothing very enlightening. He just said, ‘Dad is coming.’ He got very emotional and cried a lot, but he also smiled at us and hugged Dehan’s arm. I’m not sure what it all means yet, but we both had the feeling he was really grateful for the opportunity to talk. After that he went to sleep. Then Brad Mitchell turned up, we spoke to him and he was very cooperative. He welcomes the chance of therapy for the kid.”

There was a frown in the chief’s voice. “Then why doesn’t he provide it? He’s a psychiatrist, for crying out loud!”

“The problem is the wife, sir. She is opposed to it and has just thrown us out of the house. She says she plans to get me fired and to destroy me. She is going to cause problems. Sir, we need the Mitchell house watched, and if she tries to remove the kid, we need her to be arrested.”

He was silent for a moment, then said, “Yes, very well.”

“And, sir, I’d like to make it obvious. Let’s have a patrol car sitting outside the front gate. I want to send her a clear message. She can’t threaten and browbeat the police department.”

“All right, John. That’s fair enough. I’ll send Sanchez and Olvera. They’ll be there in ten minutes.”

“Thank you, sir.”

I hung up. Dehan was leaning with her forearms on the door, smiling at me.

“You’re a nice guy, Stone. You have a lot of heart and compassion. I like that in you. But you are also a real son of a bitch. And I say that with the greatest admiration.”

I smiled at her, then stared back at the big windows. I could see Emma Mitchell staring back at me.

“I am not motivated so much by wanting to bring Emma Mitchell down a peg or two, though I do want to do that. I am more concerned with the kid, Marcus. I worry for him.” I turned to look at Dehan. “Is she trying to protect him, however misguided? Or is she trying to silence him? She’s a dangerous woman, Dehan. How far will she go to get what she wants?”

The smile faded from her face and she followed my gaze to look at the window.

“Jesus, I had never seriously considered her as a suspect, Stone.”

“I wonder if Brad has. She is very intense, and he is scared of her.”

She nodded. “I noticed that. He obeys her.”

I sighed. “What the hell did that poor kid witness? What happened that day, Dehan? Who went down to the shed?”

“They both claim they both did…”

I grunted. “But logic dictates that whoever went down, killed the kids.”

She screwed up her face. “So, if it was one or both of the Mitchells, why didn’t they kill Marcus?”

A prowler turned into the road, cruised up to us and parked in front of the Corolla. The doors opened and Sanchez, five foot four of solid muscle, and Olvera, six foot two of solid muscle, climbed out and joined us.

“Detectives.”

“Good morning, Sanchez, Olvera, we need some surveillance on this place.” I pointed openly at the house, knowing that Emma Mitchell was watching me. “Our primary objective is to prevent them from removing a young man of about seventeen. He is in a catatonic state and we are trying to get protection from the court. He also happens to be our only witness in the homicide of two kids.”

Olvera nodded. “The Mitchell case.”

“Correct. So, if they try to remove the kid, you stop them. Arrest the mother if you have to.”

“You got it, Detective.”

“But one other thing, this is also a display of force. So there is no need to keep it low key. This woman has threatened us with destruction and the loss of our jobs if we carry out an order of the court, so let’s show her just how worried we are.”

Sanchez grinned. “Sure thing, Detectives.”

We thanked them and left.

Fourteen

Headed north on Castle Hill, Dehan asked me, “How worried are we?”

“Very.”

She gave me a curious glance. “Why? What has you worried suddenly?”

I screwed up my face, trying to squeeze some coherent thought out of my brain. “I think I have been looking at this all wrong.”

“Suddenly you’re thinking that Emma Mitchell is the guy.”

“What would her motive be?”

She made a face, glanced in her mirrors and came to a halt at the lights on the Bruckner Boulevard.

“I don’t think she’s got one, Stone. Aside from anything else, look how damn protective she is of her son. I can’t see a woman like that hurting her daughter.”

“Nyah…” I said, like I meant it.

“Nyah? What the hell does nyah mean?”

“She is hurting her son, Dehan. She’s one of those women who smother-mother.”

“Smother-mother. That’s great.”

“Yes, one of those women who overprotect, and end up causing more harm to the kid than what they are trying to protect the kid from…”

She gave me a bland look. “Ain’t it sad