The Wrath Walker (The Wrath Series Book 1) by Matthew Newson (moboreader txt) 📕

“You’re right, talking to people isn’t a crime but murder is.”

“What are you talking about, Elizabeth?”

“Joey was found murdered this morning in his restaurant. I need to ask you some questions.”

Chapter TwelveBrandon Farmer

Black Castle Police Department

I REPEATEDLY PROTESTED but Lizzie insisted that she question me at the station and not at my place. She wanted everything to be official and by the book, so again I had to go into the precinct and hear comments from my former brothers in blue who thought I had betrayed them and the badge we all swore to uphold.

When we got into the interrogation room, she said one of the employees at Joey’s Kitchen who found Joey the next day, had told police they had also seen me talking to Joey earlier on the day before. Since Lizzie knew the history between the Amaras and myself, she decided to place me right at the top of her list of suspects. So, for the second time that week, I sat in the interrogation room on the side of the desk reserved for the accused.

Lizzie opened her notebook and took out a pen and looked up at the cameras in the corners of the room and made sure the red light was on that indicated they were recording.

“Okay Brandon, I’m going to ask you this one time, and I want you to be straight with me. Did you kill Joey Abbate last night?”

“I did not kill Joey, Elizabeth, you know me. You know I would never do something like that. We both know Joey makes a lot of enemies in his line of work, and if you check the security cameras you would see that I never returned after I left yesterday.” I leaned forward. “You have checked the security camera footage and saw who did it? I’m not telling you how to do your job, but that’s the first place I always checked before I questioned a suspect.”

She set her pen down and leaned back in her chair and gave me an annoyed look. “Yes Brandon, thank you for the refresher in Detective 101, and I’m aware of the standard places to start. It just so happens that I checked all the cameras first thing, but all the drives were taken, and the central monitoring system looked to be beaten as badly as Joey was if not worse. You can still somewhat make out that the victim used to be a living human being.”

“What are you talking about?” I tilted my head, intrigued, and slightly sickened by the graphic story I expected to come next. Lizzie didn’t move, and she had her best poker face on as she took in and studied every movement and expression I made to see if I had a tell that would give myself away. After all the time we had spent together she knew me well enough to know when I was telling the truth.

“Joey was beaten to death last night in his own restaurant, and it appears the killer used his bare hands to do it. We are dealing with a sick and twisted individual who is also incredibly strong. When I first saw the body, I saw right away his face was smashed in so badly that not even the most skilled undertaker could fix him up enough for his family to have an open casket. Joey also had several compound fractures, one of which being one of his rib bones that stuck out like a jagged blade. There were also some bones that were pulverized to the size of small pieces of gravel. All and all, it was pretty hard to look at. A couple of our seasoned officers and medics had to step outside so they wouldn’t get sick and contaminate the crime scene.”

“That sounds terrible. I’m sorry you had to see that. Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine Brandon, it’s all a part of the job. I would like to show you some pictures of the crime scene though. Given the nature of the murder, I naturally thought of your story about how Ron’s killer was strong enough to pick him up off the ground by one hand. I would like for you to let me know if you think this is the same guy that killed Ron.”

I had no desire to look at any of the crime scene photos after Lizzie’s description, but maybe they contained something I could use to stop Wrath. “Whatever you need me to do.”

Lizzie thanked me and then gestured towards the one-way mirror. Within seconds, an officer came in and handed her a manila folder then immediately left. She pulled out the photos and slid them to me one-by-one.

“Please take your time and let me know if anything stands out to you.” Her tone was cold, and she never took her eyes off of me.

There were a few overturned tables and chairs, which clearly indicated the struggle, but it wasn’t as dramatic as I thought it would be. Which told me Wrath had gotten to Joey quickly before he could put up any sort of fight, or even had a decent shot at trying to get away.

“It doesn’t look like there was much of a fight or struggle in Joey’s killing,” I said as I glanced up at Lizzie.

“On that we agree,” she said as she began to hand me the numerous pictures of Joey’s body taken from every possible angle. I didn’t need to look at all of them to know that Joey had literally died at Wrath’s hands. A wave of nausea hit me as I realized I would suffer the same fate as Joey if I couldn’t stop that guy, and I could only imagine how he would make me suffer while he snuffed out my life.

“Yeah, it’s the same guy,” I said as I slid the pictures back to her and stared at the table to try and keep the contents