“No big deal,” Lily said. “Glad to have you back.”
After checking them in, she gave them two apples and a half a dozen oatmeal cookies, saying she would gladly “whip up something better” if they wanted. Harper said a shower and sleep was what they needed.
This morning, after another one of Lily’s epic breakfast spreads, they drove over to Laura Cutler’s office.
“Remind me to never piss you guys off,” Cutler said, from the chair behind her desk. “You did a number on those guys.”
“Nothing they didn’t deserve,” Harper said.
“Well, they belong to the ME now. They’re sending a van down for them as we speak.”
Cain nodded. “Anything else you need from us?”
She smiled. “About a gazillion things. Let’s start with exactly what the hell happened last night.”
They laid it out for her. The entire sequence. They concluded with Cain saying, “We’ll write up full statements and get them to you as soon as we get back to Nashville.”
“When you heading out?”
“Now,” Cain said. “We’ll make a stop by General Kessler’s and fill him in.”
Cutler eyed Cain. “I don’t guess you’ll tell me, but I still wonder if he didn’t hire you to do exactly what you did. Extract a bit of vengeance on those who harmed his granddaughter.”
Cain shrugged. “I think he’ll be pleased.”
And that’s where they left it.
Ninety minutes later Cain and Harper were sitting in the Kessler mansion. In the General’s office. Him behind his desk, Miriam in a chair, a frayed wad of tissues in her fist, legs entwined.
They went through the entire story, including the body count—Adam, Carlos and his two guys, Dixon, Norris, and of course, Tyler Stenson. Kessler listened, didn’t ask a single question. He then walked them to the car.
“Thank you doesn’t cover it,” Kessler said. He sighed and looked up at the sky. “None of this will bring Cindy back but it at least puts the world in order.” He looked at Cain. “It’s the small victories that count sometimes.”
CHAPTER 72
Three months later, Cain lay on the sofa in the penthouse condo, reading a paperback. Harper came in with her laptop. She placed it on his chest, didn’t say a word, and walked out of the room.
The article on The Tennessean website told Chelsie Young’s story. How she was born and raised in Nashville, fell victim to the serial killer Tyler Stenson, who defaced her body with tattoos. Of her rescue from his clutches and her subsequent mental instability. They called it PTSD but that didn’t really do it justice.
The article closed with how she was found hanging in the doorway of her apartment bedroom.
Cain closed the laptop on the unmarked and beautiful face of Tyler Stenson’s final victim.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
D. P. Lyle is the Amazon #1 Bestselling; Macavity and Benjamin Franklin Award-winning; and Edgar (2), Agatha, Anthony, Shamus, Scribe, Silver Falchion, and USA Today Best Book (2) Award-nominated author of 18 books, both non-fiction and fiction, including the Samantha Cody, Dub Walker, Jake Longly and Cain/Harper thriller series and the Royal Pains media tie-in novels. His essay on Jules Verne’s THE MYSTERIOUS ISLAND appears in THRILLERS: 100 MUST READS, his short story “Even Steven” in ITW’s anthology THRILLER 3: LOVE IS MURDER, and his short story “Bottom Line” in FOR THE SAKE OF THE GAME. He served as editor for and contributed the short story “Splash” to SCWA’s anthology IT’S ALL IN THE STORY.
He is International Thriller Writer’s VP for Education, and runs CraftFest, Master CraftFest, and ITW’s Online Thriller School. Along with Jan Burke, he was the co-host of Crime and Science Radio and hosts the podcast series Criminal Mischief. He has worked with many novelists and with the writers of popular television shows, such as Law & Order, CSI: Miami, Diagnosis Murder, Monk, Judging Amy, Peacemakers, Cold Case, House, Medium, Women’s Murder Club, 1-800-Missing, The Glades, and Pretty Little Liars.
Website: http://www.dplylemd.com
Blog: http://writersforensicsblog.wordpress.com
Criminal Mischief: http://www.dplylemd.com/criminal-mischief.html
Crime & Science Radio: http://www.dplylemd.com/crime--science-radio.html
FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/dplylemd
Linked In: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dp-lyle-md-5368a816/
Table of Contents
COPYRIGHT
BOOKS BY D.P. Lyle
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
PRAISE FOR D.P. Lyle
SKIN IN THE GAME
CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER 6
CHAPTER 7
CHAPTER 8
CHAPTER 9
CHAPTER 10
CHAPTER 11
CHAPTER 12
CHAPTER 13
CHAPTER 14
CHAPTER 15
CHAPTER 16
CHAPTER 17
CHAPTER 18
CHAPTER 19
CHAPTER 20
CHAPTER 22
CHAPTER 23
CHAPTER 24
CHAPTER 25
CHAPTER 26
CHAPTER 27
CHAPTER 28
CHAPTER 29
CHAPTER 30
CHAPTER 31
CHAPTER 32
CHAPTER 33
CHAPTER 34
CHAPTER 35
CHAPTER 36
CHAPTER 37
CHAPTER 38
CHAPTER 39
CHAPTER 40
CHAPTER 41
CHAPTER 42
CHAPTER 43
CHAPTER 44
CHAPTER 45
CHAPTER 46
CHAPTER 47
CHAPTER 48
CHAPTER 49
CHAPTER 51
CHAPTER 52
CHAPTER 53
CHAPTER 54
CHAPTER 55
CHAPTER 56
CHAPTER 57
CHAPTER 58
CHAPTER 59
CHAPTER 60
CHAPTER 61
CHAPTER 62
CHAPTER 63
CHAPTER 64
CHAPTER 65
CHAPTER 66
CHAPTER 67
CHAPTER 68
CHAPTER 69
CHAPTER 70
CHAPTER 71
CHAPTER 72
ABOUT THE AUTHOR