by Bo Thunboe
“April wasn’t at her friend Lucia’s that night. I checked,” Jake said. “And you already said she wasn’t home with you.” Opportunity.
Still nothing.
“The murder weapon was found in Bowen’s office. When April visited Conner he fell asleep, and he woke to find her in his dad’s office standing in front of the credenza where the weapon was found.”
Lynn shook her head, twin streams of tears now running down her face.
“Conner and April told each other everything,” Jake continued.
Lynn shook her head again, then fought back a sob.
“But April never told Conner how many big silver bars there were or that she had one under her bed. She couldn’t tell him—because she got that bar, and learned about the others, on that last night she was at Henry’s. The night when he told her he was going to turn the bars over to the city.” A decision Henry had worked through by writing about it in a draft of his book in progress. Motive.
Lynn pulled a handkerchief from inside the sling and dabbed at her tears. “So you got her killed and now you want to destroy her memory? Tell everyone she killed her own father so you look a little less bad for getting her killed.”
“Of course not.”
“So it’s about me then. You don’t want me to get Henry’s money.” Lynn’s voice was harsh with accusation.
“What are you talking about?”
“I know that rule. If you say April killed her dad then she can’t inherit from him and all his money goes to some stupid charity like it says in his will.”
The Slayer Rule: a person can’t inherit from a person they killed.
“Lynn.” Jake’s voice rose to penetrate her self-pity. “Like I said. I closed the case as Trane killing Henry. She inherits, then you inherit from her. April’s memory is preserved and you get Henry’s money.”
She looked at him, her eyes still streaming tears. She wiped her face with the handkerchief, makeup coming away to reveal the bruising and sutures around her eye.
“She couldn’t have planned it,” he said.
“She didn’t.”
There it was.
“Henry started the whole thing,” Lynn said. “Telling April he’d pay for her to go to Northwestern. She deserved to go. She got a thirty-five on her ACT, you know. She was brilliant.”
“What happened?”
“After promising to send her to Northwestern he told her he changed his mind and couldn’t keep the silver. Said he figured out whose it was and he couldn’t keep it. She… I… she cracked. It was an accident.”
“Thank you for telling me,” Jake said. “I won’t be sharing it with anyone, so you don’t need to leave town.”
“You think that’s why I’m leaving town?” Her eyes, still filled with tears, went cold. “I’m leaving town to avoid you! My daughter is dead because of you! You don’t have any children so you don’t know what it feels like for your only child to be murdered in front of you. To see the man responsible for her death—and yes, you are responsible—walking around town with everyone looking at him like he’s a goddamn hero.”
Jake didn’t say another word as Lynn stood and strode to the limo. He just stepped out into the sun and watched her go. Judy opened the door and helped her inside, then climbed in after her. The limo pulled away, the sound of its engine fading.
An empty silence descended.
Jake turned back to face the two coffins. One held his goddaughter, the other, one of his oldest friends. Both died because of the silver, but April…
You are responsible. Lynn’s accusation rang in his mind. And he couldn’t deny it. He’d said the same thing to himself. Though not out loud. And not with a mother’s voice squeezed with the pain of her ultimate loss.
A cold gust of wind blew through the cemetery, cutting through Jake’s thin jacket.
He turned away and walked home.
Alone.
THE END
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Coming Soon
in the Jake Houser Mystery Series
As It Never Was
A Jake Houser Mystery (Book #3)
Years ago, young Mark Siebert was snatched off his paper route. His confessed killer has been rotting in prison ever since. When a man claiming to be Mark shows up at his parents’ house—only to disappear again—Mark’s parents come to Detective Jake Houser for help. They have one condition: that he keep the cops out of it.
Jake owes the Sieberts, so he accepts their terms.
He will wish he hadn’t.
Jake’s off-the-books investigation digs up the depraved and twisted secrets of powerful men with unlimited resources. Will these dangerous forces erase every link to the past before Jake can find the truth?
That Was Then
A Jake Houser Mystery (Book #4)
When Detective Jake Houser agrees to take on a cold case, he is stunned by the police department infighting it generates and by how deep his investigation reaches into the city’s political underbelly—and into his own family’s past.
Before he’s done, Jake will not only have to confront the city’s power elite, past and present, but also his own father.
Can his department, his city, and his family survive the truth?
To learn more about Bo Thunboe and the Jake Houser Mystery series
please visit www.thunboe.com
Acknowledgments and a Historical Note
This novel started as a NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) project in 2013. It took five years and dozens of drafts to turn that rough beginning into this final product.
I would not have been able to do it without the support of my wife, Diane, and our children, Meghan and Jack. Diane also read an early draft of this book and provided me with valuable insights. Peter Thompson, Irene Reed, Tim Chapman, and Adam Henkels were my test readers and gave me great ideas for fine-tuning the story.
I also had help from the following professionals, without whom this book would not look as good, or read as well, as it does. Thank you!
Ron Edison, Developmental Editor.
David Gatewood, Line Editor.
Kevin Summers, Book Formatting and Design.
Jeroen Ten Berge, Cover Design.
Historical Note: Silver Thursday was an actual event. I fictionalized it and attributed it to my characters, the Bunker brothers. The eccentric Texans involved in the real-world Silver Thursday were the Hunt brothers. Google it!
About The Author
Bo Thunboe is a suburbanite—born and raised—and still lives in Chicago’s western suburbs. When bad eyesight killed his dream to fly helicopters for the Marines, he went to college. It didn’t go well, and a few lost years later Bo was out in the world laying bricks and repossessing cars. Then he met his wife, Diane, got his head on straight, and went back to college, where he earned a BA in Economics and a JD from Northern Illinois University. (Go Huskies!) After a couple decades spent lawyering he is now a full-time writer.
Please visit www.thunboe.com to sign up for news and to learn more about Bo and the Jake Houser Mystery Series.