Sweeney picked up the file and thumbed through it. “This is good. Very good.” He looked up. “You know I’ve been gathering information against Pike for some time. But waiting. Choosing the moment. I believe the moment has arrived.” He tilted his head slightly. “But I don’t think you’re going to enjoy it very much.”
* * *
Dan rolled over, but the bed was so small that put him halfway on top of Camila.
“What’s that racket?”
She blew hair out of her face. “Someone is at your front door. If you can call it that.”
He immediately tensed.
“Relax, Dan. Murderous thugs don’t knock.”
Sound point. And they would’ve come in the dark. The sun was already rising. “Still weird.” He grabbed a robe. “I’ll see who it is.”
“Right behind you.”
“You don’t need—”
“Just in case you need the Kung Fu mayor to take them out.”
A minute later he was topside. He opened the door—
Detective Kakazu stood outside.
“Jake? Kind of early. What’s going on?”
He glanced at the two officers standing behind him, Enriquez and a cop he didn’t know. “I’m surprised you were sleeping. We’ve been awake all night.”
“That doesn’t explain why you’re bothering us. Look, if this is some crap Belasco put you up to, just take it home and leave me alone.”
The officers looked at one another.
Kakazu drew in his breath. “It does involve Belasco. In a way. He’s dead.”
“What? The district attorney? When? How?”
“We’re just beginning to unpack the details...”
Camila pushed forward. “This is an outrage. I don’t know what you’re doing, but it should have gone through the mayor’s office first.”
“That wasn’t possible in this case, ma’am.”
“And why not?”
“You couldn’t be objective about your...paramour. And this involves you, too. Directly.”
“Stop talking in riddles and tell me what you’re babbling about.”
The men glanced at one another. Kakazu shrugged. “You’re going to find out soon enough. We received this by anonymous email. We’ve already checked to make sure it’s authentic and hasn’t been altered. Our experts say it’s legit.”
“Just get to the point. What is it?”
Kakazu pulled out his phone and played a recording.
It didn’t take long before Dan realized he was listening to his own voice. His and Camila’s.
“There are ways we could deal with the District Attorney.”
“What do you mean?”
“We could have him taken care of.”
“Just off him?”
“If he’s on Sweeney’s payroll, he deserves to be offed.”
“You don’t have to do that.”
“For you, I would do anything.”
“Likewise.”
Kakazu withdrew a folded piece of paper and slapped it into Dan’s hand. “This is a warrant. You’re both under arrest. For the murder of District Attorney George Belasco.”
Afterword
Thank you for reading Trial by Blood. If you enjoyed it, please post a review here. And check out William Bernhardt’s other spellbinding legal thrillers.
Register to receive the free William Bernhardt e-newsletter and you will receive a free Ben Kincaid short story. To learn more about the author and his books, click here to visit his website. Or you can email him at: [email protected].
The fourth book in the Daniel Pike series, Twisted Justice, will be available on April 28, 2020. For a sneak peek—turn the page!
Sneak Preview of Twisted Justice (Book 4 of the Daniel Pike Series)
Dan had no idea
Dan’s Recipes
Want to try Daniel Pike’s recipe for mushroom ragu with polenta? Only takes about 30 minutes to make. Delicious.
Ingredients (for two servings):
button mushrooms (8 oz)
grape tomatoes (4 ounces)
2 scallions
2 garlic cloves
Italian seasoning (4 tsp)
2 veggie stock concentrate packets (easy to find online)
cornmeal (1/2 cup)
2 slices ciabatta bread
cheese of choice (optional)
kosher salt
black pepper
olive oil
butter (about 4 tbsp)
Instructions:
1) PREP: Thinly slice the scallions, separating white from green. Quarter the mushrooms. Halve the tomatoes. Mince one garlic clove, then halve the other.
2) COOK: Heat 1 tbsp butter and some olive oil in a large pan over medium heat. Once warm, add the mushrooms, then 2 tsp Italian seasoning, plus salt and pepper. Cook until tender and golden brown, stirring occasionally, probably about 5-7 minutes. Reduce heat.
3) RAGU: Add the tomatoes, scallion whites, and minced garlic to the pan with more olive oil. Cook until the tomatoes are soft, stirring occasionally, probably around 3-5 minutes. Stir in a veggie stock packet and 1/4 cup of water. Once simmering, remove the pan from the heat.
4) BREAD: Toast ciabatta slices until golden brown. Rub the bread with halved garlic cloves and drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle with Italian seasoning. Add salt and pepper to taste. Halve bread on the diagonal (triangle shapes).
5) POLENTA: Add 2.5 cups of water, the other veggie stock packet, and 1 tsp salt to a medium pan. Bring to a boil, then whisk in the cornmeal. Reduce heat to low and cook until tender, stirring occasionally, probably around 8-10 minutes. If your polenta gets too thick to stir, add hot water, 1/2 cup at a time.
6) FINISH: Put the ragu pan on medium heat. Stir in 1 tbsp butter. Cook until warm, a minute or so. Add cheese (if you wish) and 2 tbsp butter to the polenta pot and whisk till melted. Add salt and pepper. Pour into bowls, then add the ragu on top. Sprinkle scallion greens over it. Serve with your garlic bread.
About the Author
William Bernhardt is the author of forty-nine books, including The Last Chance Lawyer (#1 Amazon Bestseller), the historical novels Challengers of the Dust and Nemesis, two books of poetry, and the Red Sneaker books on fiction writing. In addition, Bernhardt founded the Red Sneaker Writers Center to mentor aspiring authors. The Center hosts an annual conference (WriterCon), small-group seminars, a newsletter, and a bi-weekly podcast. He is also the owner of Balkan Press, which publishes poetry and fiction as well as the literary journal Conclave.
Bernhardt has received the Southern Writers Guild’s Gold Medal Award, the Royden B. Davis Distinguished Author Award (University of Pennsylvania) and the H. Louise Cobb Distinguished Author Award (Oklahoma State), which is given "in recognition of an outstanding body of work that has profoundly influenced the way in which we understand ourselves and American society at large." In 2019, he received the Arrell Gibson Lifetime Achievement Award from the Oklahoma Center for the Book.
In addition Bernhardt has written plays, a musical (book and score), humor, children stories, biography, and puzzles. He has edited two anthologies (Legal Briefs and Natural Suspect) as fundraisers for The Nature Conservancy and the Children’s Legal Defense Fund. In his spare time, he has enjoyed surfing, digging for dinosaurs, trekking through the Himalayas, paragliding, scuba diving, caving, zip-lining over the canopy of the Costa Rican rain forest, and jumping out of an airplane at 10,000 feet.
In 2017, when Bernhardt delivered the keynote address at the San Francisco Writers Conference, chairman Michael Larsen noted that in addition to penning novels, Bernhardt can “write a sonnet, play a sonata, plant a garden, try a lawsuit, teach a class, cook a gourmet meal, beat you at Scrabble, and work the New York Times crossword in under five minutes.”
Also by William Bernhardt
The Daniel Pike Novels
The Last Chance Lawyer
Court of Killers
Trial by Blood
Twisted Justice (April 28, 2020)
The Ben Kincaid Novels
Primary Justice
Blind Justice
Deadly Justice
Perfect Justice
Cruel Justice
Naked Justice
Extreme Justice
Dark Justice
Silent Justice
Murder One
Criminal Intent
Death Row
Hate Crime
Capitol Murder
Capitol Threat
Capitol Conspiracy
Capitol Offense
Capitol Betrayal
Justice Returns
Other Novels
Challengers of the Dust
The Game Master
Nemesis: The Final Case of Eliot Ness
Dark Eye
Strip Search
Double Jeopardy
The Midnight Before Christmas
Final Round
The Code of Buddyhood
The Red Sneaker Series on Writing
Story Structure: The Key to Successful Fiction
Creating Character: Bringing Your Story to Life
Perfecting Plot: Charting the Hero’s Journey
Dynamic Dialogue: Letting Your Story Speak
Sizzling Style: Every Word Matters
Powerful Premise: Writing the Irresistible
Excellent Editing: The Writing Process
Thinking Theme: The Heart of the Matter
The Fundamentals of Fiction (video series)
Poetry
The White Bird
The Ocean’s Edge
For Young Readers
Shine
Princess Alice and the Dreadful Dragon
Equal Justice: The Courage of Ada Sipuel
The Black Sentry
Edited by William Bernhardt
Legal Briefs: Short Stories by Today’s Best Thriller Writers
Natural Suspect: A Collaborative Novel of Suspense
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Also by WILLIAM BERNHARDT
Daniel Pike Series
The Last Chance Lawyer
Court of Killers
Trial by Blood (Coming Soon)
Red Sneaker Writers Books
Story Structure: The Key to Successful Fiction
Creating Character: Bringing Your Story to Life
Perfecting Plot: Charing the Hero's Journey
Trial by Blood Page 28