Ben frowned. "Kind of overkill, don't you think?"
"That's exactly what I was thinking."
"Intense rage and overkill. What does that tell you?"
"It tells me that someone wanted Monty Winkler deader than dead." She looked Ben in the eye. "And Winkler knew his assailant."
"So the question is…who?"
She gave him a scornful look. "Are you kidding? He's a politician. Probably had people lining up at his door, just waiting for an opportunity."
"Yeah, I think you're right about that." He fastened his seatbelt, started the car and inched it out into the busy traffic. "Well, since you're in training for team leader, why don't you tell me what we should do next?"
Ben was testing her again. He'd been doing that a lot the last two weeks. On his say-so, she'd be ready to lead her own team. Something she'd been waiting for. She'd been going through all the manuals, studying past cases, listening to and watching recorded testimonies for weeks. She was more than ready to lead her own team.
"We should start with his last known whereabouts and last contacts. Next, we should interview witnesses, make a list of known enemies, find out if any death threats had been issued and look into his political―" She broke off. "Hey, wasn't Winkler the swing vote in the small arms rights bill a few months ago?"
"Winkler pushed it through before anyone could blink."
"And a lot of people were pissed."
Monty Winkler was responsible for the new law that now gave Canadians the freedom to carry handguns. As long as they carried permits, of course. The gun law had created a surge of dissention across Canada. Some thought it was a long time coming, considering the US had implemented a similar law decades ago. Others thought it would lead to higher crime rates.
For weeks afterward, thousands of people gathered on Parliament grounds across Canada, some in support and some in protest. The pro-gun crowd wanted fewer restrictions on licensing, while the anti-gun crowd protested Canadians carrying weapons at all. Ironically, three people were injured two months ago outside Ottawa's Parliament Hill. They'd been shot by an enraged pro-gun advocate, while the anti-gun crowd carried around massive signs showing dead teenagers in a high school cafeteria and a blood-soaked Toronto alley sealed off with crime tape.
One particularly gruesome sign was a screen capture of Brett Laughlin slumped on his bed, brain matter pooling on the blanket beneath him. After being taunted mercilessly by a group of cyber-bullies, the shy, overweight sixteen-year-old had logged into an online video chat room, then sat down on the bed with his stepfather's newly purchased Walther PPX semi-automatic pistol hidden behind his back.
"Today is my last day of suffering. And I'm glad."
Brett spoke about his persecutors, about the beatings in the boys change room, about the time he'd been forced to lick one boy's feet clean. Sobbing uncontrollably, he told the world how difficult it was to not fit in.
"It's not easy being the most unpopular kid in school. I'm afraid every day of what they'll do to me. But no more. I can't do this anymore."
He described how he'd suffered at the hands of his stepfather who beat him for being weak and not fighting back.
"I just wanted to be liked. I didn't care if I was super popular, but maybe just some respect. Instead I was treated worse than an animal, and no one gave a shit. Not my mother, and especially not that asshole she married." He swiped at the tears on his face. "So why should I care? I'll never be popular. I'll never even be liked."
With millions of horrified people―mostly unsuspecting teens―watching live, Brett Laughlin put the gun to the side of his head and pulled the trigger. The gunshot was deafening.
In a matter of seconds, his grisly death had become the most popular cyber-suicide video to hit VidWurld, with over thirty million world-wide views before the Laughlin family got a court order to shut it down.
It was ironic. Brett had gotten his wish to become popular. But what a price he paid for it.
Jasi still couldn't get the kid's face out of her mind. He reminded her of her brother Brady―young, impetuous, troubled and filled with resentment. The perfect recipe for disaster.
Pro-gun supporters didn't seem to care what guns were doing to the youth on the street, and no one bothered to look at what gun rights had done to the USA. The United States of Arms, as some called it.
She sighed. "No one outside of law enforcement would be carrying if it weren't for Winkler and that other MP. What was his name?"
"Ravinder Sharma," Ben replied. "They sure surprised everyone with their votes."
"Wonder what made them change their minds."
"Who knows? Some people believe they have a God-given right to protect themselves at all costs."
"Well, they're half right," she said dryly. "They just don't realize they increase the chance of violence by simply having a gun in their possession. The people shot at the Ottawa protest have proven that."
Ben nodded. "Nothing worse than an angry mob."
Jasi thought of the corpse lying in the morgue.
"I don't think Monty Winkler would agree."
~ * ~
If you enjoyed this book, please consider writing a short review and posting it on ebook retailer websites, especially the one you bought this ebook from. Reviews are very helpful to other readers and are greatly appreciated by authors. When you post a review, drop me an email and let me know, and I may feature part of it on my blog/site. Thank you. ~ Cheryl
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DIVINE JUSTICE is available in ebook and trade paperback.
Novels by Cheryl Kaye Tardif
Whale Song
Whale Song: School Edition
The River
Children of the Fog
Submerged
Series by Cheryl Kaye Tardif
The Divine Trilogy (in order):
Divine Intervention (Book 1)
Divine Justice (Book 2)
Divine Sanctuary (Book 3)
Short Stories by Cheryl Kaye Tardif
Remote Control
Skeletons in the Closet & Other Creepy Stories
Novels by Cherish D'Angelo (AKA Cheryl Kaye Tardif)
Lancelot's Lady
About the Author
Cheryl Kaye Tardif is an award-winning, international bestselling Canadian suspense author. Her novels include Divine Sanctuary, Submerged, Divine Justice, Children of the Fog, The River, Divine Intervention, and Whale Song, which New York Times bestselling author Luanne Rice calls "a compelling story of love and family and the mysteries of the human heart...a beautiful, haunting novel."
She is now working on her next thriller.
Cheryl also enjoys writing short stories inspired mainly by her author idol Stephen King, and this has resulted in Dream House (short story), Skeletons in the Closet & Other Creepy Stories (collection of shorts) and Remote Control (novelette eBook). In 2010 Cheryl detoured into the romance genre with her contemporary romantic suspense debut, Lancelot's Lady, written under the pen name of Cherish D'Angelo. And she even has a children’s picture book published, The Elfling Princess.
Booklist raves, "Tardif, already a big hit in Canada…a name to reckon with south of the border."
Cheryl's website: www.cherylktardif.com
Official blog: www.cherylktardif.blogspot.com
Twitter: www.twitter.com/cherylktardif
You can also find Cheryl Kaye Tardif on Facebook, Goodreads, Shelfari and LibraryThing, plus other social networks.
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Divine Intervention (Divine Trilogy) Page 24