Read Online Blood Silence by Roger Stelljes - Free Book Online

thumb. “If they were releasing Sterling’s name, you’d assume her name would be in the story. But all it says is Sterling and
another
woman.” He read down further. “The Hennepin County sheriff and Orono police are investigating the case.” Mac clicked out of the story and went into his phone directory, thumbed down, clicked a name, and put the phone to his ear.
    “Who are you calling?”
    “A friend. Heidi Laine at the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office. She always has the 4-1-1 on things.”
    “We should go,” Sally suggested.
    “Yeah, I’ll get the car, and you say good-bye.”
    Mac and Sally skipped the post-dinner drink. Twenty minutes later while driving home, Mac had an answer. He hung up and shook his head. “Not good.”
    “So?”
    “The other woman was
not
Meredith.”
    “Thank God,” Sally replied with some relief.
    “Well, yeah, I suppose,” Mac answered. “But there was still
another
woman. A woman named Callie Gentry. Sterling and Gentry were shot a combined thirteen times in the bed at Sterling’s house out on Lake Minnetonka. Heidi said she heard it was just a grisly scene, blood everywhere.” He shook his head. “I knew I recognized that house on the channel six promo back at home.”
    “How?”
    “Because when Meredith was running around on me, one of the places she and Sterling went was that lake place. Johnny Biggs, the investigator I hired, had the photos. That was one of the places Sterling took her to.”
    “Poetic justice, I suppose,” Sally answered.
    “Supposedly, this Gentry woman was at the reception last night. When I was talking to Meredith, I saw Sterling talking to a pretty attractive brunette, and I could tell Meredith wasn’t happy about it.”
    “You know what this means, don’t you?” Sally asked. “The spouse is always the prime suspect if their husband is murdered.”
    “She’s more than a suspect, Sally. My contact says she’s going to be arrested and charged.”
    “That quickly?” Sally asked, shocked. “What did she do, admit it?”
    “No, she didn’t do that,” Mac answered. “But Heidi says the word is, the case is solid. Flimsy alibi and tons of motive, because apparently Meredith had just learned he was having an affair earlier in the day.”
    “That’s not good.”
    “It gets worse,” Mac replied. “Her prints are on the murder weapon, and witnesses have her fleeing the scene in her Mercedes.” He ran his left hand over his face and sighed. “It doesn’t make sense, though.”
    “Why not? I’m envisioning Meredith finding those two in the act and snapping. I mean, that sure sounds like what happened.”
    “Exactly, Sal,” Mac answered. “But Meredith, I know her. She wouldn’t react like that. That’s not her.”
    Sally laughed, still the former prosecutor. “Come on, Mac. You know as well as I do that you should never underestimate the volatility of a spouse betrayed. I’ve seen it too many times, and from plenty of people you’d never, ever have thought capable of such a vicious act. People who didn’t have a violent bone in their body. But in the heat of the moment, anyone is capable of it. Anyone. I mean, remember, we saw her when Sterling left—she was pissed.”
    Mac couldn’t disagree. “Yes, she was.” He couldn’t really argue with Sally’s logic. In that moment, seeing what she may have seen, her husband and another woman, in their lake house, in a place he’d taken her a few years earlier, engaging in the same pattern, all her well-laid plans and dreams going up in flames.
    Everyone has their breaking point.
    That would be what the prosecutor would argue. Heck, it was the base outline of their opening statement. He shook his head slowly and blew out a sigh. “I don’t know, maybe you’re right but … man …” His words drifted off, his head still shaking in disbelief of it all. “I can’t believe it. If she did do it, her life is toast, Sally.”
    Sally changed directions. “You mentioned