Read Online Pushed Too Far: A Thriller by Ann Voss Peterson, Blake Crouch - Free Book Online
Authors: Ann Voss Peterson, Blake Crouch
Tags: Suspense, Romance, Literature & Fiction, Crime, Mystery; Thriller & Suspense, Crime Fiction, romantic suspense, Murder, Serial Killers, Thrillers & Suspense, Mystery & Suspense
Ads: Link
stared at the ceiling for another hour, images of burned bones and babies dancing across the slapbrush texture, then she finally kicked back the comforter, climbed out, pulled on a pair of yoga pants and a thick sweater.
Before trading her room for her office, she opened the bedside table and pulled out her weapon. When she’d gotten home, she floated the idea of Grace hopping a bus to somewhere far enough away to be safe. Of course, her niece had refused, citing school and horse chores and the fact that she didn’t want to sit in some distant hotel room alone.
All were good points, but that didn’t mean Val couldn’t overcome them. She just had to figure out the details. A call to Oneida had started the ball rolling on that. And since she couldn’t figure out the rest until waking hours for normal people, she might as well get some work done. Her mind wanted to go there anyway.
She settled behind her desk, turned on her computer, and set her gun next to the keyboard. Leaning back in her chair, she closed her eyes.
She didn’t want to follow where her thoughts were leading, but she had little choice. The most obvious reason a married woman kept a pregnancy secret from her husband was that the baby wasn’t his. And the most obvious reason she would choose to disappear, and stay disappeared, even when the state was in an uproar over her murder, was because she was afraid.
Was Kelly afraid of Hess?
Or was Lund her boogeyman?
In an investigation into a woman’s death, the first suspect was always the man she was sleeping with. The odds backed up that assumption, and that was the approach Val had taken from the beginning of this case. She’d scoured every part of David Lund’s life, interviewed him several times, put his day-to-day under a magnifying glass. The media had done the same, painting him as Scott Peterson in a cheesehead hat.
Yet all the time, in her gut, Lund hadn’t felt right. And after she’d arrested Hess and the media had swung its focus to him, Lund had been left to pick up the shards of his life.
And she’d felt horrible
When Chief Schneider had suggested she take another look at Lund, for the Jane Doe murder and for Kelly Lund, she hadn’t wanted to go there. She still didn’t, but was it because she knew he was innocent, or she was afraid of what she’d find?
While the computer booted up, she wheeled her chair over to the box of files Grace had carried up for her. Since Lund had been a suspect at the beginning, she had done a good bit of digging into his background. She flipped open his file and laid it on her lap.
The pages staring back at her were interesting in both a bad way and a good. Lund had a juvie record, now sealed. She’d asked him about it originally, but he’d given a vague answer about accidently starting a fire. Then when evidence stacked up against Hess, she’d moved on.
She sure would like to know if there was more to it now.
The good thing was even more compelling. Lund worked as fire inspector as part of his firefighter duties. The position was largely about inspecting buildings to make sure they passed local ordinances, but he’d also had additional training.
She swiveled back to the computer. Hand still in dodgy shape, she manipulated the mouse with her left and tried to ignore the headache and stiffness settling into her head and neck.
Earlier that night, the Omaha PD had sent further information from their failed case against Hess, along with more detailed photos from the scene and the autopsy, ones she hadn’t seen before.
She pulled them up on the monitor.
If she thought the first photos she’d examined were gruesome, she was wildly mistaken. Now she could see the precise cuts Hess had made, the layers of skin he’d seared away with the curling iron, the brutal way he’d violated her before dousing her in gasoline and setting her entire body on fire.
Where the Jane Doe’s remains were blackened bone, difficult to identify with as human, this
Before trading her room for her office, she opened the bedside table and pulled out her weapon. When she’d gotten home, she floated the idea of Grace hopping a bus to somewhere far enough away to be safe. Of course, her niece had refused, citing school and horse chores and the fact that she didn’t want to sit in some distant hotel room alone.
All were good points, but that didn’t mean Val couldn’t overcome them. She just had to figure out the details. A call to Oneida had started the ball rolling on that. And since she couldn’t figure out the rest until waking hours for normal people, she might as well get some work done. Her mind wanted to go there anyway.
She settled behind her desk, turned on her computer, and set her gun next to the keyboard. Leaning back in her chair, she closed her eyes.
She didn’t want to follow where her thoughts were leading, but she had little choice. The most obvious reason a married woman kept a pregnancy secret from her husband was that the baby wasn’t his. And the most obvious reason she would choose to disappear, and stay disappeared, even when the state was in an uproar over her murder, was because she was afraid.
Was Kelly afraid of Hess?
Or was Lund her boogeyman?
In an investigation into a woman’s death, the first suspect was always the man she was sleeping with. The odds backed up that assumption, and that was the approach Val had taken from the beginning of this case. She’d scoured every part of David Lund’s life, interviewed him several times, put his day-to-day under a magnifying glass. The media had done the same, painting him as Scott Peterson in a cheesehead hat.
Yet all the time, in her gut, Lund hadn’t felt right. And after she’d arrested Hess and the media had swung its focus to him, Lund had been left to pick up the shards of his life.
And she’d felt horrible
When Chief Schneider had suggested she take another look at Lund, for the Jane Doe murder and for Kelly Lund, she hadn’t wanted to go there. She still didn’t, but was it because she knew he was innocent, or she was afraid of what she’d find?
While the computer booted up, she wheeled her chair over to the box of files Grace had carried up for her. Since Lund had been a suspect at the beginning, she had done a good bit of digging into his background. She flipped open his file and laid it on her lap.
The pages staring back at her were interesting in both a bad way and a good. Lund had a juvie record, now sealed. She’d asked him about it originally, but he’d given a vague answer about accidently starting a fire. Then when evidence stacked up against Hess, she’d moved on.
She sure would like to know if there was more to it now.
The good thing was even more compelling. Lund worked as fire inspector as part of his firefighter duties. The position was largely about inspecting buildings to make sure they passed local ordinances, but he’d also had additional training.
She swiveled back to the computer. Hand still in dodgy shape, she manipulated the mouse with her left and tried to ignore the headache and stiffness settling into her head and neck.
Earlier that night, the Omaha PD had sent further information from their failed case against Hess, along with more detailed photos from the scene and the autopsy, ones she hadn’t seen before.
She pulled them up on the monitor.
If she thought the first photos she’d examined were gruesome, she was wildly mistaken. Now she could see the precise cuts Hess had made, the layers of skin he’d seared away with the curling iron, the brutal way he’d violated her before dousing her in gasoline and setting her entire body on fire.
Where the Jane Doe’s remains were blackened bone, difficult to identify with as human, this
Similar Books
