Dual Suspect (Spencer Clark Crime Thriller Book 1) Read online

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  Dual Suspect

  A Spencer Clark Crime Thriller

  Thomas Ransom

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  Read This First!

  About the Book

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Book 2 (Coming Soon)

  Books By Thomas Ransom

  Staying In Touch With Tom

  Read This First!

  If you haven’t read the prequel to this book, Grim Deception, click here to download it for FREE and join my mailing list to receive all new updates and giveaways!

  About the Book

  The Gripping New Sequel to the Massively Popular Grim Deception Crime Thriller Short Story...

  This mystery crime thriller will keep you on the edge of your seat and begging for more!

  FBI Agent, Spencer Clark, is on the hunt for the perpetrator who caused the horrific accident that put Liam Westwood in the hospital fighting for his life. As she dives deeper into this mysterious hit-and-run investigation, all that turns up is dead ends.

  Careful to keep all new evidence close to her chest, fearing it may implicate her sister Susan, Spencer works behind the scenes to uncover more details of this mystery-man, Liam Westwood!

  She catches a break when she finds a sketchy, former lover of Liam, named Melody. This girl knows information only known to the FBI and is definitely hiding something! Suspect #2!

  Liam, who miraculously wakes up from his coma, begins to act strangely when asked about Melody and the details of that fateful night. His stories don't add up, and he makes the mistake of mentioning he saw TWO cars that night, and one of them was RED!

  The mystery unfolds in this epic sequel as Spencer Clark races to find the truth, save her sister, and put the real criminal behind bars.

  Chapter One

  I let the smoke glide through the air in rings. One ring. Two rings. Three rings. All I wanted to focus on was these rings, nothing else. If I started to run through my whirling thoughts about what had just happened with my sister I would shut down. My little sister, the attempted murderer. By accident.

  I was standing outside of my apartment in the freezing cold, shivering and smoking. It was a habit that I’d kicked several years ago. Now it seemed like a good one to pick up again considering everything.

  How could she be so stupid? Why couldn’t she just leave it? I’m constantly picking up the slack for her and now I might lose my job over this.

  Ryan had dropped us off from the airport the night before. He’d said nothing on the ride, obviously intending to speak to us separately. Well, that couldn’t wait. I would have to go in and face the music and it was likely I wouldn’t like the tune. I threw the butt down and squashed it before moving towards my vehicle.

  As I drove, I gripped the wheel so hard that my knuckles turned white. It was going to be a showdown and I knew it. I pulled in and silently walked through to my desk. Ryan beckoned me with two fingers as soon as he saw me.

  “Come on. In my office, Spencer. We need to talk.” The dreaded ‘we need to talk’ summons. Why was that even a thing people say? It never sat well with me.

  I walked into Ryan’s office and plopped down into the seat. He tapped his finger on a white porcelain mug, cutting through me with his eyes. Shock registered, he was staring at me as if I was a criminal.

  “Hey, Ryan. I just got back so I’m sorry I missed your calls.”

  Ryan sat still and rocked in his chair for a beat. “No, you’re not. You avoided my calls on purpose. I know you did.”

  “It’s not like that. She’s my sister, Ryan. I had to make sure she was okay.”

  Ryan scoffed as I cursed under my breath, my fingers shaking. He was already watching me like a hawk, and I didn’t need the extra scrutiny from his eyeballs.

  “It’s like that, is it? I guess it’s like that. Is there anything I need to know before I bring your sister in for questioning? Where did you find her, and why was she gone in the first place?”

  I sipped the coffee Ryan had made. I held up the mug. “This is a damn good coffee coming out of the drip percolator. Nice.”

  Ryan cocked his eyebrow at me as he leaned forward. “Is this the game we’re playing, Spencer? Come on.”

  Expelling a large, stressed-out sigh I flicked my hair over my shoulder. “She ran, but not for the reason you think. She and Liam were an item, but you probably knew that part already.”

  “I knew she was sleeping with him, that’s the part I know,” Ryan provided as he took a sip of his own coffee.

  “Okay, well it was a little more for her and Liam. They were an item. Officially. When I told her about the other women, she seemed genuinely shocked. She had no idea. Kind of like Annie and John.”

  “Nothing like Annie and John, but I see the similarity you’re reaching for. We’re going to have to interview her. Look, I’m not saying it’s going to be easy. You got her number?”

  “Yep. Sure.” I opened up my jacket pocket and pulled out my cell phone before I rattled off the number. My only plan was to grill my sister first in preparation. Ryan was a hyena when it came to interviewing suspects. He would circle and circle until he could go in for the kill. He might have a cool, calm demeanor on the surface, but he was laser-sharp.

  “Okay great. You did the right thing bringing her back, but the fact she was away doesn’t bode well for her. Not right after Liam’s hit and run.”

  “I know. Her heart was broken though, they’d called it off. She had plans with him and everything.”

  Ryan sighed as he rubbed his fingers over his temple. “Hmm. I hope so, but we gotta clean this up and do our job as detectives first.”

  “Of course we do. I get it.”

  “Where did she go?”

  “She went overseas. She had the trip planned a long time ago. She’d asked Liam to go with her. She was upset he didn’t want to come so she just went herself, you know.”

  I shrugged my shoulders as Ryan glared at me. “You look like shit and you’re smoking again. Stop it.”

  “Gee thanks,” I said as I crossed my legs.

  “Get rid of the cigarettes,” he urged. “Remember your mother. I don’t want anything happening to you,” he said compassionately. I knew Ryan cared about me and that’s what made all this so hard to deal with. I was having to white lie my ass off in order to keep my sister’s head above water. A grim smile covered my face.

  “I will, thanks for caring. Go easy on my sister,” I remarked with sadness, thinking of all the bailout favors I’d done for her.

  “That depends on how cooperative she is.”

  “Fair. I got a lot of paperwork that I need to clean up, so I better hit that desk of mine and get to work.”

  “Where overseas did she go?” I know what you’re doing Rya
n. I know this game. The casual backhanded questions so you can glean more information. I see through you.

  “Umm, Spain.” There was no way I could lie about the location. The tickets, the alibi’s, my father, me - it would have to do too much legwork in order to cover her tracks.

  “Spain?” Ryan’s forehead raised. “Interesting choice of places. I prefer Morocco myself.”

  “Might have been her next stop had she not had to come back so soon,” I replied.

  Ryan glanced up quickly at me. “I’m sorry her trip got cut short, but I’m sure the man whose life is hanging on by a thread would like justice.”

  “Touché. Hey look,” I pointed like an arrow to the door. “I gotta go get to it, so I’ll see you later.”

  “Alright, Spencer.” Ryan looked down at his desk as I passed David on the way by.

  “Are you good Spencer? You look a little washed out.”

  “Why is everyone commenting on what I look like? Please. I look the same as I’ve always looked.”

  “No need to be touchy, I’m just looking out for you.” All of a sudden the room felt as if it was spinning and my mouth was dry.

  Maybe I just needed another coffee. Something to keep me alert.

  Rapidly blinking I glanced at David as I floated past him back to my desk. As I sat down, I understood I would have to start digging into my paperwork in order to relieve this dead weight that was sitting on my chest. Holy shit. How was I going to evade my FBI colleagues? Did my sister really put him in a coma? Had all possible options been looked at?

  It was my sister. I was going to do everything in my power to make sure every legal avenue was looked at before she went to jail.

  Hours later, after digging into all the text messages from Liam’s girlfriends and going over them one by one, I made a list of their phone numbers and determined to do some grilling myself. For a few minutes, I even missed the fact that Ryan was hovering over me. That was until he rapped his knuckles on my desk.

  “Earth to Spencer. Hellooooo”

  “Wha-what! What is it? You made me jump. What can I do for you?”

  Ryan sat down on the edge of my desk with his arms folded. He looked at the back wall for a minute as my eyes narrowed to slits. “Ryan, if you’re about to launch into one of your ‘remember the time’ speeches I don’t want to hear it. Spare me,” I said to him with dripping sarcasm.

  Ryan smoothed his hand over the vinyl desk and his piercing eyes swung to look straight into mine. “I’m putting you on paid suspension until we garner more information about the case. I can’t have you on it right now. You’re too close to it and the stress is already starting to take its toll. I can tell. It’s written all over your face. It’s only for four weeks. That should be enough time for us to establish everything we need for the case.”

  “What the heck are you talking about, Ryan? You can’t do that. I’ve done nothing wrong. I brought Susan in like you asked. I’m not hiding anything. I don’t get why you’re doing this?”

  We were in open working pods, but my desk was at the back of the office situated away from other people.

  “Exactly, you don’t know why I’m doing it. You just have to trust me okay?”

  I shook my head in denial. “No, no, no. You don’t get to do this, Ryan. I’m the one who knows my sister the best. You need me on this case.”

  “Can you be objective? Hmmm. I think you can, but will you skip over the key questions that may or may not lead to the arrest of your sister? Who knows? Sorry, but I can’t take the risk, Spencer. Consider it a little holiday. Enforced rest. I know this may be stressful for you.”

  There was no way I was going to be off the case completely. I was still going to look into those text messages. I didn’t even know if my sister was guilty. She just thought she was.

  “Right. If that’s what it is, Ryan, after all this time that we’ve worked together. I’ve never known anything like this. Honestly.”

  “That’s the way it has to be for now, Spencer. It’s only temporary.” He drummed his fingers on the desk one more time, and then, with a definitive knock he was away leaving me with my world whirling around.

  Chapter Two

  I felt bad that I had to kick Spencer off the case. I knew from the drop of her mouth when I came to her desk that she wasn’t expecting it. What else could I do? She was way too invested and there was no way in hell I would be called in to my boss’s office to explain why one of my detectives was in on a case in which her sister was the main suspect. Suspension was best.

  I took two Advil and doused my throat with water to knock the edge off the thumping headache I had. Thanks to this case, and having one of my best detectives off deck, I was feeling pretty crappy.

  Dave rounded the corner, standing in the doorway when I saw the back of Spencer’s hair swaying with her as she left with a stack of files under her arm. She just won’t quit. Those files were no doubt something to do with her sister’s case. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.

  ***

  How the hell did he think he was going to solve that case without me? Pissed off wasn’t exactly it, but if I festered, I knew I would be off my game and not able to tease out the clues.

  I slammed everything, and I mean everything. I slammed my car door, my front door, my refrigerator door, and I slammed my body on my couch with a beer.

  “Okay, Spencer shake it off. Let’s get down to it.” Ryan was going to lose his shit when he figured out I took the phone from the evidence locker on my way out. Ha. Lockie owed me a favor anyway. I had my ways, that was for sure.

  “Hey Lockie, why can’t you do me this solid? Come on, how long have we been working together?”

  “I know we’ve been working together for a long time, but you know I can’t give you that evidence. I’m going to get my ass handed to me. Come on Spencer!” Lockie had slammed his hand down on the table, red in the face. Lockie was a big guy and spread out more than he spread up. He’d been sucking on a lollipop and reading a book when I got down there. Not much to do in the evidence filing area, except, well, file the evidence and wait for the next batch to come in.

  I’d smiled at Lockie. “Come on Lockie, live a little. I promise you I’ll get it back in the next couple of days. On my mother’s grave.”

  Lockie had looked up at me with his small eyes, almost hidden in the folds of skin on his pudgy face. “Okay, only if you promise to make sure you get it back to me. How’s your sister?”

  “She’s holding up as best she can right now, especially given she’s a prime suspect in a case.”

  “Uh-huh. Sorry to hear. I hope you and your family’ll be okay. I wasn’t happy to hear the news.”

  “You and me both Lockie. See you soon.”

  I reframed my mind and got back down to business. ‘A’ and ‘M’ casual for sure. Very casual.

  “Hey are we meeting for sexy times again? Where you been?” ‘M’ asked. Who was ‘M?’ Liam’s phone had been turned off, but the charger had come in the plastic baggie. I’d plugged it in and could now see the current messages flowing through. This guy didn’t even have a password lock on his phone. He was lackadaisical and made it way too easy for me. That was fine by me, easy was what I needed. Trying to break pin codes and get into phones was a bitch at the best of times.

  I pressed on ‘M’ and wrote down her number. I assumed it was a female, anyway. Given the way that Mr. Westwood had been slinging his snake all over the damn place, it could have meant anything or anyone.

  I looked further into the number, hoping to get lucky like I, unfortunately, did with my sister. No go. No problem, I would call it later. I looked into the other texts.

  “My god, there’s so many! Who is this guy?” I scrolled through all the dirty text messages and found one of interest.

  ‘Your girl knows about us? I saw you texting the other night. Why don’t you bring her along next time? I don’t bite. I like girls too. Kissy face.’ Ugh. Liam Westwood. I had to hand it to him. Hard
to make out appearance as I’d only seen him in a coma, but I figured he had some sort of good looks going for him.

  I wrote down more numbers I would call. I made a list of them to roll through. I put my cell phone to work.

  “Hello, can I speak to...Mandy...is it?”

  “Uh no, this isn’t Mandy, this is Melody. I’m definitely not a Mandy.”

  “Okay, Melody, I’m sorry about that.”

  “Wait - who is this?”

  I had to think quick on my feet for this one. “I am calling from the health inspection department for your apartment block. We’re contacting all the residents because we need to conduct checks on the burst water mains. It might put your water supply out of action for the next couple of hours.” I hoped she was gullible enough to fall for it.

  “That’s strange I didn’t get a notice for this. Our superintendent is normally pretty good.”

  “It only happened this morning. You know how these things go. Shouldn’t disrupt you for too long.”

  “Ah, I guess. Melody Riggers, Apartment C. Make sure it’s back on because I have to go to class, and I don’t wanna go without showering.”

  “Understood. Thank you for taking my call. Have a nice day Ma’am.” She fell for it, right into the big pile of poop I’d laid down. Why would she do that? I would never give my details out like that over the phone to a random woman from a private number.

  A painstaking process sat in front of me as I tried to ring some of the other numbers. None of them answered. I decided to circle back to Miss Melody Riggers. I had access to the bureau database. I’m sure Ryan wouldn’t cut me off, but he would know when I logged in. I went for it, punching in my login and holding my breath, hoping that Ryan hadn’t blocked me.

  A familiar dong sound came up as the system allowed me to log in. Phew. Now I could get down to the nitty-gritty. I typed in her name, Melody Rigger.