The Murder of
Manny Grimes
The Cases of Lieutenant DeLong #1
By Angela Kay
Genre: Suspense, Thriller, Mystery
When
three young boys stumble into Lieutenant Jim DeLong's life one night
during a winter storm, they claim they've seen a dead body by the
swing sets of the Columbia County Elementary School. After he
investigates, DeLong sees no evidence, not even a body. But were the
boys telling the truth?
With
the help of his oldest friend and mentor, former Naval investigator
Russ Calhoun, DeLong sets out to find whether Manny Grimes is alive
or dead. The further away he gets to the bottom of the mystery, the
closer he comes to realize that his own life is falling
apart.
Delving
deeper into the murder of Manny Grimes, Lieutenant DeLong begins to
unravel, losing his sense of control, falling into old temptations he
spent years to overcome. Will he be able to move past his own demons
and untangle the web of lies before it's too late?
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Chapter 10
“We don’t have the time to go searching for a missing person that hasn’t yet been
reported missing.”
Captain Stewart had listened intently to
DeLong’s story before shaking his head in annoyance.
“But, sir,” DeLong protested, “the kids
reported him at the school and—”
Though he already knew the answer, Stewart
asked, “When you investigated, did you see Grimes at the school? Or any
evidence that corroborated these children’s claims?”
“No,” DeLong admitted.
“I’m sorry, Lieutenant, but I’m not going to
allow you to run around town, searching for a man that more than likely got out
of Dodge. I don’t appreciate the fact that a member of my team," Stewart
jabbed a thumb toward his chest, "entered another person’s home without
permission. And convinced a civilian to do the same.” The captain glared from
DeLong to Calhoun and back again.
“Captain Stewart,” Calhoun put in. He had been
seated quietly, listening as the lieutenant recounted once again what had
happened the day before. Now he rose to put in his two cents. “I believe that
something happened to Grimes. I went to his house on my own accord. Everything
Jim just told you, I stand by. Something happened to this man. We have a duty
to find out what. Captain, if we come up with nothing, or we find out we've
been chasing our tails, then I'll eat my jacket."
Stewart narrowed his eyes in Calhoun's
direction and crossed his arms. “You think this is funny, Calhoun? I would have
thought better of you than to be involved in a wild goose chase. Entering a
man’s premises without a warrant? I should throw the book at you.” He glared at
DeLong again. “Actually, I should throw the book at both of you.”
He sighed and leaned back in his chair,
uncrossing his arms and linking his hands behind his head. He continued to
glare between the two men.
“All right," he said after minutes
passed. "DeLong, I’ve known you long enough to know that ninety times out
of a hundred, your instincts are sound. You want to search for the man, then
fine." He held both palms in the air, then slowly lowered them flat on the
desk and leaned forward.
"But do not, I repeat do not, do anything
that would require a warrant until you have probable cause to actually get a
warrant. Keep me posted. I’ll give you two days to either find Grimes or hard
evidence that he is actually missing. Two days. That is all.”
“Yes, sir. Thank you, Captain,” DeLong said
with a satisfied nod.
“Yes, thank you,” Calhoun echoed.
“I have to run out for a little while,” the
captain said with a sigh. He rose, straightening his shirt uniform. "Try
not to waste too much of my time. Or yours."
"Yes, sir," DeLong acknowledged as
he left the office.
“Where do you want to start?” Calhoun
wondered, trailing after him.
“I suppose we should go back to the
schoolyard,” DeLong said, halfway out the door. “Maybe between the two of us,
we'll find something I overlooked when I first looked around." Outside,
DeLong blew into his hands to warm them. "Honestly, I just wanted to get
out of the station a little bit. But I didn't want to go home. Sam has me
sleeping on the couch these days. Anyway, I wasn't really sure what I was
looking for. The body wasn't there. The snow we had would have destroyed most,
if not all the evidence."
At the truck they slid inside. DeLong adjusted
the heat as Calhoun set the gear in motion. "I just want to be sure we've
covered all our bases.
Then let’s go back to the Walkers'. I want to
know more about Jonathan Walker’s friendship with Manny Grimes.”
Blood
Runs Cold
The
Cases of Lieutenant DeLong #2
A
young woman has been murdered at the Savannah Rapids Pavilion and
Lieutenant Jim DeLong realizes at first sight this case will be the
most difficult one of his career. DeLong is immediately swept into
the memories of his childhood and dark secrets he's longed to
forget.
The
victim is his sister-in-law, and old thoughts he's fought to delete
will be resurrected whether DeLong likes it or not. He and his
brother have been estranged by unhappy times in their youth. With no
clear motive, DeLong questions his ability to remain objective.
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Chapter 5
DeLong closed the garage door and went inside the house. He heard
soft murmurs floating from the living room. He
knew his six-year-old
daughter, Bella, was in school, so he guessed
Samantha was probably
watching television. DeLong was glad to be
with his wife, even for just
a few minutes. After coming onto the scene and
seeing his brother's
wife, he just wanted to hold on to Samantha
and never let her go. It was
nothing but a harsh reminder that in the blink
of an eye, everything can
go wrong. The memory of Bree was etched in his
mind and continued
to haunt him. Seeing her in the water left him
feeling empty.
Samantha liked to tell him that everything
happened for a reason.
But there was no reason for women like Bree
DeLong to be
murdered.
She was a kindhearted young woman who wanted
nothing more
than to help those less fortunate—particularly
children.
"Honey, I'm home," DeLong called
out. Draping his jacket on the
back of the kitchen chair, he let out a long
yawn. His eyes felt heavy,
and his stomach rumbled. But despite his
hunger, he didn't feel much
like eating. He would opt for a quick nap, but
he wasn't sure that would
happen either.
"Jim, we're in here, honey."
We?
Was someone here?
Remembering the urgency in Samantha's text
resulted in his
stomach churning.
DeLong grabbed a Coke can from the
refrigerator and stepped into
the living room.
Though deep down it didn't come to a surprise
to him, DeLong
almost dropped the can when he saw his brother
sitting on the couch
next to his wife.
"Sully." He blinked a few times as
if he were trying to stop
imagining things. "What are you doing
here?"
"I'm sorry to come here like this."
Sullivan glanced over at
Samantha, then back at DeLong. He looked as
though he wanted to say
something and then shook his head. Sullivan
pushed to his feet. "Sorry,
22 Angela Kay
Sam, I can't do this. I really should
go."
Samantha put a hand on his wrist to keep him
from moving away.
"You're always welcome here, Sully.
Right, Jim?" She shot her
husband a look of warning.
"Of course," he stammered.
Samantha pulled Sullivan back to the cushions.
DeLong studied his older brother for a good
five minutes, taking in
every sadness, every anger. He seemed to have
aged a few more years
since DeLong had seen him at the morgue. His
eyes were hollow, and
he looked as though he hadn't slept for a
week.
He wanted to say something consoling to him,
but what could he
say? There were no words to ease someone in
this time of grief. If there
were, he wasn't aware of them.
"How are you doing?" He sat on the
edge of the coffee table.
Sullivan only shook his head. His eyes began
to water, a single tear
sliding down the corner of his eye. He bounced
his knees and set his
head in his hands.
"I didn’t have anywhere else to go,”
Sullivan mumbled. “Ally’s in
school. I-I went there to tell her what
happened, but I just couldn't.”
"We’ll figure this out. It'll be OK.”
DeLong cleared his throat,
pressed his fingertips to his eyelids, and
then leaned in toward his
brother. "Why don't you go ahead and tell
me everything you know?
Start from the last time you spoke to or saw
Bree. What she was doing,
where she went, who she spoke to...don't leave
anything out."
Sullivan looked at DeLong, then Samantha and
back again. "The
last time we spoke was yesterday morning. I
think around six or so. It
was before she took Ally to school.”
“How did she seem?” DeLong asked.
Sullivan shrugged. “Normal.”
“Do you know what her plan for the day was?”
“I think she was going to that center she runs—Protecting the
Lord’s Children. After that…” Sullivan trailed off. He seemed to be
thinking about what he wanted to say next.
Finally, he replied, “After
that, she was supposed to go home.”
“But she didn't go home?” DeLong pressed.
“I don't know. I went fishing with an old
friend."
“From what time to what time?”
Sullivan narrowed his eyes at DeLong. “What
does that matter?”
“I need to build a timeline,” DeLong
explained. “That’s all.”
Blood Runs Cold 23
Sullivan squared his jaw, reminding DeLong of
how their father
always looked when he was forcing himself to
remain calm.
“Ten that morning to five in the evening. We
went to Clarks Hill
Lake.”
“What’s your friend’s name?"
“James Simmons. We used to work together.”
“Where did you go after fishing?” DeLong asked
slowly. He
motioned for Samantha to hand him a pad from
the end table. He began
writing the information down.
“Are you implying that I killed her?” Sullivan
snapped. DeLong
looked up to see the hot anger flash in
Sullivan's eyes. He opened his
mouth to say something else, but before he
did, DeLong held up his
palm. He was used to spouses getting flustered
by the police as they
attempted to weed out suspects. His brother
was no different.
“I have to ask these questions, Sully.”
“I wouldn’t hurt her. I loved my wife. We had
a good marriage. I
can’t…I can’t believe you’d actually think
I’d….” Sullivan trailed off
and rose to pace the room.
DeLong remained silent, watching. Samantha
glared at him.
DeLong shook his head slightly to warn her to
stay out of it.
"We were happy," Sullivan continued
tautly. "She didn't leave me,
and she wasn't having any kind of affair. We
were happy."
"Good. Did she have any friends that
wanted something more from
her? Something she wasn't willing to give
him?"
Sullivan shook his head with conviction. "No.
I mean, everybody
loved her. You know that. That goes without
saying. People loved her,
but not in any romantic sense."
"Did she seem upset at all? Like she was
worried about
something?"
"No. I mean, I don't think so."
"And you? Is everything good with you?
You don't have anything
to worry about? Anything that's upsetting
you?"
DeLong watched as his brother gazed at him. It
looked as though
he wanted to say something, but couldn't
decide what it would be.
Finally, he put his head in his hands, sighed
and looked back at
DeLong.
"Why don’t you go ahead and say it, Jim.”
“What are you talking about? I need to ask you
these questions. I'm
24 Angela Kay
just covering all the bases, Sully."
"These questions are pointless!"
Sullivan sliced his hands in the
air. “How is whatever it was I did going to
help find my wife’s killer?”
"Why don't you just answer my questions,
Sullivan? Let me do my
job." The words come out gruffer than he
intended, which resulted in
his wife hissing his name.
Sullivan gaped at his brother, frowning, arms
tightly crossed
against his chest. Finally, he shook his head
in agitation.
"No. I was wrong to come here. What was I
thinking? I mean, I
need someone capable enough to find out who
murdered my wife." A
mixture of undeniable anger and pain flashed
in Sullivan's eyes. "I need
someone that I can trust."
"You can trust Jim, Sully," Samantha
interjected, eyes wide,
glistening with tears and worry.
Sullivan let out a scoff. "Him? Jim
DeLong? Are you kidding me?
No offense, but my drunk little brother could
fly off the rails at any
moment. You of all people should know
that."
DeLong squared his jaw in an effort to stay
calm. He remained
quiet as Samantha stammered.
Sullivan shook his head and cursed.
"Forget it. This was a mistake,
and I'm out of here."
Before anyone could respond, Sullivan flew out
the door.
DeLong frowned, well aware that Samantha was
glaring at him.
“Go stop him!” she hissed through her teeth,
jabbing her index
finger toward the door.
Obliging, DeLong chased after his brother,
calling his name. He
knew it was a fruitless effort, even before he
saw Sullivan climbing in
his car and pulling away, tires spinning hotly
on the cement.
Equipped
with a professional writing degree from Augusta State University,
Angela Kay is a southern lady who spends her days and nights dreaming
up new ways to solve dark murders of normal people.
Angela
Kay was one of 23 across the United States to win a 2009 playwright
contest for her one-act entitled “Digging Deeper.” Because of
this, she was able to spend a week in Atlanta at the Horizon Theater
Company.
She
lives in Augusta, Georgia with her crazy calico, Maggie.
Follow
the tour HERE
for exclusive excerpts and a giveaway!
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