Hostile Witness

Silent Witness excerpt

Silent Witness excerpt

Prologue

He shot the naked woman at nine thirty in the morning; the naked man was in his sights at nine forty-five.

Three more shots: the front door and address, the woman's car nestled in the shadows of an Acacia tree, the man's car parked in front of the house - as subtle a statement as a dog pissing to mark its territory. The camera started to whir. Archer decided he had enough to satisfy his client that the missus wasn't exactly waiting with bated breath for him to high tail it home.

Archer reloaded and stashed the exposed film in his pocket then let his head fall back against the Hummer's seat. Cradling the camera in his lap, Archer felt his body go heavy as his eyes closed. He was tired to the bone and not because he had another couple of hours to wait before Don Juan decided to pack up his piece and take his leave. This tired was in Archer's soul; this tired crept way deep into that heart muscle and made it hard to pump enough blood to keep him going.

He moved in the seat, put one leg up and tried to stretch it out. There wasn't a comfortable place for a man his size even in this hunk of Hummer metal; there wasn't a comfortable place in his mind for the thoughts that had been dogging him for days.

He hated this gig, spying on wayward wives. No self-respecting cop would be doing this kind of work even if the wronged husband was paying big bucks. But then Archer wasn't a self-respecting cop anymore. He was a part-time photographer, a retired detective, a freelance investigator and a man who was running on empty when it came to making ends meet this month. And then there was the anniversary.

He didn't want to think about that either, but it was impossible to clear his mind when California autumn had come again, a carbon copy of a day Archer would just as soon not remember. It had been sunny, like today. Bright sky-blue up high, navy in the deep sea. A nip in the day air. Cold at night. Lexi, his wife, was sick. And then there was Tim. God, he hated thinking about it. But on a day like this, with too much time on his hands, it couldn't be helped.

Archer stirred and held the camera in the crook of one arm like a child. His other one was bent against the door so he could rest his head in his upturned hand. He moved his mind like he moved his body, adjusting, settling in with another thought until he found a good place where it could rest.

Josie.

Always Josie. The woman who saved him from insanity after Lexi died. They'd hit a little rough patch lately but even that didn't keep the thought of her from putting his mind in a good place. Sleep was coming. What was happening in the house was just a job. The other was just a memory. Josie was real. Josie was . . .

Archer didn't have the next second to put a word to what Josie meant to him. The door of the Hummer was ripped open, almost off its hinges. Archer fell out first, the camera right after. Off balance already, he was defenseless against the huge hands that grappled and grasped at his shoulders and the ferocity of the man who threw him onto the asphalt and knelt on his back.

"Jesus Christ-" Archer barked just before the breath was knocked out of him.

"Shut up, fuck face." The man atop him growled and dug his knee into Archer's back, taking hold of his hair.

Archer grunted. Shit, he was getting old. The guy in the house not only made him, he got the drop on him. Archer ran through what he knew: the guy was a suit, one seventy tops, didn't work out. He should be able to flick this little shit off with a deep breath.

Hands flat on the ground, Archer tried to do just that but as he pushed himself off the pavement he had another surprise. It wasn't the guy in the house at all. The man on his back was big, he was heavy and he wasn't alone. There were two of them.

While the first ground Archer's face into the blacktop, the second found a home for the toe of his boot in Archer's midsection. Archer bellowed. He curled. He tried to roll but that opened him up and this time that boot clipped the side of his face, catching the corner of his eye. The blow sent him into the arms of the first man who embraced him with an arm around his throat. Archer's eyes rolled back in his head. Jesus that hurt. His eyelids fluttered. One still worked right. He looked up and stopped struggling.

The guy who had him in a headlock knew what he was doing. If Archer moved another inch and the man adjusted his grip, Archer's neck would snap. As it was, the guy was doing a fine job of making sure Archer was finding it damn hard to breathe.

His eyes rolled again as a pain shot straight through his temple and embedded itself behind his ear. He tried to focus, needing to see at least one of them if he was going to identify them when - if - he got out of this mess. They could have the car. No car was worth dying for. But he couldn't tell them to take it if he couldn't speak and he couldn't identify them if he could barely see. There were just the vaguest impressions of blue eyes, a clean-shaven face, and a checked shirt. Archer's thoughts undulated with each new wave of pain. Connections were made then broken and made again like a faulty wire. The one that stuck made sense: these guys didn't want his car but they sure as hell wanted something. Just as the chokehold king tightened his grip, and his friend took another swipe at Archer's ribs, one of them offered a clue.

"You asshole. Thought you got away with it, didn't you?"

That was not a helpful hint