Book and Blade: Book One of the Hand of Perdition Read Online Free Page A

is dead?"
    The detective nodded. "Your father, Mathew Sawyer, was murdered the same day you were attacked. They were trying to kill you to set an example."
    Christopher could barely hear him. The world he had just woken up to moments ago was closing in on him. It was surreal. The idea that his father was dead couldn't really register. It had no meaning for him, the concept was too foreign for his mind to wrap itself around. It took a moment for him to realize Hamlin was still talking.
    "...wanted the authorities to know that you don't go after him. If he can get to a DA's family, imagine how easy it would be for him to kill a beat cop or detective’s family. He’s trying to make some of us cops think twice."
    "His family? Does that mean my mother also? My sister?" Christopher asked.
    Hamlin nodded his head slowly.
    "Yes Christopher, they came to your family’s home and got everybody. I am sorry, but your mother and sister are also dead."
    There was a rushing sound in his ears that throbbed to his heartbeat. He leaned back and stared up at the ceiling. None of this seemed real. How could it? Everything gone—no, taken. It was hard for him to think, to anchor his thoughts. It seemed like the world was spinning out of control.
    "Christopher, I have something else to tell you. I don't want to, but you will hear about it in the news anyway, and I guess it is best to come now. There was evidence that both your mother and sister were sexually assaulted before they were murdered."
    It was too much for him. He couldn't listen anymore, his mind snapped. It was as though he couldn't quite grasp what Hamlin was saying. Darkness surged up around him and he felt himself sliding back into unconsciousness. Faintly he heard Hamlin calling out over the suddenly frantic beeping of the machines around him.
    "Oh shit. Doc! Doc! We're losing him again. We need..."
    The rest was lost to the darkness.

 
    CHAPTER SIX
     
    Just one week later the doctor proclaimed Christopher sufficiently recovered to be released the next day. For Christopher those days had passed slowly as he sunk into a dark malaise. His father’s attorney had come to visit him several days after he had awakened. He told Christopher that he was the only surviving heir and the entire estate would go to him. Probate would be straight forward and simple, but it would still take a couple of months. Until then he could stay in the family home. After, he could sell or keep it as he desired.
    His father hadn't always been a DA. For a while he had been a high-priced defense attorney, and even after finding his calling to go after the criminals rather than protect them, he had invested wisely. So the estate was not trivial. In fact, Christopher never had to work again if he chose, nor did he have to continue school for that matter. But he thought of none of that now. He nodded his understanding to the attorney more to get him to leave than to indicate he was paying any attention.
    He had been in shock for most of the past week, numb to most things. Still ignoring calls from Courtney. He couldn't talk to her. Mostly because he couldn't bear it if the only reason was to tell him how sorry she was for what happened to his parents. He knew she wouldn't be calling to ask him to come back.
    Detective Hamlin had stopped by to let him know that they would station someone outside his home for protection. Nobody knew for sure how long he might be in danger, but eventually they would capture this Ambros Falk. Either that, or he might decide that getting to Christopher was more trouble than it was worth and let it go.
    "Yeah he already killed everyone else in the family. I think that sent a message pretty clearly. Is one last kid worth troubling over?" Christopher said to Hamlin the night before he was to be released.
    Hamlin looked down, not knowing how to respond. "Well it has made getting the evidence harder. We had some leads, but they dried up quick. It appears to us that he is consolidating