Murder 42 - A Thriller (Sarah King Mysteries Book 2) Read Online Free Page B

one of the owners, who also works there. He said he didn’t recognize Virgil though he’s probably come in before. Doesn’t recall anything about selling him a DVD, of course.” Lunds leaned against the wall. “So one of them’s lying, but I couldn’t say which one—the scumbag who sells child porn or the scumbag who jerks off to it. Take your pick.”
    Stefan exhaled and put his hands on his hips. He peered in through the one-way mirror at Virgil. The man was picking at a thread of dead skin on his thumb, rocking slightly with each pick, his lips moving.
    “How did he buy it?”
    “Cash, no credit card trail. His word against the storeowner’s. The other employees, of course, say they don’t sell anything like that there.”
    “You think that could be him on the video?”
    Lunds shook his head. “No. The guy on the video is clearly white. Just in case, I had Virgil strip nude and checked him out. The nipples and penis are different. Virgil’s got a birthmark on his lower back that the man in the video doesn’t have. Sorry, Stefan, but we don’t really have shit as far as finding who that child is or the bastard who did that to her.”
    Stefan rubbed the side of his head. “I’m gonna need help.”

6
     
     
     
     
     
    Kelly had wanted to meet at a local pub and get the night started with some drinks. Sarah no longer drank, but she was happy to drive everyone if they wanted to. She drove Kelly’s Nissan with six girls crammed in and the music turned up so loud it hurt her ears. Two of the girls, Kelly’s friends, were already singing at the tops of their lungs.
    When they arrived at the pub, Sarah let them out. Kelly stayed in the car as Sarah tried to find parking.
    “You’re quiet,” Kelly said. “Talk to them. They’re fun girls.”
    “I’m just tired.”
    “Well, you’re never gonna make friends, young lady, unless you put yourself out there.”
    Friends . She hadn’t thought about friends in a long time. At one point in her life, the point when she was drunk every day, she had a lot of friends and a lot of men. That seemed like a lifetime ago, now. Since her breakup, she had no inclination to go back to that life.
    “Maybe this was a bad idea, Kel. You guys would have more fun without me.”
    “Bullshit. You’re just sulking ’cause of Gio. Forget him. There’ll be guys here.”
    Sarah sighed as she found parking around the building and thought for a moment while Kelly stepped out of the car. Eventually, she let out a deep breath and undid her seatbelt before climbing out.
    Kelly linked her arm with Sarah’s in a casual gesture of affection. Sarah instantly doubled over in pain. It began in her stomach, just below the navel, and emanated in all directions. And it wasn’t slow, like fire. The closest comparison she could make was if someone had set a bomb off inside of her.
    She groaned, holding her stomach, the pain forcing her to her knees. Kelly held on to her arm tightly, panicking. She took out her cell to call for an ambulance, and Sarah managed to gasp out, “No ambulance.”
    Sarah saw Kelly but not as she was now. Sarah saw a date, a high school dance, with kissing and drinking and friends. Then a boy drove her in his car, a silver car going fast on the highway. He pulled over in a dark spot near a canyon and they were kissing when he tried to remove her dress. She said no, and he ripped it off and raped her as she screamed for help. But nobody came.
    “You okay?” Kelly said, bending down next to her.
    The pain could hit like a sledgehammer, but it always went away. Sometimes it lingered, and sometimes it was a flash that would topple her and disappear as quickly as it had come. But it always went away. Her greatest fear was that one day it wouldn’t.
    Sarah got to her feet and cleaned the blood away from her nose. She looked into Kelly’s big, beautiful eyes. More than anything else, she wanted to ask her what happened to that boy—if he had ever been prosecuted or