Murder in Honolulu: A Skye Delaney Mystery (39 page)

He grinned lasciviously, gave his attorney a
hearty bear hug, and headed for the door without so much as a slap
on the wrist.

Growling at Julian Frommer, Carole snapped:
"I would strongly suggest that in the future you not waste the
court's time—or mine—with a case you were clearly unprepared to
make!"

On that note and without giving him a chance
for a lame response, she headed for her chambers, disappointed that
another woman beater, who was obviously guilty, had found a way to
beat the system. Much in the same way he had his lover.

* * *

At Portland General Hospital, Lucie Garcia
winced from the pain that wracked her entire body like it was being
assaulted all at once. This in spite of the painkillers she had
been given. They told her she was lucky to be alive. She didn't
feel so lucky.

The Hispanic twenty-three-year-old rolled
her large ink-black eyes, as if to ward off danger. Her brunette
hair splayed across the pillow soaked with perspiration. An
irregular line of blood had seeped across it from her mouth, which
had been cut and was swollen to twice its normal size. A tube was
helping her to breathe. Her fractured bones were held together with
pins and casts. The rest of her was held together through sheer
willpower.

She thought about Roberto. She'd been told
he had been released from custody. Without her testimony, the case
had gone out the window. Like a parakeet freed from its cage.

When it came right down to it, Lucie knew
she couldn't testify against Roberto. Though she was afraid of him,
and the beatings had become more frequent and more violent in
recent months as his alcohol abuse grew worse, she loved him. She
couldn't help it anymore than a mother could help loving her son,
no matter what he did to hurt her.

Roberto was the only man she had ever loved.
The only one who didn't run away at the first opportunity another
piece of ass came into view. For that she was grateful. The rest
just came with the territory as far as she was concerned.

Still, Lucie wondered what awaited her when
she got home. Would Roberto take it out on her because he had been
in police custody? Would he want her back now that she was badly
bruised and broken and didn't look anything at all like the pretty
Latina who had captured his attention in the beginning?

Lucie winced again before the sedative began
to take effect and she drifted off into a restless sleep. Her last
thought was that maybe she would awaken and find it had all been an
awful dream.

Deep down inside she knew otherwise.

CHAPTER TWO

Roberto Martinez was counting his blessings
as he sat in the bar getting drunk. He had been staring at twenty
to life, according to his Afro American public defender. He figured
that he'd be lucky if he ever saw the light of day again while he
was young enough to be able to appreciate it.

But the devil must have been watching over
his shoulder. Here he was out amongst the living again, and there
wasn't a damned thing anyone could do about it.

He thought about his old lady. Yeah, he'd
beaten the hell out of her. But, dammit, she deserved it. They all
did. Especially when they opened their big mouths too much and
their legs too little. It was the only way to keep them in line.
All whores needed to be kept in line, one way or the other.

Roberto Martinez finished off his last shot
of whiskey before winking at the sweet looking black broad wearing
shades in the corner while imagining what he could do with her,
then moseying out of the bar. The night was cool for this time of
year and darker than most. Stars seemed to have disappeared, as if
relinquishing their place in space for other solar systems.

Roberto had half staggered about a block
when he heard footsteps behind him. He turned and saw a tall,
stacked, dark skinned woman with a blonde wig of box braids almost
on top of him. He remembered she was the broad in the bar sitting
all by her lonesome at the end of the counter. Only she was without
the sunglasses, so he could see her eyes. They were deep, dark,
enchanting. Just like the bitch herself.

"You looking for some action, honey?" she
asked in a voice that sounded vaguely familiar.

He studied her. She had on a tight red dress
that hugged every curve of her statuesque body, red gloves, and
stiletto shoes. She was obviously a hooker. Why the hell not? It
wasn't like his old lady was at home waiting to greet him or
anything.

He grinned. "Yeah, I'm looking for some
action, baby. How much will it cost?" He figured she was worth
maybe twenty. Twenty-five if she was real good to him.

"Keep your money," she said curtly. "Let's
just say I'm in a generous mood tonight."

Roberto regarded her uneasily. Was this some
kind of a setup or something? Were they trying to get him back
behind bars? Trying to trick him into doing something stupid on
account of what he did to Lucie and got away with it?

"You ain't a cop, are you?" he asked
tentatively.

She placed a hand on her rounded hip. "Do I
look like a cop to you, sugar?"

Roberto grinned again. "Not like any damned
cop I've seen," he had to admit.

"Then why are we wasting time here
jawing?"

He felt at ease again. His libido was
admittedly in need of a quick fix.

"Yeah," he said. "Why are we? Your place or
mine?"

"Neither." She pointed toward the alley. "In
there."

He looked into the darkened alley. It was
hardly the ideal place to get laid. But who was he to argue? He
could get his rocks off just about anywhere.

"Lead the way," he told her.

He followed the whore to the back of the
alley, where she leaned up against a wall and urged him on.

"Come and get it, big boy," she teased.

Roberto could hardly contain himself as he
rushed towards her. He only noticed at the last moment that she had
picked up something with lightning quick speed and swung it hard at
his head. He felt the impact as his skull cracked, sending him to
his knees. The pain cut through him like a sharp knife. Make that a
dozen sharp knives.

"How does it feel?" she asked him, a
suddenly wicked edge to her voice. Before he could even think past
the pain, much less respond, she struck him again with what he now
suspected was a wooden bat. This time it connected across his back,
smashing into his spine, paralyzing him. "Does it feel good,
asshole?"

She swung the bat like an All Star baseball
player, landing flush against his right cheek, dislodging his jaw
and most of the teeth on that side of his face.

"Isn't this what you like to do to women,
Roberto?" she spat, clubbing him across the top of the head,
crushing his skull. "Well, how about a taste of your own medicine,
you bastard!"

She swung again and again, each blow
shattering another part of him, sending blood, bone, brain, and
body pieces flying everywhere.

By the time she was finished, he was long
dead. But it didn't matter, for she received great satisfaction to
see to it that even in death he would never be whole again. Just
like the lover he had beaten to a pulp.

She tossed the bloodied bat atop the corpse.
Then she removed her wig, gloves, dress, and shoes. She put them in
a duffel bag, slipped on some jeans, a sweater, and tennis shoes,
leaving Roberto Martinez's remains to rot like raw meat.

* * *

JUSTICE SERVED (A Barkley and Parker
Thriller) is now available in eBook through Kindle, Nook, and
iTunes, and in audio from Audible.com, Amazon, and iTunes.

# # #

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

R. Barri Flowers is a bestselling, award
winning author of more than fifty books, including mysteries,
thrillers, romance, young adult, true crime, and criminology.
Recent mystery fiction titles include MURDER IN MAUI: A Leila
Kahana Mystery, DARK STREETS OF WHITECHAPEL: A Jack the Ripper
Mystery, DEAD IN THE ROSE CITY: A Dean Drake Mystery, KILLER IN THE
WOODS, STATE'S EVIDENCE: A Beverly Mendoza Leal Thriller, JUSTICE
SERVED:
A Barkley and Parker Mystery
, and
teen mysteries, DANGER IN TIME and GHOST GIRL IN SHADOW BAY.

Recent true crime titles by the author
include SERIAL KILLER COUPLES, THE SEX SLAVE MURDERS, and MASS
MURDER IN THE SKY: The Bombing of Flight 629.

Mr. Flowers is the recipient of the Wall of
Fame Award from Michigan State University's renowned School of
Criminal Justice. He has appeared on the Biography Channel's
Crime Stories
and Investigation Discovery's
Wicked
Attraction
series.

The author is busy at work on his next
mystery novel, SEDUCED TO KILL IN KAUAI.

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