Out For Justice (24 page)

Epilogue

“To Sam!” Karen lifted her glass and toasted the man sitting in his favorite recliner enjoying all of the attention.

Echoes of “To Sam” were heard from those standing in groups in Sam’s living room. After the well wishes quieted down, Sam took a drink from his glass then put it down on the end table next to his chair. “Wait a minute, wait a minute,” he said loudly. “When will we be celebrating something for you two?”

Karen leaned back into Mike’s arms and whispered into his ear. Mike nodded and smiled. Karen lifted her left hand and showed it to the room. “You’re all invited to the wedding,” she said with a big grin on her face.

Karen smiled at those who wished her good luck and congratulated her on her engagement. Leaving Mike to talk to all those who crowded to their side, she carefully made her way through the throng of people to the side of Sam’s chair and knelt down to talk to him.

“This is your day, Sam. You shouldn’t have got them started on us.”

“Why not? This isn’t just my retirement party. It’s about moving on. Moving forward. And that means you.” Sam made a motion with his hand. “You, ‘Ms. Accommodation for capturing a serial killer wanted in three southern states’.”

Karen blushed. “I was just doing my job.” She shrugged. “I don’t know. It just feels weird moving on without you. You’re my partner. I really never thought I needed help, but now I know we’re all a team. I’m going to miss you.”

“We haven’t really worked together in more than nine months. What with me going to physical therapy every week and you working with Hendricks. Hendricks is working out okay, isn’t he?”

“Oh, yeah. Hendricks is great. He’s like you in a lot of ways. But it’s just not the same, Sam.”

“He helped you work through your first homicide case, right?”

“Yeah. We got Maggie Morris on murder one for the death of Ray Thomas. We had her DNA in the hiking boots that matched the print found on the causeway, and of course, it was your blood on the boots that nailed it for assault on you. Then we got her for murder two for the Hunt boy. She’s pleading insanity and looks like she'll have a good case considering the number of years she lived in Georgia's state psychiatric hospitals before she escaped, so the lawyers and State Attorney’s office will have all that to work out. I’ll leave it all up to them and just say my piece when they call me into court.”

“You’re going to do okay, Karen. You have what it takes to make a great detective. I should know. I trained you.” Sam laughed.

“Thanks, Sam.”

“Did you get in touch with the Hunt family and let them know what happened?”

“I didn’t have to actually. I got a call from Mrs. Hunt letting me know her new address and telephone number in case we had any new information. I was able to give her the good news myself.” Karen shifted her weight. “Did you know she’s left her husband? I knew there wasn’t something right between the two of them. She’s divorcing him and has started a new life with her girls. I’m glad for her actually. It took a lot of courage and strength for her to leave an abusive relationship. She sounds like a whole new person.”

“See, moving on and moving forward.”

“I guess so.”

“What?”

“I always thought my first homicide case was about finding justice. That I had to do it on my own. But it was more than that. It was about justice and working as a team.” Karen held Sam’s hand. “I wanted to find justice to prove that I could do it on my own. That my parents would somehow see what I’ve done and forgive me after all these years.”

“But?”

“I talked to them. They said they never blamed me. I guess it was my own guilt that kept me from believing that. We cried a bit, then they said they were proud of me.”

“And that was good, right?”

“Yeah. I learned a lot. I think I’ve become a better detective for it. And I’ve forgiven myself for what happened to my sister.”

“I know you’ve learned quite a bit. I’m proud of you as well.”

“Thanks.”

“Now, go back to that man of yours and enjoy the party. Don’t be sitting here with the old man all night.”

Karen leaned over and kissed Sam on the cheek. She stood up and looked over at Mike. He caught her gaze and smiled. Karen smiled back. Life had a funny way of working out. There she’d been, bemoaning the lack of a personal relationship in her life and now, thanks to one persistent crime scene tech who moonlighted as a fairy godmother, she couldn’t be happier.

Acknowledgements

Writing a book takes a lot of hard work and research. I wouldn’t have been able to accomplish my part in this endeavor if it weren’t for the hard work and dedication of those experts who gave of their time to help me.

Thank you to Sarah-Jane Lehoux, my editor at Mundania Press, LLC for helping me with the details of getting this story grammatically correct and consistent. And to all the other production team members, I say a great big THANK YOU!

The wonderfully informative people working at the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office exchanged countless e-mails with me answering all of my questions. Specifically, I’d like to thank Lt. Rod Reder the HCSO Public Information Officer at the time I was doing my research and Lt. JR Burton. Thank you very much for taking the time to talk to me and helping me develop my crime sense and realistic crime scenes.

I’d like to thank Dr. M.J. Price for helping me with the Crime Scene Technician aspect of my story. The information she provided helped me present realism and practicality.

I’d also like to thank Special Agent John F. McDonald of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) for his insight and knowledge.

As for the sports and running technology, I must thank Bryan Prushinski. Without his invaluable expertise, I wouldn’t have understood the running philosophy.

Of course, I’d be nowhere if it weren’t for the caring helpful staff of The Spring Women’s Domestic Abuse Shelter. They provide a wealth of information for women in need.

All of these experts gave their knowledge and time to help me with my story, however, if anything is out of character or wrong in anyway, I take full responsibility for the error or omission.

About the Author

Award winning author, Vicki M. Taylor writes dramatic stories with strong women as her main characters. A prolific writer of both novel length and short stories, she brings her characters to life in the real world.

When she's not writing, you can find her lurking about the many writing boards dispensing and receiving little pearls of wisdom from her computer in Tampa, Florida where she lives with her husband their dog, Jack and their parrot, Bailey. To find out more about Vicki and her writing, visit her website at http://www.vickimtaylor.com

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