Web of Deception

By T.A. Keel

Detective Samantha Shipley must unravel the clues of a murder that has taken place in the quiet town of East Texas. Young beautiful young women are being targeted. Detective Shipley must get in the mind of this killer before it is to late.

• Language: English
• Publisher: T.A. Keel
• Release date: Dec 9, 2011
• ISBN: 9781465755681

T.A. Keel

I live in Oklahoma with my husband and three kids. I love to read/write. I enjoy cooking and crafting. We live on a farm with cattle, rabbits, chickens, and dogs.

Book preview

Web of Deception

T.A. Keel

This book is a work of Fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Copyright 2011 by T.A. Keel

Published by T.A. Keel

Smashwords Edition

This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away. If you would like to share this with another person, please purchase a copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this and didn’t purchase it, or it was not purchased for your own use, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

I would like to thank first of all my family. Without your help I wouldn’t have been able to take this journey. I love you all. To my Mom thank you for getting me hooked on the scary exciting world of Mystery and Horror novels when I was young. I credit my love of books to you. I miss you so much. Thank you my friend Rose Gordon a gifted Historical Romance novelist and her husband Todd. Without your guidance this journey would not of been possible. Thank you to my characters for taking on a life of your own. You have kept my fingers busy typing with your adventures.

Chapter 1

Emmitt Baker the groundskeeper at the old Hatfield cemetery was just about to settle in for the night in the old cottage, when he thought he saw a light. He waited by the window but never saw it again, so he tossed his beer can in the trash and turned in around 2300.

Just on the other side of the hill near the old pond, he set her body down near the wall of the Mausoleum. He could feel her trying to gasp for some last breaths when he pulled his hands away from her throat. He chuckles to himself, Stupid Bitch. He removes the 10 blade from his pocket; takes his time, he wants his cuts to look perfect.

Samantha Shipley, 5’8 blond hair blue eyes, Detective with East Texas Police Department for two years, just finished her daily run of two miles, she took a hot shower and slipped on her robe. She is enjoying her morning coffee and bagel, while reading the paper. Something she does every morning before work. Her phone begins to ring, here we go probably another salesman, she thought. One of these days she wants to outlaw them from cold calling people. She looks at the caller identification; it is her partner of two years Chris Sampson. Chris has been a detective with the East Texas P.D. for 10 years. Chris is 6’2 sandy blond hair, green eyes. He is a devoted family man. She looked at the time and wondered why he was calling so early. Her stomach dropped, she hoped it had nothing to do with Gwen his wife who was suffering from breast cancer. Chris said, Captain called and wants us to meet him at the old Hatfield cemetery. Old man Baker called and said he found a body this morning by the Mausoleum, he said. They hung up with plans to meet there in twenty minutes.

As she dressed Sami couldn’t help but laugh out loud, Old man Baker must have had a little to much to drink last night, she thought to her self bodies are usually found at the cemetery. She put on her cop uniform, that’s what she likes to call her uniform, of black slacks, black long sleeve shirt, and black boots, it’s very unflattering. Not a lot of murders occur in this quiet area of East Texas. Samantha grabs her stuff and heads out to her Jeep Rubicon, a present she bought herself when she moved to Texas. As she backs out of the driveway she notices her neighbor George Johnson, an Electrician. He is watching her from his garage. He closes the door as she passes by. He gives me the creeps, she says aloud to herself. After she passed by he smiled to him self and heads into his man cave in the garage. His favorite place to be it gets him away from the old lady.

She pulls in the cemetery and immediately sees the tech team working, yellow evidence tape is placed in an area around the Mausoleum, and she realizes this is no joke. She feels a chill and shudders at the thought of what lies behind the yellow tape, she pulls her jacket on and gets out of the Jeep. These kinds of cases are the reason she left California; she had seen her fair share of crime. She spots Captain and Chris Sampson her partner ahead talking and obviously waiting on her. Old man Baker is sitting in a squad car, he seems visibly shaken.

Captain Stacey, 59-year-old veteran of the police force, starts to fill her in on the scene; he seems shaky and is smoking those dang cigars again. Old man Baker said he started his rounds around 0745, when he got to the Mausoleum around 0900 he noticed someone sitting by the wall, he went to see what they were doing and found the body, the call came in at 0915. Captain tells them that the victim was thought to be deceased when the first officer arrived on the scene, however waited for paramedics who pronounced the victim deceased when they arrived. Mr. Baker said, He did not touch the body, he assumed by looking at her she was dead, but was not about to check. Captain told them. He named Samantha lead detective on this case, both her and Chris understood why. Samantha sees the pain in Chris’s face, not for jealousy on her being named lead detective on the case, but issues surrounding his Wife of 7 years Gwen. Gwen is a hairdresser and has a shop inside the garage of their house. Chris had it renovated last year when they decided to move her shop from Main Street. He thought she would be more comfortable near home and if she didn’t feel to good she wouldn’t have far to go to rest in bed. Gwen is going through radiation treatment for her breast cancer, although she has had surgery, and treatment is going well. She does have her days where she just feels awful. Samantha assumes Captain doesn’t wasn’t Chris to have to miss any appointments with Gwen. He knows if it were his wife that he would want to be with her whenever he could, He knows how much family means to Chris. Chris and Gwen have a daughter named Gabrielle she is five years old. Samantha has become like an Aunt to Gabi she loves that girl.

Once the tech team finishes Samantha and Chris move in to examine the scene. Victim is a female early twenties, naked, bruises on her throat, she has cuts to her face in the shape of a heart with a jagged line going down the center, her head has been shaved. Her hands and feet are tied together behind her back so she is sitting on her knees. She has a visible tattoo of an eye on the left side of her abdomen.

An envelope was found lying by the victim underneath a rock. Samantha placed gloves on and went through the contents. A note was inside that said, Beauty is in the EYE of the Beholder Polaroid’s of the victim were also inside. There were shots of the victim, naked in seemingly seductive poses, some of her laughing; she had blond hair and blue eyes. There were also shots of the victim as they found her, deceased. The victim seemed to be comfortable with the killer before he turned on her. Or at least that’s what it looks like from the pictures.

Samantha watched as the medical examiner drove off with the body, she wondered who this girl could be, and why someone would want to kill her. This is the first murder that has taken place since Samantha arrived here two years earlier.

Samantha climbed in her Jeep to head to the station, Chris followed Mr. Baker to the hospital to have his head checked he cut it on a headstone when he fell. Mr. Baker tried to refuse but paramedics on the scene felt he needed to get a CT of his head to rule out any trauma, and they thought he might need a couple of stitches.

Samantha arrived at the station and began to look at some of the photos and get a feel for the crime scene. Looking at all the angles helped her cover all bases of a case. It’s a method she has used in the past. Samantha was getting a cup of coffee when Chris arrived. How is Mr. Baker feeling? she asked him He had a small cut that required six stitches; he will be fine Chris said. He will be in around two for his statement. They began to hang up items on a board in the evidence room. They hung the pictures, and the note from the killer. Samantha studied the note again.

Beauty is in the EYE of the Beholder what does this mean she thought? Such simple words, they mean beauty is not skin deep. But what does this have to do with the victim? She was beautiful until he got a hold of her face, the way he carved her face, was meant to make her look ugly, thought Samantha.

Mr. Baker arrived for his statement. He seemed pale, Samantha thought. To her he looked like he was in shock. I know I would be she thought. How are you feeling Mr. Baker, Samantha asked? A little shaky still he said. We will make this brief Mr. Baker, Chris said. As they talked Samantha wrote a profile of Mr. Baker down as she does for all of her witness statements, so she wouldn’t forget anything. It was usually her first priority. It gives her a way to get a feel for the witness. Mr. Emmit Baker, 63 year old security guard of Hatfield cemetery, grey hair brown eyes, 5’9 smells of cigarette smoke and bad aftershave, dressed in a uniform for the cemetery. He is tall and thin, kind of quiet.

For the record where do you live Mr. Baker she asked? I live at the Hatfield cemetery out in the back in the old cottage, he said. I stay there 7 days a week. I do maintenance and security for the cemetery as well as groundskeeper, Mr. Baker said. What is your former line of work, Mr. Baker Samantha asked. I am a retired Sheriff from El Paso, he said. Do you carry a weapon on you, she asked. I am licensed to carry; however I usually leave my gun in the cottage, he said. Maybe from now on I won’t, he thought to himself. I was getting ready to turn in around 2300 and was about to close the blind on the window. I thought I saw some kind of light or flash out by the Mausoleum, I waited to see if there was another one, there wasn’t so I turned in and went right to sleep, he said. Were you drinking Mr. Baker, Samantha asked? Yes I had 3 beers after dinner around 9 or so, but I wasn’t drunk, he said. I just figured I had seen a flash from lights out on the road of a car passing by, or maybe lightening, he said. Its not uncommon to see cars pull into the gate, sometimes they turn around when they see the gates closed, some come on in, if I see a car, I usually make another round to make sure they are here for the right reasons. It usually winds up being kids up to no good and I send them on their way, he said. What time did you start your rounds in the morning Mr. Baker, Sami asked? I got up around 0700 made coffee and a small breakfast. I got outside around 0745. Opened the gates for the visitors and made a list of what needs to be done, he said. How did the killer get in with the victim if the gates were closed, Samantha asked? Mr. Baker