Death Squad: Part One - Secrets & Lies

By Lee Atterbury

Bison, Wyoming used to be a sleepy little town. The kind where a fender-bender was big news. Which is exactly why Deputy Jim Taylor moved there in the first place. All he’d wanted was peace, quiet, solitude and plenty of room to ride his horse Buck in the wilderness surrounding the mountains he loved.

The peace, quiet and solitude he was looking for went out the window when he found the first dead body. Now, five years have passed, that one death set off an avalanche of killings and the man who was looking forward to retirement has acquired the title of Deputy and a whole lot of media attention. Seems everybody wants to know what it’s like to be part of the sheriff’s “death squad.” What’s it like? Take the word “unexpected” and add “nightmare.”

Just when he thinks things can’t get worse, an FBI agent shows up who’s determined to stick around until she finds out why the one thing each death has in common is that Deputy Jim Taylor is involved. Could he be a highly-sanctioned serial killer? And suddenly, Jim and his horse, Buck, discover the media is the least of their worries.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lee Atterbury
• Release date: Jan 18, 2018
• ISBN: 9781370416424

Lee Atterbury

About the Author: Lee R. Atterbury is a trial lawyer in Middleton, WI. He lives with his wife and nine horses. He is working on two other novels featuring Jim Taylor and Buck.

Book preview

Death Squad

The Face of a Killer

Part One: Secrets & Lies

Lee Atterbury

Copyright 2018 by the author of this book, Lee Atterbury.

All rights reserved.

The book’s author retains sole copyright to his contributions to this book.

No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means – electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, scanning, or other – except for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles, without the prior written permission of the author.

This is a work of absolute fiction. Names, characters, incidents and many places are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, to real names, places or events is entirely coincidental.

Cover photo credit by John Lindsay.

Cover design by Kristin Erickson.

Other Jim and Buck books may be purchased online and at www.LeeAtterbury.com

Solitude Showdown

Meeteetse Massacre

Crazy Woman

Big Fracking Mess

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Acknowledgments

Once again this book would never have happened without Sally’s constant encouragement and criticism. Many others deserve my thanks.

Bob Sundeen for being the best wilderness guide and outfitter.

Jill Wiggen, my long suffering legal assistant, and Alison Heise, who pitched in when Jill was ready to kill me.

My readers, Laurie Hauptli and Elaine Atkinson.

Kim and Greg of Russet Stables for showing me what a reining horse can really do.

Howard Ketover, DVM for equine savvy.

Diane Kalscheur for her insight into horse psychology.

Michael Walsh, DO for medical wisdom.

And last but certainly not least, Nick, a better horse no man could ask for.

Dedication

To Sally

For never letting me quit

Death Squad

The man sat at a desk in the stark white room. The sound of the printer masked the traffic noise from the street three stories below. He rose, a sheaf of paper in his hand. He had printed all the stories. Photos had been hard to find. He had finally found a grainy shot of them standing in a parking lot outside a cinderblock building. He cut it out, trimmed it, and pinned it to the wall. He stood back, stared at them, and spoke directly at them.

I’m coming for you. The others had been wonderful releases. He craved another. He started to hum in anticipation. Felt a tingle in his crotch and grinned.

A cop like you took my Gina – my lover – from me, killed her, crippled me. You must die. Killing your kind is the only thing that can heal me.

He looked at the gallery of photos he had taken as souvenirs. He reached inside his pants and sighed. Just a tingle, nothing more. Soon, soon, he promised the man and woman in the picture on his wall. His humming grew louder.

Chapter One

A hot wind blew across the rangeland swirling dust through the dry grass and cactus. The scent of sage mixed with a whiff of dried manure. The men faced each other under the noon day sun.

Stop right there. Get away from the gate.

Sir, hear me out. You are Deputy James Taylor, aren’t you?

Doesn’t matter who I am. You’re on private property. Turn around and leave. Take your photographer with you. He raised the shotgun. The top of his head was on fire. The heat radiated through his skull and his vision blurred. He had to squint to see clearly. He was so fed up with reporters intruding with their offers and questions. It was taking all his will power not to shoot this one. He’d reached his limit.

"Wait, wait. Wait. I’m