Murder in Limestone County, Book Two

By Robert D. Coleman

Limestone County Sheriff John Carter lives a great life. A well- respected, two-term sheriff, a loving wife, Carolyn, and two teenaged twins, Tom and Becky. Everything seems to be going his way until a mysterious former Navy Seal comes to town and leaves a bloody trail of murders. As the pressure mounts from city and county leaders, Carter follows the few leads he has. Putting the pieces together, he tries to stop a killer who seems to always be one step ahead.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Robert D. Coleman
• Release date: May 4, 2019
• ISBN: 9781370458059

Robert D. Coleman

Hi, my name is Robert Coleman. I was born in Waxahachie, Texas and spent the first 10 years of my life there. My family then moved to Irving, Texas where I graduated from MacArthur High School. I have been blessed with two amazing sons that I am very proud of. I have also been blessed with two grandsons that I love dearly. For the last 25 years, I have lived in Groesbeck, Texas. That area has become the center of my fictional books. I was always blessed with a great imagination. My teachers said I was a daydreamer in class. I could always come up with great stories in my head. My problem was always getting it on paper. I sometimes struggle with the English language. (I suspect I am dyslexic.) I was always too embarrassed to show anybody my work until I met a wonderful woman, who also happens to be a writing teacher. I reluctantly showed her one of my books. She read it and told me that the story was the hard part. Spelling and Grammer could be fixed. With her encouragement, I started reworking some of my stories and making new ones. Now 20 years after I put my first story on paper and almost 4 years after I started the rewrites, I have Murder and the Cold Case. I am very proud of it! I have another one almost ready (you can preorder it now), first drafts on 7 more, and several ideas for even more. So I hope this is the first of many. So thank you, Laura. Without your help and encouragement, this could have never happened.

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MURDER in LIMESTONE COUNTY

Robert D. Coleman

Copyright ©2019 by Robert D. Coleman

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. Please do not participate in or encourage the piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.

CONTENTS

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

CHAPTER 1

Jake Slone woke up early like he did every day. His days as a Navy Seal had trained him to do that. But he had not had a reason to get up early for the last 8 months. Not since he had gotten home from that last job in Afghanistan. But he didn’t want to think about how badly that job had gone. His life changed that day.

He got up and went into the bathroom. Looking into the mirror he didn’t like what he was seeing. His dark hair was longer almost half-covering his ear. His dark mustache needed trimming badly. A week's worth of beard had filled in around the goatee he normally wore. He has also lost weight. He was down to 208# down from his normal 230#. He looked thin on his 6 foot 2-inch frame.

He shaved and trimmed everything up. He then jumped in the shower and cleaned up. Getting dressed in jeans and a blue tee-shirt. As he was pulling on his boots. He heard his mother call. Jake you up? Coffee is ready

Walking into the kitchen. He opened the cabinet and got down his cup. It was a blue cup with the words world’s greatest dad on the side. He smiles as he remembered the father’s day his little girl Michelle had given it to him. She was not little anymore. Almost 10.

He poured himself a cup and walked down the hall toward the back door leading to the porch. He stopped and peeked into Michelle’s room. She was still sleeping and would be for some time if he knew her.

He walked outside onto the porch and put his coffee down on a table and pulled up a chair and sat down. He then looked over at his mother who was already drinking her coffee on the porch. Morning Mom, he said. She smiled back at him and said. Good morning. You sleep well? He looks away from her and says. No not really I didn’t think so she said. I heard you up several times last night. What’s bothering you son? Well, Mom, he says. I’m meeting with somebody this morning about going back to work. She turned and looked at him with a surprised look on her face. Are you sure you're ready for that? No, he says. But I know we need the money. She then takes a sip of her coffee and looks back over at him. How long will you be gone? Leaving the country? She asks. No not this time. I ask to keep this one as close to home. So I should be able to get home every few weeks. That will be good. She said, Michelle needs you here as much as you can. I know Mom. I will tell her as soon as I know anything for sure.

He sat there and finished his coffee for about 30 minutes. Looking at his watch he saw it was almost 7 am. He was meeting his contact at 8 am, so he better get a move on. He liked to be early. Walking back into the house, he grabbed his keys and hat and told his Mom he would be back in a little bit. He started toward the door and then turned around and walked back to his room. He pulled open the top drawer. Inside he saw his 9mm handgun. He took a long look at it. He had not touched it for the 8 months he had been home. He picked it up and checked the clip and put it under his belt behind his back and made sure his shirt covered it.

He then turned and left the room and walked out of the house. Once outside he got into a white Ford cargo van. He then started the drive into Tulsa, Oklahoma. His family had lived in and around Tulsa all his life. Until 8 months ago he had not been home for several years.

He drove to Jefferson Park on the east side of town. He parked the van, got out and walked to a park table and sat down where he could see cars coming into the park. Not many people were there and that was a good thing.

He saw a black car, drive into the park, past him and stop. A man got out, put some sunglasses on and looked over at him. He walked toward a secluded part of the park and sat down on a park bench. Slone got up and walked toward him. He sat down on the other end of the bench. The man was not anybody that he knew. That kind of bothered him. He reached behind him and felt for the butt of his gun just so he could get to it quickly if he had to.

About that time the man looks over at him and says. You must be Slone? Slone slowly turns his head and says. Who wants to know? That’s not important. He said. I have something for you. He reaches inside his briefcase and pulls out a large envelope and a cell phone and hands it to Slone. The man then stands up. He looks over at Slone and says. If you’re interested call the number inside. If not, return all contents to the address inside. The man then turns and walks off.

Slone then watched the man drive off and then got up and walked back to the table next to the van. He sat down and looked at the envelope. He pulled out his knife and broke the seal on it. Inside he pulled out several pieces of paper. The top page was a list of names and addresses of 14 people. The other pages were pictures and info on all 14 people. All of the people lived in and around Groesbeck, Texas in Limestone County. There was a smaller envelope inside. When he opened it up. He found $2,000 dollars in 100 dollar bills and a note. The note said: $2,000 dollars advance money, $30,000 each. Slone put the money in his pocket and the pages back into the envelope.

He then took out the phone the man had given him. There was one number programmed into the phone. He looked at the phone for a long time and then looked away. This was a huge job. He really didn’t want to do it. But he desperately needed the money. There was no way for him to get the money any other way.

He hit the call button on the phone. After several rings. A man answered hello Slone then paused for a second. Then said. I’m in. The man on the other in said. Good proceed to the first target. The phone then went dead.

*

The next morning Slone got up early at 4:30 am. He had said his goodbye’s to his mother and Michelle last night. Michelle had taken it hard. She didn’t want him to go. He had told her he wouldn’t be gone long this time.

He loaded the cargo van with everything he might need. He pulled out at 5 am and drove the 354 miles to Groesbeck in central Texas. Stopping only for gas, it took him a little under 6 hours.

The town was small, less than 4500 people. He was surprised to find that they had 3 motels. He drove to the post office and opened a P.O. box. He then drove to the Day’s Inn on the edge of town and checked in.

He rested for a few hours then got up and took the envelope out of his briefcase. He spread the names and pictures on the table. The first name on the list was James Johnson. He was 55 years old, 6 foot tall with gray hair. He lived several miles outside of town.

Later that afternoon he drove out and found the man’s house. It was a house sitting way back off the road. Woods surrounded the house. He could watch without being seen.

Slone then turned the van around and headed back into town. He would get started in the morning. This was a big job, the biggest one