Twist the Knife

By Ann Savage

A serial killer is on a rampage in San Francisco, killing prostitutes and homeless people. Detective Pearson is battling depression and is the wrong man to be on the case...The only ray of light in his life is his girlfriend, Dr. Leila Maxwell...but when her drug addicted sister goes missing, Pearson feels the pressure to find the killer before it is too late.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Trellis Publishing
• Release date: Jul 5, 2021
• ISBN: 9798201583583

Book preview

Prologue

She’s young and has the kind of petite body that would forever make her seem more youthful than she really was. I noticed that about small women, say five foot two and under. They always looked younger than their actual age. This girl, I've seen before. She  could not pull off the tough, tank girl look to save her life. Literally. She looked too young.  Too young to be homeless at any rate. Far too young to be selling herself for food and cigarettes.

Her round face is angelic, eyes closed in rest as she lies on the ground, huddled up against the wall of some medical building. The blanket she has draped over her body would usually be too warm for this time of year, but we’ve had a cold snap the last few days, so you can’t really see the sinfully tight skirt and barely there tank top that she’s wearing underneath it. Her sneakers stick out at the edge and her backpack is like a hump on her back.

She’s perfect in every way imaginable. Well, almost.

The mascara and eyeliner on her face is smudged, making her look somewhat like a raccoon and her lipstick is spread too wide around her lips, making them look too big and completely unnatural. Her hair is like a puffy halo around her head; big and blonde and hardened with hairspray. It’s a wonder how she manages to sleep like this.

As I step towards her, my foot taps something that makes a tinkling sound, reverberating throughout the darkened alley. I look down and frown at the beer bottles on the ground. Well, that explains her restful slumber. I shake my head. This poor little girl; living in sin and poverty and there’s absolutely nothing she can do about it.

But I can.

I can absolve her of all her sins, forgive her trespasses and bless her, before I send her back up to her maker. I can give her exactly what she deserves, exactly what she needs. I can make her life mean something. And I will. I can help her in a way that her parents never did. I wish she were sober so we could talk. The trajectories that some girl's lives take always fascinated me. How did she go wrong? At what point did her life take a turn?

In another life she would be sitting in a college dorm uploading pics on Instagram. Or in another time she would be a farmer's daughter, walking through a tobacco or cotton field on a humid morning on the way to church.

But not in this life. No, in this life, she is here. And so am I.

I watch my feet this time as I make my way towards her, a damp cloth in one hand and a bag in the other. No more beer bottles clink as I step towards her. Not even a rat scurries back as I kneel, slowly and gently, down next to her so that my knees brush against her chest. She doesn’t even stir.

I pause