UnCovered: A Daughter Dead, A Father Condemned

By Matthew Leighton

A Jason Hemlock Series Uncovered

When the daughter of Jason Hemlock is mysteriously murdered, he will stop at nothing to find the person responsible. However, it is tough to do that when you are the police's only suspect. Is Jason guilty? Or was his daughter collateral damage of a conspiracy that goes deeper than anyone can ever imagine?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Page Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Feb 23, 2023
• ISBN: 9798886549522

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UnCovered

A Daughter Dead, A Father Condemned

Matthew Leighton

Copyright © 2023 Matthew Leighton

All rights reserved

First Edition

PAGE PUBLISHING

Conneaut Lake, PA

First originally published by Page Publishing 2023

ISBN 979-8-88654-937-9 (pbk)

ISBN 979-8-88654-952-2 (digital)

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Acknowledgment

Prologue

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

26

27

28

29

30

31

32

33

34

35

36

37

38

39

40

41

42

43

44

45

46

47

48

49

Epilogue

About the Author

Acknowledgment

I want to give a special thanks to my wife for always supporting me and my dreams and pushing me to succeed in all my endeavors. I also want to thank my entire team at Community Records Inc. for being in my corner and working so hard to help grow our company and brand. I want to thank God and my mom for giving me life and guidance. I want to thank my sister and children for being my biggest fans. I also want to thank my best friend for always keeping me humble. Last but not least, I want to thank my graphic designer, Killumbia Graphics, for taking care of all my artwork for this project.

Prologue

Heather Bandini always enjoyed a nice wintery hike in the Rockies. The beautiful winters and year-round snowcapped mountains were the biggest reasons she moved to Colorado. She tried to hike once a day for at least an hour or two. However, once a week, she liked to tackle a six- to seven-hour hike.

Heather was a very beautiful young woman in her midtwenties. She had long blond hair that went all the way down to the middle of her back. Her hair was normally in a ponytail when she hiked, and it swayed back and forth as she walked, practically dancing across her shoulders with every stride. She wore yoga pants, white T-shirt, and a light zip-up sweatshirt. Her skin was so smooth and tight, with tattoo-covered arms that artistically stretch from her wrists to her shoulders. She was so fit and slim with little to no stretch marks that unless she told you, you would never know she has a seven-year-old daughter.

It was quite cold outside, but her constant movement as she hiked kept her core temperature up. She started her long hikes early in the morning, but her busy schedule delayed her hike till about noon this time. If she played her cards right and hiked at a brisk pace, she should be back to her vehicle before dark. At least she hoped so.

Heather made it back to her car right as the sun was going down. However, it was now starting to snow. I hope the snow does not get much worse than this, she thought as she started her car. The air was cold and thin as the sun started to disappear over the horizon. Snow was falling slowly on the already snowy mountain. The Rockies were always beautiful, especially this time of year.

As she drove down the mountain, the snow started falling harder to the point that she could not see more than three feet past her hood. The only thing she could see was the beam from her headlights striking the snowflakes as they passed through the yellow lights. These roads were already slick due to the snow and ice that already covered the roads, and the new wet snow falling faster with every passing minute only made it slicker. Her windshield wipers were at full speed to no avail, and the snow was now falling faster than her wipers could wipe.

This was a bad idea to drive in this mess, she thought as she decided she would pull over and wait out the snow. However, you cannot just stop on these steep and narrow roads. She remembered that there was a pull-off area about a mile ahead, and it would be the safest place to wait out the storm.

She was about two hundred feet from the pull-off area when a young doe hopped out in front of her. Without even thinking about how slick the roads were, her reflexes made her slam on the breaks. The ice, snow, and momentum now controlled her four-thousand-pound vehicle as it slammed into the back end of the animal.

The only thing she could think of as she spun out of control was her daughter. Images of her daughter flashed through her mind as her car spun about four times before it flew off the side of the mountain, like a flightless bird. The car came to a crashing stop about a hundred feet down the cliff into a tree. It violently shook the tree, dumping the snow caught on its leaves, like a mini avalanche, onto the crumbled vehicle.

It was eerily quiet as the snow began to fall harder. This storm turned into a full blizzard that was burying her car by the minute. Inch by inch, the snow blended the car into the mountainside. The only thing that was visible through the whiteness of the blizzard were her headlights that were still on, and they slowly dimmed and flickered out as the hours went by.

Three hours after she was supposed to pick up her daughter, the babysitter began to worry. The babysitter looked out the window every minute or so, and every time she heard a sound, she hoped it was Heather. The next morning, the babysitter called the police, stating that she was babysitting Heather's daughter and that Heather never returned home from her hike the day before.

Police and rescuers immediately dispatched a rescue party up the mountain to find Heather. After searching for two days, Heather and her car were found. It took rescuers three hours to dig the snow from her car door so that they could free her lifeless body. She was pronounced dead at the scene, and EMS said she probably died on impact.

Ten years later…

Jason's plane landed in Trenton, New Jersey. He hated traveling on the weekends without his daughter, especially after she lost her mom ten years ago. But this was business, so he did not have much of a choice. He had to make money to support his daughter. She was all he had in this world. He grabbed his luggage from baggage claim and headed straight to the rental car agency to pick up a car for the next couple of days.

The night was dark and motionless, with not even a light breeze, and it had been raining most of the evening. Jason wanted to get out of the hotel room for a while, so he decided to hit up a few strip clubs or maybe even a casino or two.

When he arrived at the Pink Flamingo Gentlemen's Lounge, the parking lot was full, so he decided to pull up to the front door and let the valet take care of parking his midsized rental car. As he pulled up, the music was so loud. He could hear the beat of the speakers before he even opened the door to the club.

Jason was a great man and an excellent father; however, women were his downfall. He loved the ladies. He knew how he was, so he only brought the money he was willing to spend. The rest he left in his hotel room. He knew that if he brought it all, he would spend it all. The money he brought with him would be enough for drinks, dances, tips, and maybe even a happy ending.

Jason walked into the poorly lit and windowless club. The music was loud with cheesy smoke machines and colorful strobe lights that flickered across the stage as a girl named Jasmine shook her ass in a very tiny pair of thongs. She danced around the pole in the middle of the stage. Her thong was fluorescent green, so it had an extra glow to it when the club's strobe lights hit it. The thong was the only thing she was wearing besides too much lotion and perfume. She leaned her back against the pole as she slowly slid down, locking eyes with Jason and giving him what he referred to as a seductive, come fuck me smile. Jasmine grabbed her breast and lifted one of them, showing the crowd, especially Jason, that she could lick her own nipple. She danced around a little longer, shaking, twerking, and teasing the crowd, basically doing anything she could do to increase her tips.

After the song was over, Jasmine walked off the stage and headed for the dressing rooms, not before coming over to where Jason was sitting. She gave him a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

It's been a long time, Jason! Where have you been? Let me put my titties away, freshen up, and I'll come sit with you before my next set, Jasmine said before turning to continue toward the dressing room.

As the night went on, his wallet was getting thinner. The ladies here were very beautiful, very naked, and very drunk.

Maybe I should hit up a casino or two in Atlantic City before I go back to Colorado, he said to Jasmine, who was grinding on his lap, giving him his last dance of the evening.

If you do let me know, I know a few girls there that would love to have some fun tonight, she replied as she started putting her clothes back on.

The only thing he knew for sure was that he was going to have one more drink before the bartender announced last call.

1

It was a quiet September night in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The only movement was the light breeze shaking a few colorful leaves off nearby trees in Brighton Park. Autumn was in full swing, and the trees were painted with multicolor leaves, letting us know that summer was officially over. Most yards in the area were already covered with fallen leaves, some of which were raked into nice leave piles scattered across the grass.

His window was halfway down, and you could practically smell the autumn season in the crisp September air. This is my favorite season, he thought as the light turned green and he made a left-hand turn, trying to follow the printed-out direction of the known location of the person he was looking for. He printed the directions from the local library earlier that day. He knew better than to use a GPS, marking his location like a blueprint for police to follow.

The clouds were starting to roll in thicker, and the wind was slowly dying, making the night a little darker and a little stiller. She has got to be around here somewhere, he thought as he continued to prowl like a lion on the hunt.

He drove up and down the dark streets, heading to an area that was well-known for prostitutes. He was confident that if he could not find her on the streets, he would be able to find her in one of the nearby casinos. He was on a mini vacation with his wife for just a couple of days. He left his wife in the hotel as he went out to get into his evening's extracurricular activities. This was not the first time he went looking for a prostitute. However, this time was for a different reason. He had a job to do. He was happy that when the call came in, he was already in Atlantic City. He did not like to mix business with pleasure, but since he was already there, he would rather handle it tonight instead of coming back.

He was a strong and rigid man of about thirty-three years old. He stood about six feet and two inches, and he was very muscular with a nice tan. He was normally clean-shaven; however, he had a five-o'clock shadow that was prickling across his face like coarse sandpaper. He was dressed in all black—black jeans, black sneakers, and an all-black T-shirt that was so tight against his muscular body that the shirt looked painted on. He was cruising the Atlantic City streets in his midsize rental car.

At last, he found her, the girl he was looking for. He double-checked by pulling out the picture he was sent to make sure it was the right hooker. She was a beautiful blonde woman wearing only a white halter top and a black skirt. The skirt was so short that as she walked, her nice round ass cheeks were playing peekaboo from under her skirt with every step. When he saw her, she had just stepped out of an old beat-up pickup truck.

Surely, the driver was a John who was dropping her off after conducting their business, he thought.

He drove toward her and the curb she was standing on in her six-inch stilettos. She seductively walked up to his rental car.

Are you looking for a good time? the beautiful prostitute said in the sexiest voice she could muster. This was a rhetorical question because she already knew the answer. He nodded without saying a word, so she smiled and stepped into his rental car.

The blonde woman looked this man up and down very happily because he looked a lot better than most of the Johns trolling these streets for dates. She asked him, What are you looking for tonight, baby?

Everything, he quickly snapped.

Okay. It will be $150, she informed without hesitation.

No problem, he said as he pulled down a dark alley about six blocks from where he picked her up.

She said to him, Let's get down to business as she started hiking up her already short skirt, revealing that she was not wearing any panties. The man started reaching for what she believed to be his wallet. However, it was a very shiny .44 Magnum revolver, which he pointed directly to her head. He angrily said, Yes, let's get down to business!

She gasped out of fear and quickly tried to open the door to escape. He was too fast for her; he grabbed her arm and pulled her into his swing as he hit her in the side of her temple with his very heavy gun. She was knocked unconscious, still alive, for now at least. But she was bleeding all over the front seat of his rental car.

2

The morning was cold, and the clouds blocked the sun from warming up the ground. So even at ten o'clock in the morning, there was still dew on the grass and on the rental car's windows. The dew on the grass was mostly undisturbed, besides the footprints left by the rigid