No Safe Counsel

By Royston Stone

TRIGGER WARNING: Murder, violence, rude language.

Billie Landry had been dealing with haters her whole life. At six-foot-two and 250 pounds, she's never had problems handling herself. In fact, Billie can handle most anything.
Except high-school students. She's never gotten over that kid who committed suicide. So she quit teaching.
These days, she's the state's go-to person for digital forensics. There's no computer, laptop, cell-phone, or digital appliance she can't handle. In her line of work, she has seen it all from grisly murder to the worst child-porn cases imaginable.
So, when a serial murderer is operating in the region, the state calls Billie in to look for "digital breadcrumbs".
She assumes that's what the latest meeting is about. But this time, they're asking her to do something she dreads, something she swore she'd never do again, something which cause her to weep at her lonely kitchen dinette: They want her to return to high school.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Royston Stone
• Release date: Oct 30, 2022
• ISBN: 9798215964705

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Table of Contents

Cover

Title Page

Table of Contents

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Dedication

Chapters:

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

13.

More Books by Roytson Stone

Acknowledgments

About the Author

Copyright page

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No Safe Counsel is only the beginning.

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Dedication

To Evelyn,

who taught literacy.

Thou, Nature, art my goddess; to thy law

My services are bound.

1

October 2011

Billie Landry cocked the walking heels of her boots and settled into the office chair, leather and frame creaking as she eased back. At six-foot-two, pushing two-hundred-fifty pounds, most chairs complained. She did not sit often; the opportunity was to be savored, despite the occasion. She sipped hot black coffee from her travel thermos, untainted by toxic sugar and dairy substitutes of unknown composition.

A man whose belly strained buttons on his white shirt stood to the side of the big plasma screen in the dim room, tie loosened. He’d abandoned attempts to conceal his baldness, his scalp shiny under fluorescent lights. He clicked the remote and continued speaking.

"Of course, this is how they discovered the body in that prior case."

A couple of seated, younger individuals aimed their eyes at the floor. Older investigators stared at the screen.

Billie averted her eyes. Not her typical day at the office. No day was typical. She blew breath and forced herself to look.

As noted in the report, this is how she was found, undergarments and nothing else. Ligature marks turned out to be handcuff bruises. Chafing around the wrists. No indications of sexual assault.

A seated man of about forty raised a hand. "We don’t think the cold case has a sexual component?"

We don’t know, the man at the high-tech lectern said. Can’t rule out anything. We just know… she wasn’t touched.

Someone did more than just touch her, the fellow said. The inquisitive man had thick, dark hair courtesy of obvious hair plugs. Billy pinched her eyes at the sight of the man’s scalp; she popped a tab of sugarless gum into her mouth.

The man at the lectern stared at the questioner. He continued.

"We have no positive connection to the current disappearance. Similar circumstances notwithstanding. We can’t rule out the possibility of a copycat."

How similar? the inquisitive suit asked.

Did you read the report, McKinly?

"I got a middle schooler too, Jefferson. Spent hours this weekend trying to get him to deal with algebra homework. So I didn’t have time to study the report."

"It’s in the goddamned executive summary. The circumstances are too similar for comfort. Now the press is blowing up about the obvious similarities you didn’t read up on. Everyone in the county is looking at every cop as a