The Web

By Stephen Wasylyk

When a woman is found dead in her home, Sheriff Ben Bennis suspects foul play by her abusive husband. But with no evidence to hold him, Ben must dig deeper into the dark secrets behind the town's polished facades. As he investigates, a tangled web of deceit and betrayal is uncovered, centered around the alluring Laura Deveraux. Ben races to stop Laura before she ensnares another victim, but she proves to be a cunning adversary.

This gripping tale full of twists will keep you guessing until the climactic confrontation where Laura's own web tightens around her. Can Ben defeat this black widow before she strikes again?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Wildside Press
• Release date: Nov 22, 2023
• ISBN: 9781667603216

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COPYRIGHT INFORMATION

THE WEB, by Stephen Wasylyk

COPYRIGHT INFORMATION

Copyright © 1997 by Stephen Wasylyk.

Originally published in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, November 1997.

Published by Wildside Press LLC.

wildsidepress.com | bcmystery.com

THE WEB,

by Stephen Wasylyk

At the fifth chirp of the phone, Ben Bennis aimed a glare in the general direction of the ladies’ room.

Elizabeth, the emaciated ambulatory fashion statement hired to answer sheriff s department calls, was undoubtedly admiring—for the tenth time that morning—the latest cutting-edge dye-and-perm creation by the salon where she spent a great deal of her time and more of her money.

Leo beat him to the phone, listened, glanced over, and traced 1032 in the air with a forefinger.

Ominous numbers. He’d thought he’d settled matters at that address once and for all.

Already moving, Leo said, Laura Deveraux. She found Marie Halstead dead. Let’s go, Amato.

Ben waved Amato back to his desk. "I’ll go. I need the fresh air. Exactly what did she say, Leo?’

It appears as though Marie died in her sleep.

Outside, Leo paused before opening the door of the cruiser. Laura went over there every morning after she saw Albert leave for his morning run. Nurse wasn’t due for another hour, and Marie might need something. If she was dead before Albert left, he should have known it. What kind of man goes jogging without first checking on a sick wife?

Rhetorical question. A wife-beater seldom becomes kind and considerate after his wife suffers a heart attack.

* * * *

The Halstead and Deveraux