Read Death by Trial and Error (A Legal Suspense Short) for Free Online

she wondered why he had not lifted
it and pulled the trigger by now.
    Suddenly all she could think about was that
she wanted to live and see another day. She'd worked too hard to
get what she had for it all to end like this.
    Commanding her mouth to speak, Maxine said in
a desperate whisper, "Please, don't kill me..."
    The man said nothing, but continued to enjoy
his voyeuristic show at her expense, grinning. She wanted to cover
up with the satin sheets, but did not want to provoke him.
    He moved to the side of the bed and she saw
that his mouth had become a scowl. He raised the gun and pointed it
at her.
    "Please," she gasped helplessly. "I don't
want to die."
    "Well, you're gonna die, bitch !" His
words were hollow and menacing.
    Maxine felt she had reached the point of no
return, just as Sheldon had moments earlier. There was apparently
no reasoning with a cold-blooded murderer.
    She squeezed her eyes shut and tried to
imagine how painful death would be.
    Would she even know when she was dead?
    Was Sheldon aware that he had gone to the
other side?
    Would there be the light at the end of the
tunnel or would they both drift off into some horrible abyss,
uncertain as to where or why?
    Then Maxine heard her husband's killer say in
a chilling tone, "But not yet..."
    * * *
    He stared at the good-looking black chick on
the bed. Raven hair in box braids formed a halo around her
frightened face. Pouty lips had suddenly been silenced. Her breasts
and body glistened from sex, and her long, lean legs were still
spread wide as though her old man was still on top of her. He could
only imagine how hard the good judge had to work to satisfy her. On
the other hand, he was younger, hungrier, and definitely
more energetic for the task.
    In truth, it had been a while since he'd had
a woman, at least not one who looked like her. The notion turned
him on like a dam ready to burst. Only he intended to do so inside
the bitch's mouth and vagina. He glanced at the bloody corpse on
the floor, while thinking, There sure as hell ain't nobody gonna
stop me from taking what I want from the lady.
    She certainly couldn't stop him, not even
when he took the gun out of her face.
    Who knows, she might even enjoy what they
were about to do.
    He knew he would. Every lingering moment of
it.
     
    * * *
     
    Read the entire State's Evidence, available
in eBook, print, and audio.
     
    # # #
     

The following is a bonus excerpt from R.
Barri Flowers' bestselling legal thriller
    JUSTICE SERVED: A Barkley and Parker Mystery
     

Prologue
     
    She hid under the bed, carefully controlling
her breathing. She didn't move, not even a twitch. Her pink dress
was dirty from the pine hardwood floor and her pink shoes were
scuffed. The curls of her raven hair billowed around her head like
a halo. She could see their shoes, moving around as if dancing to a
tender love song.
    Only she knew it was no dance.
    And it was no love song.
    She heard the sound of his fist as it smashed
against her mama's cheek. Her mama immediately crumpled to the
floor like a rag doll, dazed and moaning. Blood spilled from a
corner of her swollen mouth like a red stream.
    Her mama's face ballooned, her cheek
shattered from the blow. One eye was swollen shut, protruding like
a golf ball. With her good eye, mother and daughter made eye
contact in a moment of sorrow and sheer terror.
    She wanted to help her mama and save her from
him. But she knew that she would be no match for his brute strength
and drunken rage. In that moment of mental connection, her mama
told her to remain still as the night so that she too would not
face the fists and battering he had inflicted upon her.
    With all of her willpower she closed her eyes
tightly; her instincts telling her nothing would ever be the same
again. Not that she ever wanted things to be.
    Not this way.
    Not with him.
    When her eyes opened, her mama was no longer
on the floor. She had been dragged to her feet and thrown onto the
bed like a sack of soiled