Read It Takes a Killer for Free Online

Bart since elementary school—there was no love lost between them.  “The police have a person of interest but they do not wish to identify them at this time.  Witnesses say Bart was found with a purse, as well as multiple wallets.  More will—”
    The television flickered off.
    “I was watching that,” Hannah stated, not looking away from the black screen.
    “Bart Tompkins robbed you,” Jonathan stated back.  Hannah knew that if she looked over his eyes would also be on the television.
    “I didn’t want him to get into trouble,” she replied.
    “I suppose that’s your purse that was found,” Jonathan said quietly.  It was more to himself than to her.
    “I’m probably the person of interest, too.”  Hannah clenched her hands into fists, heart rate picking up.  Of all the things for Bart to do before he died, he just had to mug her.  He just had to steal her purse, with her identification in it, and smack her in the face to get her blood all over him.  She muttered, “Prick.”
    “You should head to the station,” Jonathan suggested, turning to her.  She faced him as she stood.  “Tell them you know it was him that mugged you.”
    Hannah gave him a nod, no intention of doing so.  If they were going to drag her name through the mud, call her a killer some more and accuse her of doing it on purpose this time…she wasn’t going to make their investigation easier.
    When Hannah went to the front door she couldn’t help but look down the hallway to the kitchen, and through the thin screen door that led to where her mother sat.  A shadow stretched across the back porch, gently swinging back and forth—the only sign that her mother was there.  Hannah turned back to the door and left quickly, not waiting to hear if her father was going to lock it behind her.  Not waiting to hear if he was going to put the chain over it.
    She knew he would.
    She knew that was the only way her mother was going to feel safe in that house again and what she had done.
     
    Hannah didn’t have to go to the station to find the police; they were already at her apartment.  But rather than hold a light over her head or haul her into an interrogation room, they simple asked about her relationship with Bart.  She’d reported the second mugging but left out the gritty details. 
    “I saw on the news,” Hannah said.  Despite growing up with Bart, she couldn’t muster up any tears for him.  She wasn’t even that sad he was dead—he was kind of a jerk.  Still, she looked to her feet, finding herself loyal to the boy she once knew.  “Pastor Tompkins must be devastated.”
    The officer nodded.  “Do you have any idea why Bart would be robbing people?”
    Hannah shook her head, letting her hair fall over her shoulders.  “I know he did a little breaking and entering in high school but he never took anything.”  She gave a low chuckle.  “He just liked to watch TV and eat chips.”
    That made the officer smile.  Hannah gave her a sad smile back.  “I don’t know why anyone would want to kill Bart—he was a good man.”
    Hannah wasn’t sure when she’d last lied through her teeth.  Small white lies came out almost every day, reminding her that there was a fine line between honesty and kindness.  The lie she’d just told however was a big one.
    The small officer nodded at her partner.  He nodded back.  The woman faced Hannah, all sympathies gone and replaced with a hardened cop.  It seemed unlike all the other officers in town.  Hannah searched her mind for who this woman was, but came up blank—this woman hadn’t grown up in Garnet’s Lake.  “Something else was found on the body.”
    The body, Hannah repeated to herself.  It sounded so distant.  Like Bart was no longer Bart, just a leftover piece of meat.  “Something else?” Hannah asked.
    “A note,” the officer replied.
    Hannah arched her brow.
    “It said ‘he will not hurt you ever again’,” the other officer said.  His