A Detective Al Warner Novel
Warner series, Book 6
Suspense / Thriller
Date Published: 11-11-2021
Publisher: GnD Publishing LLC
Detective Al Warner’s investigation of a street hooker’s death leads to a case of human sex-trafficking. Nicki, an undercover cop, is snatched while carrying a concealed tracking device, but it’s stripped from her before she can activate it. Warner is stymied as she struggles to send the locating beacon.
Meanwhile, an young woman, Maggie, is offered a lucrative deal as a birth surrogate for a secretive, wealthy couple. While living nine months in luxurious seclusion, she learns her fetus is a tool of extortion, and fears for her life. Al Warner is struggling to solve two cases at once. It all comes together in a violent conclusion, with Warner once again thrust into deadly peril.
Excerpt
~ 5 ~
Jack Harris pushed out of his chair and scurried
to head off Warner as he strode toward his office.
“Got a minute, Boss?” He panted
softly as he touched the Warner’s arm.
“Yeah, Jack. What’s up?” He
studied the short detective. “You still gettin’ physical therapy? You look
winded.”
“Some, but this job doesn’t
provide much free time. I’ve got—"
“Cut the crap, Jack. We need ya
here, but in good workin’ order. I want ya to see the therapist four times a
week. Make a schedule and stick to it.” He laid a hand on Harris’ shoulder.
“Got it?”
“Yes, Boss.” His cheeks
pink-tinged as he studied his shoes.
“Okay.” Warner nodded toward his
office. “Ya waylaid me for a reason. What’s up?”
Harris tapped on his pad. “I got
a call from Damian Torres.”
“The Miami-Dade Sheriff’s
detective?”
“Yeah. A Seminole brave found a
woman’s body in Big Cypress, near the Collier County border.” He glanced at his
tablet’s screen. “The sheriff’s M.E. IDed her as one Ada Funck.”
“And they called us why?” Warner,
followed by Harris, entered his office and perched on the corner of his desk.
“Apparently, she’s got a record
as a Miami hooker… a street walker from the Miami Springs area.” Harris
pocketed his tablet. “He figured since she was one of ours, we’d be interested,
especially since it was so unusual.”
“Unusual?” Warner rose and
circled his desk “Why?”
“Well, she had the expected track
marks on her arm. Most of those babes are users, but they were old and well-healed,
and her tox screen was clean as a whistle.”
“Huh.” Warner looked up from the
report he’d begun to scan. “Any info she was in any kind of rehab?”
“Nope.” Harris settled on a
chair. “And she looked healthy. Or at least she was before she croaked.”
“What d’ya mean, ‘healthy,’
Jack?”
“Well fed, decent haircut, nicely
trimmed nails. Nothing you’d expect from one of those babes.”
“So,” Warner scratched his chin,
“someone was takin’ good care of her. Cleaned her up, fed her, maybe made a concubine
outta her. Then what? Dumped her like trash?”
“Maybe. And one more thing,
Boss.”
“Yeah, what?”
“The sheriff’s ME says she’d
given birth right before she died. It was a Caesarian delivery.”
“Weirder by the minute. Not
uncommon for a hooker ta get knocked up, but I’d guess it would be rare for
taking it early.” Warner slouched back in his chair. “They sendin’ the vic up
to our ME? I’d like the Hawk and his CSU unit to go over her, too. See if they
missed something.”
“Figured that’s what you’d want.”
Harris stood. “She’s on the way to his lab right now.”
“Good.” Warner selected another
file to review. “Give it to Dean Beck, and you run all the follow-ups. Keep me
posted.”
“On it, Boss.” Harris headed for
the doorway.
“Hope this ain’t the beginnin’ of
some new, nasty creep on the prowl,” he muttered under his breath.
It’d been six months since the
unsatisfying conclusion of the Shadow affair. A non-conclusion at this point,
and still a bone the FBI was chomping on. It was out of his jurisdiction now.
Seems
like we can’t go a full year without some major loony poppin’ up. His gut
had the uncomfortable feeling more bad stuff was coming, sooner rather than
later.
He sighed, and began scanning a
batch of action reports.
Warner’s thoughts drifted to Eva.
Something was on her mind. Well, she’d spill it when she was ready. His lips
arched into a small grin. What a lucky bastard he was for a woman like that to
actually love him.
~ 6 ~
Warner pushed through the swinging doors of
Miami-Dade’s Crime Lab and spotted Jack Harris huddled together with Moe Gold,
CSU’s legendary Hawk.
“So, guys, what d’ya got?” Warner
asked.
The Hawk glanced up and grinned.
“Ah, The Hero graces us with his presence.” He shook Warner’s hand and
chuckled.
“Been over four years, Moe. You
ever gonna get tired of that lame moniker?”
“You keep refreshing it,
Detective, case after case. The Baby Butcher, The Angel of Death, all
the way up to the Shadow killings. It never gets stale.” His brown eyes
twinkled over the beak-like nose that had earned him his nickname.
“You’re some piece of work,
Hawk.” Warner gave a friendly squeeze to the back of the neck of the
round-shouldered, almost dwarfed CSU wizard. “So, clue me.”
“Not a lot that seems to add up
to anything, Detective.” He glanced at his notepad. “Ms. Funck was
twenty-three, and despite a field of track marks on her arm, had a sterling
clean tox screen.” He slipped off his stool and beckoned the two detectives to
follow him to an array of color photos on a white board.
“Despite some critter predation,
we determined she was unusually healthy and well-groomed for someone in her
line of work. Still verifying the COD, and we found no trace evidence that will
tell us about her killer, or where she’d been prior to death.”
“Clothing tell ya anything?”
“I’ve been checking that, Boss.”
Harris accessed his Android. “Looks like her clothes came from Target, and the
one shoe we found was a Sears closeout. Thousands of identical things
everywhere.” He pocketed the tablet. “I got Tech accessing security footage of
all the local stores using a facial rec program to see if we can pick her up
doing the shopping, but it’s a long shot.”
“Yeah.” Warner scratched his
neck. “And it won’t tell ya much unless she was with someone we can ID.”
Warner scanned the photo array.
“Musta been a pretty gal before the critters got at her.” He turned to Harris.
“So, where are ya goin’ with this?”
“Beck and a couple of patrol cops
are canvassing hooker alley in Miami Springs, looking for someone who knew her,
and anything else he can learn.”
“Good luck with that.” Warner
chuckled. “Rare to find anyone there who’ll talk ta cops. Maybe the local
patrol guys might have more of a connection.”
“I’ll write up what I’ve got and
send it to your computers,” the Hawk said. He laid a hand on Warner’s forearm.
“I’ll print your copy, too, Detective. I know you like things on paper.”
“Thanks. Old school’s always
worked for me, pal.” He turned to leave with Harris. “Let’s hope this is a
one-timer, and not some new nut with an obscure agenda.”
The Hawk perched on his stool and
picked up a file. “But those are where you shine, Detective.”
“Don’t mean I gotta like it, Moe.
Let’s go, Harris.”
The two detectives exited CSU,
going separate ways.
About the Author
George A. Bernstein, now living in south Florida, is the retired President of a modest, publicly held appliance manufacturer. He spent years attending writing seminars and conferences, learning to polish his work and developing a strong “voice.” George is acclaimed by his peers as a superb wordsmith and a crafter of surprise endings no one expects. He works with professional editors to ensure his novels meet his own rigorous standards, and all of his books are currently published by small indie press, GnD Publishing LLC, in which he has an interest.
Taken is the sixth of his Detective Al Warner Suspense series, with the first five; Death’s Angel; Born to Die; The Prom Dress Killer; White Death; and Sniper, all garnering rave reviews. His Detective Al Warner has attracted many fans, with readers likening Warner to James Patterson’s Alex Cross. Four of his novels are also now available in Audible.
Bernstein’s first novel, Trapped, was a winner in a small Indie publisher’s “Next Great American Novel” contest, and received high praise, gaining many mostly 5-star reviews, reaching “Top 100” status. His second novel, A 3rd Time to Die (A paranormal Romantic Suspense) has also garnered mostly 5-Star & 4-Star reviews, with one reader likening him to the best, less “spooky” works of Dean Koontz & Stephen King.
Bernstein is also a “World-class” fly-fisherman, setting a baker’s dozen IGFA World Records, mostly on fly-rods. He’s written the popular Toothy Critters Love Flies, the complete book on fly-fishing for pike & musky.
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