Till Death Do Us Part | ON-HOLD

Chapter 16 : Taraqqi

this chapter focuses completely on the investigation, but is necessary. do note, however, that there won't be many chapters like this one. because Rosaline & Zachary are still the core of this book.

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【 16.

Sixteen

Taraqqi 】

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[ Taraqqi • progress ]

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      DETECTIVE ADAM STONE narrows his eyes at the close-up image of the female victim’s forehead, taking in the single bullet hole carved into her skin—and then shifts his gaze to the photograph pinned right beside that—a focused snap of the male victim’s torso, where two GSWs are marked on his chest, near his sternum, with the area around the fatal wounds consisting of burnt flesh.

He lets his eyes drift close for a moment, then pictures himself on what should have been a deserted street in Springfield, with snow and gravel under his boots, and a gun in his hand. He pictures Micah Bonovich appearing in that street. He imagines catching the man by surprise—perhaps disguised as a mugger, or a street kid—and then pressing the gun into the guy’s chest, before pulling the trigger and firing twice.

Given the M.E’s range for time of death, the firecrackers wouldn’t have started yet that night. So the shooter must have used a silencer. Adam makes a mental note of it, then puts himself back in the shooter’s shoes.

He imagines Micah’s body falling to the ground with a heavy thud. He imagines himself turning around, gun still in hand, but locking eyes with a woman’s—someone who must have witness the whole shooting without him being aware of it. He pictures himself raising the gun into the air once again, except he’s a good distance away from the woman and doesn’t want to waste time or energy chasing after her to get a closer shot, so he simply pulls the trigger. He imagines one bullet darting out of the gun and hitting his intended mark right on point.

But why does he shoot her? She’s based in New York. The woman is a long way from home. There’s no way she could’ve recognised a local from Springfield. There could’ve been no threat of her identifying him, especially if he was disguised as some mugger.

Unless the shooter wasn’t in disguise at all, and shot Micah Bonovich as whoever he is. And he was scared that the woman who’s seen his face might talk to a sketch artist in the police force.

Or the shooter didn’t know she wasn’t a local herself. Maybe he didn’t know she won’t be able to recognise him, given that this wasn’t her home, and he didn’t want to leave a witness behind.

Or… Or the shooter wasn’t a local—and was based in New York. Which means that Dahlia Hawthorne might have recognised him. Maybe she even called out the shooter’s name.

But then what business did Micah Bonovich, an attorney from Chicago, have with someone from New York that they flew all the way to Springfield to murder him? And how did the killer know of Micah’s schedule? That he would be meeting a client in this city? Especially when Adam himself hasn’t been able to find any record of such an appointment on any of Micah’s electronic devices or in his secretary’s files.

Adam’s eyes fly open as frustration starts bubbling in his veins. He just realised there’s something wrong with the scenario he imagined in his head.