In the Presence of Mine Enemies Read online

  In the Presence of Mine Enemies

  Other Books by Debbie Viguié

  Tex Ravencroft

  The Tears of Poseidon

  The Brotherhood of Lies

  The Lords of Atlantis (Summer 2018)

  The Kiss Trilogy

  Kiss of Night

  Kiss of Death

  Kiss of Revenge

  Sweet Seasons

  The Summer of Cotton Candy

  The Fall of Candy Corn

  The Winter of Candy Canes

  The Spring of Candy Apples

  The Summer of Rice Candy (Spring 2018)

  Witch Hunt

  The Thirteenth Sacrifice

  The Last Grave

  Circle of Blood

  Abracadabra

  Now You See Me

  The Lady Vanishes (Winter 2019)

  In the Presence of Mine Enemies

  Psalm 23 Mysteries

  By Debbie Viguié

  Published by Big Pink Bow

  In the Presence of Mine Enemies

  Copyright © 2018 by Debbie Viguié

  ISBN-13: 978-0990697183

  Published by Big Pink Bow

  www.bigpinkbow.com

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the publisher of this book.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

  Dedicated to Curryanne Hostetler. Thank you for everything.

  Thank you to all the fans, friends, and family who support and encourage me to keep doing what I’m doing. Thanks especially to everyone at the Debbie Viguie Book Club Facebook group for making me laugh a lot and reminding me why I do this.

  1

  Detective Mark Walters usually liked Sundays. They were the one day of the week that he was almost always off and got to spend time with his wife and children. This Sunday, though, was turning into a nightmare that he kept praying he would wake up from.

  Detective Keenan had stormed into Joseph’s house with half a dozen uniformed officers and arrested Jeremiah for murder. Whose murder, Mark was still unclear on. The whole thing was preposterous, and he couldn’t believe that Keenan had been keeping him in the dark on whatever investigation he thought ended with Jeremiah.

  While Joseph called his attorney, Mark decided to head to the precinct and see if he couldn’t find out more about what was going on. Hopefully his presence there would also serve to keep Jeremiah from going berserk on them. Mark had seen the rabbi’s eyes when the officers were trying to handcuff him. Only Cindy had been able to get through to him in that moment. It was a good thing she had, or they might be adding murder of police officers to the charges.

  After letting Geanie know where he was going Mark left as fast as he could. As he drove down the hill that Joseph’s house was on, he couldn’t help but wish that if this had to happen that it could have happened at a different time. Cindy’s brother, Kyle, and their parents had witnessed the whole thing. Given that Kyle and Carol already disliked Jeremiah, things couldn’t be much worse on that front.

  Mark’s heart was pounding, and he realized that he couldn’t be more scared if he’d been the one arrested instead. He had no idea what Jeremiah would do if pushed. Or, rather, he had a good idea and that’s what scared him. Without knowing who the victim was he also had no idea if it was someone Jeremiah had actually killed or not.

  “I need a vacation,” he muttered after he blew through a red light and almost got sideswiped by another car.

  Right before the cops had come for Jeremiah, the secret organization that they’d been trying to take down members of had contacted Joseph. They wanted him to join. That was its whole own mess. If he sent Joseph in undercover he could get hurt or killed. If Joseph declined he could still get hurt or killed since the organization seemed very invested in maintaining its secrecy. With all that going on he needed the rabbi on the streets, free to act. He couldn’t have him in prison or under Detective Keenan’s microscope.

  “God, we need a lot of help,” the words came tumbling out of him. It was the closest thing to a prayer that he’d ever uttered, and he meant every word of it.

  A powder blue car turned onto the street right in front of him and he had to slam on his brakes to keep from hitting it. He fishtailed slightly before stopping safely. He flipped on his lights and siren and shot over into the next lane. He raced by the offending vehicle and the driver didn’t even have the sense to pull to the side.

  By the time he had skidded into a parking spot at the police station his nerves were completely shot. He raced inside and headed straight for his captain’s office. The man’s door was open, and Mark bolted inside.

  “Captain, I-” he stopped in mid-sentence as he realized that Detective Keenan was already there. Before he could stop himself he yelled, “What the hell was that back there?”

  “I was just doing my job,” Keenan retorted.

  “That’s a load of crap. You stormed that place with half a dozen officers like you were expecting trouble, and you didn’t even have the courtesy to give me a heads up about what was going down.”

  “I don’t owe you anything. This is my case, not yours, and you are not my partner or my supervisor. If you don’t stand down, I’ll arrest you for obstruction of justice.”

  “If you don’t show me some respect then you can arrest me for assault and battery against a police officer,” Mark growled.

  “You think you can take me?” Keenan sneered.

  “I know I can.”

  “Bring it!”

  A loud whistle pierced the air. The Captain stood up and glared at both of them. “Mind if I have a say here?”

  Mark hunched his shoulders and stared down at the ground. Keenan fell silent as well.

  “Listen up, idiots. I want this as neat and clean as possible. Keenan, you’ve arrested a man who is not only an upstanding member of the community but also someone who has personally helped us out on numerous occasions. I want you to be rock solid with your facts before you go any farther. Mark, if you can’t stow your personal feelings then you are out of here until this is sorted out.”

  “Sir,” Keenan said. “Given his friendship with the accused, I don’t believe there’s any way Mark can stow his feelings and be objective.”

  Mark looked up quickly. “Sir, with all due respect, the detective here has wantonly overlooked his single best asset when it comes to getting inside the head of the accused. Yes, the rabbi is a friend, but if he murdered someone in cold blood without provocation, there should be consequences,” Mark said, trying to choose his words carefully. It was especially important to do so given how angry he was. He didn’t need to inadvertently give Keenan more ammunition against Jeremiah. “Frankly, I think Keenan is overzealous because the rabbi helped solve a case he couldn’t, clearing the name of a wrongly accused man.”

  “I don’t need civilians to help me do my job!” Keenan shouted, turning red in the face.

  “All evidence to the contrary,” Mark said, struggling to keep from raising his voice as well.

  A knock on the door caused them all to turn. Liam was standing there, an uncertain look on his face. “You sent for me, sir?” Liam asked.

  “Yes, come in,” the captain said.

  Liam glanced from Mark to Keenan and slowly
entered the room.

  “Gentleman, I think the entire department can agree that Detective O’Neill here is our resident boy scout.”

  “That’s true,” Mark said, wondering what was about to happen.

  “No arguments here,” Kennan said.

  “I figured this situation had the potential to blow up in my face, in all of our faces, if things aren’t done right,” the captain said. “That’s where Detective O’Neill comes in.”

  Mark looked at Keenan. The other man looked as confused as he was.

  “Detective O’Neill, you’ve had the opportunity to work with Rabbi Silverman?”

  “I have,” Liam said.

  “He stands accused by Detective Keenan of murder. Detective Walters claims he’s innocent. Both men are going to be doing their darndest to prove they’re right. Do you follow?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “I want you to oversee both detectives in this process. Ultimately, it’s your best judgment that I’m going to rely on. And I expect you to render your best judgment. Am I clear?”

  Liam took a deep breath. “Crystal, sir.”

  Mark measured his next words carefully. “Sir, given the circumstances, it’s clear that what Detective Keenan has is only circumstantial at this point.”

  “That’s for Liam to judge.”

  “Okay. Detective Keenan has yet to reveal the name of the person he thinks Rabbi Silverman has murdered. In fact, I know, since I was present, that Detective Keenan declined to tell Rabbi Silverman the name at the time of his arrest.”

  The captain looked sharply at Detective Keenan. “Is that true?”

  “Given the circumstances I felt it would be unsafe to discuss the matter in detail with bystanders present,” Keenan said.

  Mark seethed. “I disagree with the detective’s assessment of the situation,” he said.

  “How can you until you know the facts?” Keenan asked.

  Mark felt a twinge of panic. Keenan knew something, something real. He needed to find out what it was and quickly, so he could do his best to spin this.

  “I think now is an appropriate time to illuminate Detective Walters,” the captain said.

  “Not unless he surrenders his weapon first,” Keenan said.

  “Captain, I’m a patient man,” Mark said.

  “No, you’re not,” Liam rebutted.

  Mark turned to glare at his partner.

  Liam shrugged. “I will use my best judgment to determine the truth.”

  At that moment Mark wasn’t sure who he wanted to punch more: Kennan or Liam. He turned back to the captain. “Captain, what in the hell is going on?”

  The man took a deep breath and held out a hand. “Give me your gun.”

  Mark told himself that shooting all three men would get him nothing. He slowly pulled his gun free from its holster and handed it to the captain. “You want my badge, too?”

  “No, this is just a safety precaution,” he said, putting the gun in a drawer. He turned and nodded to Keenan who closed the door and then leaned up against it.

  Mark felt completely trapped. He looked at Liam. “Do you know what this is about?”

  Liam shook his head.

  “Mark, as a fellow cop, I’m asking you to sit down,” the captain said, his voice suddenly soft.

  That frightened Mark more than anything that had happened in the last hour. In fact, he hadn’t been this terrified since he thought that Traci was going to die giving birth to their twins.

  “I think I’ll stand,” he said, his voice sounding hoarse to him. His mouth had gone completely dry.

  “Then, as your captain, I’m ordering you to sit down.”

  Mark did as he was told. His hands were beginning to shake, and he folded his arms across his chest in order to hide them.

  Keenan cleared his throat. “Jeremiah Silverman is the chief suspect in three unsolved murders.”

  Three.

  Mark’s heart began to race. One was going to be hard enough to find a way out of, but three? He just prayed they were murders Jeremiah hadn’t actually committed.

  “Who?”

  “Peter Wallace. He was found dead on the rabbi’s lawn.”

  It took Mark a second but then he remembered. “The homeless guy?”

  “Yes.”

  Relief surged through Mark. Jeremiah had told him that he hadn’t killed Peter, but that he wasn’t sure who did. They could catch the real killer, and everything would be fine.

  “Just because he found the body on his property doesn’t mean anything. The man was stabbed a couple of blocks away.”

  “There is evidence that points to Jeremiah having known the man,” Keenan said. “And more.”

  “He didn’t do it,” Mark maintained.

  “He’s also the chief suspect in the murder of a foreign national at the wedding of Joseph Coulter.”

  Mark did his best not to flinch. That particular foreign national had been a terrorist and Jeremiah had killed him.

  “He didn’t kill him,” Mark said. “I was there. I know.”

  “Your job at the moment is not to counter the evidence. There will be time for that later,” the captain said quietly.

  Mark sighed and nodded.

  “He’s also the chief suspect in the murder of Benjamin Hughes.”

  Mark wracked his brain but couldn’t figure out who that was. That had to be a good thing. “Who is that?” he asked.

  “The pastor at First Shepherd church. He was murdered last night.”

  Mark’s heart skipped a beat. “What? I didn’t hear about that.”

  “You’re hearing about it now,” Keenan said.

  “Wait, last night? We were all at Joseph’s. Jeremiah was there all night. We all were.”

  “But not all of you were awake all night. The rabbi left the house and killed the pastor.”

  “Why on earth would he do that?”

  “Because they had a heated exchange over something very dear to the rabbi’s heart.”

  “Oh?” Mark asked, still trying to figure out why Jeremiah could possibly be a suspect in the murder.

  “Cindy. The pastor and Jeremiah had it out because the pastor disapproved of their impending marriage.”

  “That’s no reason to kill a guy,” Mark said.

  “I agree,” Keenan said, “apparently Jeremiah disagreed.”

  Mark shook his head and looked at the captain. “This is preposterous. These are all completely circumstantial and there’s no way Jeremiah is guilty.”

  Well, at least not in two of the cases, he thought.

  “Those cases are all ongoing investigations,” the captain said.

  “And I will find the evidence that links him to those murders,” Keenan said.

  Mark turned back to him. “I don’t get it. This makes him a person of interest. You don’t have enough to arrest him for any of those.”

  “You’re right, I don’t,” Keenan admitted. “Not yet.”

  “Then why?” Mark asked, starting to stand.

  “Mark, stay seated,” his captain cautioned.

  “We did have enough evidence to arrest him for a fourth murder.”

  “Please, entertain me, this just keeps getting better and better,” Mark said sarcastically. He was trying to calm himself down and rattle Keenan at the same time.

  “Rabbi Silverman killed a man who was digging into his past, who knew that he was not exactly what he appeared to be. When he got too close the rabbi executed him.”

  “And you think you have proof of that?” Mark asked, his brain working on trying to figure it all out.

  “I know I do.”

  “Well?” Mark asked impatiently.

  Keenan glanced at the captain.

  “Go ahead,” the man said.

  Keenan nodded. “I have proof that Jeremiah Silverman murdered Detective Paul Dryer.”

  2

  Mark lunged out of his chair tow
ard Keenan, intent on strangling the life out of him. Liam grabbed him and tried to hold him back.

  “That is not funny!” Mark screamed at the top of his lungs.

  “Mark, calm down!” Liam pleaded, straining to keep hold of him.

  Mark felt more hands on him and realized that the captain was trying to hold him back, too.

  “Let me at that lying son-of-”

  “Detective! Stand down!” the captain roared.

  “You take that back!” Mark shouted at Keenan who had his hands up, ready to defend himself.

  Mark lunged harder, and managed to get a few inches closer. “You can’t get away with saying that!”

  “Mark! Mark! Calm down!”

  Mark stopped struggling. He couldn’t shake off both men. After a couple of seconds, they let go of him. He leaped forward and punched Keenan in the face. The other man hit back and they both fell onto the ground.

  “You take that back!” Mark demanded as he tried to pin his opponent to the floor.

  Keenan kneed him hard, but Mark managed to keep hold of him despite the pain. They thrashed around, each trying to get the upper hand.

  Suddenly pain coursed through his body and he spasmed as electricity hit him. The pain finally ended, and he flipped onto his back.

  “Who tased me?” he demanded, looking up at Liam and the captain. Each of them was holding a taser in their hand.

  “Whichever one didn’t tase me,” Keenan groaned.

  “Don’t make me lock you both up until you cool down,” the captain threatened.

  Lying there on the ground the shock really started to settle in and Mark began to shake from head to toe. “It can’t be true,” he whispered. But there was a sick, wrenching sensation in his gut that worried him.

  ~