Mirrored Echoes: A Myrna Sontiago Novella

Copyright © 2016 by Jameo D. Pollock.

ISBN:      Softcover      978-1-5245-6506-0

                eBook           978-1-5245-6505-3

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

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

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Rev. date: 02/17/2017

Xlibris

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Contents

Preface

Acknowledgements

Principal Characters

Act 1

Act 2

Act 3

Act 4

Act 5

Act 6

Act 7

Act 8

Act 9

Act 10

Act 11

Act 12

Act 13

Act 14

Act 15

Act 16

Act 17

Act 18

Act 19

Act 20

Act 21

Act 22

Act 23

Act 24

Act 25

Preface

Dear Reader,

Thank you for purchasing my book, Mirrored Echoes: A Myrna Sontiago Novella. This is the first book in what will eventually become a series. I sincerely hope it provides enjoyment, excitement, and suspense as you learn about Senior Detectives Myrna Sontiago and her partner, Ezekial LaPorte, as they traipse through Dallas. Happy Reading to you.

Sincerely and Respectfully,

Jameo D. Pollock, AKA Gemynigh

Painting pictures with my words.

November 19, 2016

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Xlibris for taking a chance on me and publishing my first book. I sincerely hope I have made you proud. I look forward to working with you on my next one.

I would like to express my appreciation to the people who saw me through my very first book; to all those who provided support, talked things over, read, wrote, offered comments, ideas, and suggestions, and assisted in the editing, proofreading and design. They include Sakkuna Beach for chat sessions, plot discussions, story direction, design, encouragement, and beta reading; Lori Blalock for title and design ideas and encouragement, Laurie Brown for believing in me, Joyce Lapsley for wording, dialogue, editing, proofreading, and beta reading, Eileen Hasbrouck for assistance with the synopsis, David Moss for inspiring me, Eric Stamper for assisting me in way too many ways to count and for being my friend, and Raina Vann for inspiring me along with proofreading.

To my daughters and bonus child, Jaya, Meaunique (Meauny), and Essence for being wowed that I was writing a book. Lastly, thank you to my other half, Cynthia Pollock, for providing encouragement along with the copious amount of time and space away to write it.

I ask forgiveness to anyone I have failed to mention. Please charge it to my head and certainly not my heart.

Gemynigh - Painting Pictures with My Words

PRINCIPAL CHARACTERS

Dallas Police Department

Myrna Sontiago: Senior Detective of Homicide Squad

Ezekial LaPorte: Senior Detective of Homicide Squad

Peter Bostwick: Chief of Police

Dr. Kathryn (Kate) Price: Medical Examiner

Tyler Stevens: Information Technology Manager

An abnormal reaction to an abnormal situation is normal behavior.

― Viktor E. Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning

Act 1

Where’s the blood? Myrna Sontiago said to no one while rubbing her tired hazel eyes. She prefers late nights over early mornings, but the job rarely accommodates her. It’s still more night than day at this time of the morning, and it’s shaping up to be another scorcher. She can already smell the warmth in the air, and the sun hasn’t even made its appearance. It doesn’t seem to bother the gathering crowd of onlookers, though.

Myrna is one of the two senior detectives of the Dallas Police Department’s Homicide Squad and the first investigator on the scene this morning. But not for long. Her partner and the other senior detective is on the way. With the body count rising, a lack of leads, and public fear, she needs him more than ever. Add the police chief and the Mayor riding her back, her stress levels have reached the boiling point.

Dressed in her trademark black pantsuit and white shirt, she moves delicately around the ash gray nude splayed body. Her LED flashlight washes over the body to reveal the brutal details of the murder while searching for any clues outside of the hundreds of obvious wounds, stabs, cuts, and burns. Walking multiple laps around the body has been a part of her methodology as long as she can remember. In her estimation, the inconspicuous and subtle details that others miss lead to bigger clues that ultimately solve the crime. That’s what her father, a forensic scientist, constantly tells her. At least he did before he passed away several months ago.

Maybe she does it out of habit. Maybe she does it in honor of her father. Maybe it helps her focus on the task at hand. Either way, it works for her, and up until now, she doesn’t have any unsolved crimes on her docket. Not many detectives can say the same, so she has no plans to do away with it. You don’t rise through the ranks as fast as she did without being good at the job.

This is body number three in as many weeks, and she is losing her patience. She has never seen anything like these mutilation murders. The bodies look like the victims of allergy tests gone horribly wrong. The gashes reveal deep muscle tissue. Although she projects a calm demeanor, inside she’s a wreck. Truth be told, dealing with murder is beginning to take its toll.

In the meantime, she continues her preliminary check of the scene. At the moment, all she knows is that the victim is a middle-aged man with no identification dumped at the end of the street in the center of a large suburban residential community’s cul-de-sac. What she can’t yet determine is who, or what, put all of those jagged gashes, bruises, and weird burns on his body.

Normally she would attempt to retrace the victim’s last forty-eight hours, but if this one is like the other two, it will lead