Free The Trap (Agent Dallas 3) by L. J. Sellers

see him, Jocelyn climbed out to get on equal footing.
    “Sergeant, thanks for stopping by.”
Damn, he was tall.
She buttoned her jacket and straightened her spine.
    “What have we got?”
    “Sherry Jones, thirty-one, with a record of prostitution and drugs. She was shot twice in the face and dumped here.”
    The corner of his eye twitched. “Give it your best shot but don’t get invested.”
    Good advice, which she planned to take. Right up until she met the victim’s mother. Then it would get personal. “How’s Judge Bidwell’s investigation going?”
    “It’s challenging. There are too damn many ex-cons to track down and establish timelines for.” The sergeant gestured at the construction bin. “Do you need help with this one? Snyder said he had the flu and may not come in tomorrow either.”
    “Not yet. I’m heading out to locate her residence and hopefully a family member. They may know who did it, especially if domestic violence was involved.”
    “The team is meeting tomorrow at three.”
    They would be on second shift for a few more days. “I’ll be there.”
    “Carry on.” Murphy nodded and walked back to his car.
    A medical examiner’s van rolled down the street. Jocelyn waited for the assistant ME to climb out, then introduced herself. “Will you let me know when the autopsy is scheduled? I’d like to be there if I can.”
    “Sure, but it could be a few days. We’re still processing the Franklin family murder-suicide, and we had a couple from a nursing home come in this morning. Likely suicide, but we don’t know.”
    How sad. It reminded her to visit her mother soon. That had been the first blow in her string of negative changes—moving her mom to a nursing home. “Just let me know, or get me the report as soon as you can.” But at least no one she loved had died. That had become the measure by which she evaluated everything. Jocelyn climbed back in her sedan, glanced at the address she’d noted, and headed across town to tell a family they had not been as fortunate.

Chapter 10
    Sunday, Oct. 5, 2:40 p.m.
    Luke cycled toward home, the afternoon air warm on his skin. After so much time locked up, being outside and free to ride was such a pleasure. Feeling pumped, he slowed and coasted down the gravel lane. They’d been lucky to land this place and rent it for the cost of the mortgage payment. The owner was the mother of a mentally ill man he’d befriended in prison. She had reached out to him after Charlie died, and they’d stayed in touch. When Hana heard he needed a place for an activist group to lay low, she’d offered the house because she was moving back to Japan—and because she’d lost her son to prison-guard brutality and wanted the inner circle to succeed.
    Charlie’s death lay heavy on his heart and made him think about another friend he’d lost recently. Robert, an ex-con who’d made a comeback and eventually run his own restaurant, was one of the only people Luke had loved after losing his mother. Robert had given Luke a job and a place to stay when he was at his lowest point and struggling just to survive. Being released from prison wasn’t the same as being free. He’d had to report to a parole officer regularly for the first year and pay the monthly bill for his incarceration—while working for minimum wage. If not for the generosity of people like Charlie’s mother and their anonymous donor, that debt would have hung over him for life, maybe even sent him back to prison if he’d failed to pay.
    Luke climbed off his bike and tried to shake off the sudden blues. Feeling sad about the people he’d lost tended to derail his focus and drive. He’d long ago stopped feeling sorry for himself when he’d dedicated his life to changing the system that ruined so many lives—many of them decent people who just liked to get high. He parked his bike in the large toolshed and walked back to the house, his thoughts turning to Tara. Her energy and humor were just what