Two witnesses to an armored car heist—and then there are none.
The robbers who knock over the Wells Fargo armored vehicle score $85,000, but there’s a lot of messy shooting that leaves one of their number dead. In addition, the mastermind of the enterprise has gotten himself nabbed and is now languishing in Utah State Prison awaiting trial. This is no ordinary mastermind, but Walter Anthony Bradshaw, leader of a Mormon fundamentalist sect with a significant following—a breakaway flock that doesn’t take kindly to government interference in whatever business the sect happens to be conducting. From the outset, Det. Lt. Kate McConnell and Special Investigations chief Sam Kincaid (The Commission, 2007) know they have trouble on their hands, but what happens next certainly compounds it. Both of their witnesses suddenly become unavailable. Respected businessman Arnold Ginsberg is murdered; college student Robin Joiner, narrowly escaping a similar fate, elects to vanish from the planet. Coincidence? McConnell and Kincaid don’t think so. And since it’s clear who has the most to benefit from nonexistent witnesses, it’s equally obvious who’s pulling the strings. Or is it?
Nothing fancy, but a second authoritative, highly readable police procedural from a writer who earned his cop chops in the trenches.
