Dead Presidents (An Aria Raymond Thriller Book 3) by Thomas Ransom (dark books to read .txt) 📗

happens. They somehow manage to find out one way or other, no matter how hard we try to keep it under wraps. You will have to make some comments on it. Otherwise, they will keep trying to dig.”

“Yeah, yeah. You think I don’t know that?”

“I didn’t mean…”

“I know we have to control the narrative. And why aren’t you at work already?”

“Umm… my shift doesn’t start for like an hour. I was just about to leave…”

“We have a case to solve, detective. Get here, pronto.”

“Yeah, I …” but Jake had already cut off the line. Sanjay sighed. It had been like this since Aria’s release. Jake had taken things rather personally. He was the one who was convinced that Aria was the murderer, even when Sanjay tried to reason with him. After David’s confession and Aria’s release, Jake had been in a bad mood. Who wouldn’t be? People have been passing snide remarks at him. However, Sanjay thought Jake wasn’t getting the worst because he was the Sergeant. People had to be careful. If it were him or any other officer at the precinct, the remarks would have been much worse. He knew for a fact that Jake would be the one making the most jokes.

He quickly finished his breakfast and combed his hair. He sent a quick text to Aria to check up on her. Sanjay was worried about her and made sure to talk to her regularly to make sure she was okay. He grabbed his keys and dashed out of his apartment.

Nicole Diaz was fuming. Things were not going fast enough for her. One of her guys just informed her that it would take a few more days to find that guy with the hoodie, who was following Aria around in the months before she was framed. Diaz had gone through everything from scratch. She knew the only way to find the culprits was to dig deeper into Coons and Aria’s case to find a new lead. There had to be something they overlooked. The only thing she found after a month of looking was the hoodie guy. They never found out who he was. “Why was he following Aria? Why did he help us in the end? Was he actually one of them who turned and was trying to save Aria? Maybe he got cold feet, just like the guy who helped me escape?”

She knew he was her only lead for now. There were so many clips of him from the security cameras that it had been impossible to go through all of them earlier since they were short on time and manpower. However, now Diaz had plenty of time, even if she didn’t have a lot of manpower. She was determined to get to the bottom of this and she was willing to do whatever she could to get justice for Ellen, herself, and that unknown guy who helped her escape at the cost of his life.

“… been speculations that the murder of Ms. Fox is connected to the murder of Mr. Coons that occurred more than a year ago. Aria Raymond was arrested for Coons’ murder when overwhelming evidence was found against her. However, a few months later, the real murderer, known only as ‘David’, confe…”

“Oh, for heaven’s sake!” She grabbed the TV remote and switched it off. She liked to keep the TV on in the background while she worked, but Aria’s name had caught her attention. This was happening a lot. Aria’s case got plenty of press. The media took it upon themselves to report the negligence on the part of the police and how Aria had to suffer for months. While Diaz felt this was a good thing, all this attention was not good for Aria. She was suffering and hadn’t left her house in weeks. Sanjay, Tanya, and Diaz were making sure she was okay. They would often visit her and kept in touch through texts and calls. Tanya was trying to find a new place for Aria since it was even more painful for her to live across from David’s house. That was one of the main reasons she refused to leave the house.

Diaz sighed. Aria still hadn’t made any decision about whether or not she wanted to sue the state for her wrongful arrest. Diaz had tried to talk about it, but Aria always stopped her. She wasn’t ready to talk about it. Diaz understood, and she kept quiet about the matter. However, she also knew that the sooner they filed the case, the better it would be for them. They already had the press on Aria’s side, and they had the people’s sympathies with them, which meant that this case could be successful for them.

She didn’t want to push Aria though. Diaz knew she would make the right decision in the end once she was ready. She sent Aria a text message to confirm their plans for the weekend. The two of them and Tanya were heading out to watch a movie. It took a lot of convincing, but Aria eventually agreed. Diaz sent another text to Sanjay. She wanted to talk to him about Whitney’s case to see if there was anything that could help her with her investigation. Diaz was hoping to meet him tonight. After sending the text, she opened her laptop again and soon was lost in her research.

“… the murder of Mr. Coons that occurred more than a year ago. Aria Raymond was arrested for Coons’ murder when overwhelming evidence was found against her. However, a few months later, the real murderer, known only as ‘David’, confessed to the crime, and Aria was released...”

“…the real murderer, known only as ‘David’, confessed to the crime, and Aria was released...”

“…the real murderer……’David’,…”

“Aria? Are you okay?”

Aria’s train of thought was interrupted by her therapist. She gave her head a little shake and forced a smile.

“What were