Twisted Justice: A Mecana Novella
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About this ebook
THE MECANA SERIES continues in this action-packed follow-up to WHEN THE NIGHT BIRD SIGNS and HORSE OF A DIFFERENT COLOR
TWISTED JUSTICE
a Mecana novella by
John L. Lansdale
Newlywed private detectives Thomas Mecana and Darcie Connors have barely shaken
John L. Lansdale
John L. Lansdale was born and raised in East Texas. He is married to the love of his life Mary. They have four children. He is a retired Army reserve Psychological Operations Officer and a combat veteran with numerous medals and awards. Past roles include inventor, country music songwriter and performer, and television programmer. He produced and directed the Television Special "Ladies of Country Music." He has also produced several albums in Nashville, hosted his own radio shows and won awards for producing and writing radio and television commercials. He was a writer and editor of a business newspaper. He has worked as a comic book writer for Tales from the Crypt, IDW, Grave Tales, Cemetery Dance and several more. He co-authored the Shadows West and Hell's Bounty novels with his brother Joe R. Lansdale. He is also the author of Horse of a Different Color, Slow Bullet, Zombie Gold, When the Night Bird Sings, Broken Moon, Long Walk Home, The Last Good Day and several other titles.What Others are Saying about John L. Lansdale"Mickey Spillane fans will welcome this page-turner...Lansdale effectively delays revealing the novel’s big secret until the end. Those who like their thrillers with a heavy dose of violent action will be satisfied." - Publishers Weekly review of Slow Bullet"This is an entertaining, science fiction-historical-horror blend with resourceful protagonists and a solid cast of secondary characters." - Booklist review of Zombie Gold"Slow Bullet is a straight-ahead thriller...it's about action, and there's plenty of that. Check it out." - Bill Crider's Pop Culture Magazine"...the author’s innate ability to spin a complex tale painted with vivid characters and intense suspense provides readers with a well-paced book that they may find difficult to set down...a worthwhile suspenseful ride." - Amazing Stories review of Horse of a Different Color"Has something for everyone... It's exciting, entertaining and educational. A fun ride." – legendary TV personality/actress/author Joan Hallmark, review of Zombie Gold"...something unique and comfortable and difficult to put down. Highly recommended." – Cemetery Dance review of Hell’s Bounty"True to Lansdale tradition, John L. Lansdale has compiled a piece of work that should appeal to a wide range of readers." – Amazing Stories review of Zombie Gold
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Book preview
Twisted Justice - John L. Lansdale
TWISTED JUSTICE
a Mecana novella by
JOHN L. LANSDALE
BookVoice Publishing 2018
This novel is a work of fiction. All incidents and all characters are fictionalized, with the exception that well-known historical and public figures are products of the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Where real-life historical figures appear, the situations and dialogues concerning those persons are fictional and are not intended to depict actual events within the fictional confines of the story. In all other respects, any resemblance to persons living or dead is entirely coincidental.
Twisted Justice © Copyright 2018
by John L. Lansdale
All rights reserved.
Cover illustration © Copyright 2018
All rights reserved.
Interior design Copyright © 2018
by BookVoice Publishing
All rights reserved.
ISBN
978-1-949381-02-3 eBook
978-1-949381-03-0 Paperback
BookVoice Publishing
PO Box 1528
Chandler, TX 75758
www.bookvoicepublishing.com
THE MECANA SERIES by John L. Lansdale
#1 - Horse of a Different Color
#2 - When the Night Bird Sings
#3 - Twisted Justice
Titles by John L. Lansdale
Slow Bullet
Long Walk Home
Zombie Gold
The Last Good Day
Broken Moon
Shadows West (with Joe R. Lansdale)
Hell’s Bounty (with Joe R. Lansdale)
Boy and Hog (Short Story)
Boy and Hog Return (Short Story)
Emergency Christmas (Short Story)
Tales from the Crypt (Comic Series)
That Hellbound Train (Graphic Novel)
Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper (Graphic Novel)
Shadow Warrior (Graphic Novel)
Justin Case (Graphic Novel)
Follow the author online at
www.bookvoicepublishing.com
www.twitter.com/mybookvoice
www.goodreads.com/johnllansdale
www.facebook.com/bookvoicepublishing
What Others are Saying about John L. Lansdale
A page-turner...Lansdale effectively delays revealing the novel’s big secret until the end. Those who like their thrillers with a heavy dose of violent action will be satisfied.
– Publishers Weekly review of Slow Bullet
This is an entertaining, science fiction-historical-horror blend with resourceful protagonists and a solid cast of secondary characters.
– Booklist review of Zombie Gold
The author’s innate ability to spin a complex tale painted with vivid characters and intense suspense provides readers with a well-paced book that they may find difficult to set down...a worthwhile suspenseful ride.
– Amazing Stories review of Horse of a Different Color
A straight-ahead thriller…it's about action, and there's plenty of that. Check it out.
– Bill Crider’s Pop Culture Magazine review of Slow Bullet
Has something for everyone… It's exciting, entertaining and educational. A fun ride.
– TV personality Joan Hallmark review of Zombie Gold
Something unique and comfortable and difficult to put down. Highly recommended.
– Cemetery Dance review of Hell’s Bounty
True to Lansdale tradition, John L. Lansdale has compiled a piece of work that should appeal to a wide range of readers.
– Amazing Stories review of Zombie Gold
For Keith and Kasey
and of course always Mary
Day before Yesterday comes the day
After tomorrow every day.
Author
PROLOGUE
As a parade of speakers put in their two cents at Robert Verves’ retirement ceremony, he watched his daughter and wife glancing at him as every speaker from the Mayor on down gave him praise for his long career and all his heroic accomplishments. When they called his daughter for her turn he thought about her as a little girl, when she was the furthest thing from his mind one Sunday morning in 1989.
THIRTY YEARS AGO
Two men dressed in black entered the dark kitchen of a small house in a suburb of Dallas, Texas. Both men were holding automatics with silencers at the ready. Three rows of cut cocaine with straws and a razor blade lay on the kitchen table. One of the men stopped and took a quick snort of cocaine, shook his head, and followed the other man to a staircase. They tiptoed up the stairs to a partially open bedroom door where a thirty-something Mexican man and woman lay sleeping. Without a word the men pointed pistols at them. The bullets made a whiffing sound as several rounds found their mark in each body. A little girl sleeping at the foot of the bed never woke up and was spared for whatever reason. One of the men picked up a briefcase from a night table, snapped it open, nodded to the other man, closed it, and they retreated down the stairs and left the way they entered.
An insomniac from the next door saw the two strangers running from the house and called the police. The little toddler was still sleeping early Sunday morning when detectives Robert Verves and his partner Simon Necessary from the Dallas Police Department entered the bedroom with guns drawn.
The two cops had been partners for three years and were considered the odd couple of the department. Both were in their early thirties. Robert Verves was black a former navy seal. His wife ran a mail order business from their home. They had no kids. Simon on the other hand was white, thin and balding with big blue eyes. He had never served in the military and was considered a bit of a nerd with a master’s degree in criminal justice. His wife was a practicing attorney who some how found time to have four kids.
Looks like they’re Mexican,
Robert said.
No shit,
Simon said. You could tell that right away?
One of these days… wham! boom! right in the kisser,
Robert said.
You wouldn’t hit a superior officer would you,
Simon said and put his finger on his badge.
"Just because you’ve got a lower number don’t mean nothing. I