A Byrd & Crowe Mystery Series, Book 1
Mystery / Suspense
Date Published: 10-15-2022
Publisher: New Atlantian Library
A young woman with a questionable past…
A family struggling to find common ground…
A murder victim with no known enemies…
Determined to overcome the dark secrets she helped reveal three years ago
when she rescued a baby from a locked car and ran away, Xandra Byrd is now a
student in criminology at the local community college and an accepted part
of her biological family. Still, she struggles to escape the demons of her
dysfunctional childhood. But when the woman who helped put her family back
together is murdered, and she and her brother implicated in the crime,
Xandra must return to the dark side of human nature in search of a killer.
Will she solve the mystery and clear her name, or will she become the next
victim?
EXCERPT
One
Xandra Byrd stepped out the back door of the Buns N Fries and headed into the wind. Above the drive-thru lane, a vulture circled, its graceful swoop a contrast to the ugliness of its beaked face. Sunset streaked the sky in shades of red and purple, deepening the shadows as the bird hovered, then, joined by a companion, dipped lower. One of the lids on the garbage bins must have blown open, inviting the scavengers to feast on discarded French fries and half-eaten burgers. Goose bumps peppered Xandra’s arms. She inhaled sharply.
Along with the odor of grease emanating from the restaurant, the scent of decaying lilacs, now past prime bloom, drifted from the bushes separating the eastern half of the parking lot from the dinner theater next door. She gazed from the hedge to the screen of cedars hiding the trash enclosure and the prairie and the wooded land beyond. The forest called her. She wouldn’t mind disappearing into the cool darkness under the trees. A hike was preferrable to gathering used ketchup packets and nagging employees to bus tables. Dragging the trash, Xandra swallowed the unease that had dogged her since the argument with her parents earlier that day. Their suggestion that she return to counseling with Reverend Loving meant she wasn’t successfully hiding her unhappiness. But she didn’t need counseling. She needed to move on with her life, to leave the past behind for good. A discarded burger bag blew across the lot. When a stronger gust ripped the trash from her hand, she chased it down and trudged on.
Overhead, the raptors wheeled back. They often soared above the Hopewell-Springboro corridor, drawn to the fast-food joints and the Kroger Superstore. Vultures, Xandra recalled, could detect rotting meat up to a mile away. Yuck, and useless trivia. She scurried across the drive-thru lane, threading the queue of vans filled with soccer moms and their kids. Fumes from the idling vehicles made her eyes water. Her parents’ request echoed in her mind. They knew her previous years had not been easy, and they supported her decision to enroll in Sinclair Community College’s criminal justice program. What they didn’t know is she hoped that following in her real father’s footsteps, becoming a detective someday, would convince her she belonged in the Zetts family, that Joe and Leah, despite giving her up when she was born, did truly love her. She was trying to fit in. She did her fair share of chores and was paying her way through school, even though Joe and Leah insisted she didn’t have to. If her parents would just stop trying so hard to make things right. Screw the past and let it go. Yeah, if only she could do that, too. Shoving a loose strand of hair behind her ear, she unlatched the gate in the fence around the trash cans.
Lost in thought, she yelped when the hasp pinched her thumb, then sucked at the blood blister. The wind caught the door and banged it against the enclosure. She stepped inside and paused, puzzled by a dark smudge on the concrete beneath her sneaker. She detected the faint odor of burning, then shrugged. Maybe one of the other employees had grabbed a smoke during their break. She inspected the bins. None of the lids stood open. The fence slammed shut behind her just as a third vulture glided past, wings spread to slow its descent. Still favoring the bruised thumb, she lifted the lid on the first bin, assailed by an unfamiliar odor. Fighting the urge to throw up, she deposited the garbage and turned to leave. Then she screamed.
A woman in a dark skirt and jacket lay splayed across the concrete apron, her face turned away from Xandra. Low-heeled black flats dangled from the woman’s feet. One arm curled around her waist. The other lay at a ninety-degree angle above her shoulder, the hand clutching a scrap of paper that rustled in the wind swirling through the openings in the wooden slats. Xandra clapped a hand over her mouth and swore. Pinching her nose against the smell, she crouched over the body. Blood had pooled beneath the woman’s head and neck, spreading around her like a large, malignant shadow. A last ray of twilight leaked between the slats, illuminating the concrete pad. Something metallic gleamed by the woman’s shoulder. Xandra leaned closer. A pin in the shape of a bird stared up at her, the beak smeared with crimson. Glancing over her shoulder, she snatched the pin and stuffed it in her pocket.
“Xandra?” Her name drifted, tinny and remote, from the squawk box on the outside order kiosk. Reggie Lynx, one of the night shift workers, shouted again. “Hey, Byrd, you get lost out there?”
She shoved her shoulders against the gate, which rattled but refused to open. When the door slammed shut, the latch must have fallen into place. She backed away from the body and stood on tiptoe to peer over the fence. “Reggie? Help! I’m locked in.”
Laughter echoed from the speaker before a car drove by, cutting off the sound. Xandra snaked her hand over the pickets to slap at the latch until it slid free. When the gate swung open, she braced her leg against the wood to prevent it from reclosing. Then she took out her phone.
“911. What is your emergency?” A dispatch officer answered on the second ring.
“Hello? This is Xandra Byrd. I manage the night shift at the Buns N Fries.”
“What’s your emergency, Ms. Byrd?”
Xandra closed her hand around the bird pin in her pocket. The vultures circled lower. “I’m at the Buns N Fries, 728 Hopewell-Springboro Pike. There’s a dead body in the trash shed.”
“Did you check for a pulse?”
“No, but I don’t have to. The woman’s dead.” Xandra paused when the sound cut off. “Hello? Are you there?”
“An officer is on his way to your location. Stay on the line, Ms. Byrd.”
Xandra gripped the phone so tightly her hand shook. “Hurry, please. I’m not positive, but I think it’s Reverend Loving.”
About the Author
J.E. Irvin is the author of five mystery/thriller novels, a two-time winner
of the Whodunit Award, and a member of SistersinCrime, Central Ohio Fiction
Writers, Buckeye Crime Writers, and the Ohio Writers Association. Irvin, her
husband, and their two cats reside on the edge of a nature park which serves
as inspiration for her work. For more about the author, check out
www.janetirvin.com and sign up for her newsletter as well as updates on
future Byrd& Crowe mysteries.
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