"e;A FASCINATING GLIMPSE INTO COMPLEX CHARACTERS ON BOTH RIGHT AND WRONG SIDES OF THE LAW, BY AUTHOR AND RETIRED JUDGE JACK BILLINGS, WHO UNDOUBTEDLY HAS SEEN BOTH UP-CLOSE."e; Randi Bjornstad, career journalist, founder, EUGENE SCENE, e-magazine~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~Police always encounter people they never forget. For Megan O Brian, one was Chad Mitchell, a scared, mistreated little boy she encountered while working as a juvenile corrections officer. She always wondered what happened to him. Then they met again. By then a sheriff s detective, O Brian was lead investigator for the disappearance of talented Cassie Edwards, who failed to return home from her regular bus trip to and from a piano lesson after her 15th birthday party. She wore as always her favorite gift, a beautiful and unusual necklace, given to her by her grandmother. The trail goes frustratingly cold as O Brian and fellow investigators, Cal Underwood and Herman Jackson, search in vain for clues to her whereabouts and her fate, until a deer poacher finds Cassie s body in a remote area. But finding her killer eludes them, until O Brian has a sudden, middle-of-the-night realization: a photograph Jackson had taken of recovered stolen property in another case. One of those photos shows an unusual necklace, identical to the one Cassie wore in a picture from her birthday party. Did Cassie s killer take the necklace as a trophy? How did it get into a trove of stolen property? Did the killer try to get rid of it? Or was it stolen from the killer? And who were they looking for? ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ WELL-DEVELOPED CHARACTERS, ENGAGING STORY, PROFESSIONAL POLICE WORK. A GOOD READ. Kurt Wuest, Lane County Sheriff s Detective (ret.) UNTREATED AUTISM, METHAMPHETAMINE ADDICTION, INTERSTATE FENCING OF STOLEN PROPERTY PROPEL THIS STORY OF MURDER AND APPREHENSION TO A CONCLUSION. Chuck Tilby, Captain, Eugene Police Department (ret.) BILLINGS WRITING EVOKES MICHAEL CONNELLY. A BUS SYSTEM S OPERATION IS CLEVERLY WOVEN INTO THE PLOT. Mark Pangborn, General Manager, Lane Transit District (ret.)
