Richard Duggan

Silent Witness to Murder Richard Duggan

SILENT WITNESS TO MURDERA Fictional Novel At the conclusion of the author's first book of this series, Friends and Betrayals, and as Silent Witness to Murder opens, John Ryan and his wife B. J. decided to renew their wedding vows by enjoying a second honeymoon vacation at Freeport, Bahamas. On the final day of their stay at the resort hotel, while B. J. was packing for their trip home in Kansas City, John decided to turn on T. V. to find out what was happening in the news. He and B. J. were shocked as Liz Bollinger of Worldwide Cable News, broadcasting from Kansas City, informed the viewers of a gangland-execution-style shooing, in which John's friend Frank Genovo was the intended target and John's dad Harry Ryan was an unintended victim. Only one witness saw the shootings, a neighbor who lived across the street from John's mother and father. She was walking her dog late on the night of the incident, and she was able to see and remember everything clearly, and exactly as it happened. However, she was afraid for herself and her pet, and when she was interviewed by the police she told them it was too dark and she was unable to see anything. Two Kansas City police detectives go about gathering evidence, but their police captain doesn't like the direction the evidence is heading, so he intentionally diverts the detectives on a different path. The two detectives abandon their previous investigation, and they eventually arrest a good friend and client of John and B. J., by the name of Chuck Robertson. Chuck claims innocence, and he pleads with John and B. J. to help him. B. J. reluctantly agrees to represent him on his criminal defense. B. J. hires a private investigator, who proceeds to dig up evidence the detectives conveniently hide or ignore. As the investigation unfolds, John and B. J. assist his mother in locating a home and in providing for her security. B. J. and John learn they are to be parents, and they purchase a new home for themselves and their new expectant child. The b