âKeri? Are you sitting down? Itâs about Justin Kramer.â
It had been some years since detective Keri Mahoney had heard her first loveâs name, but it had cropped up only too often in recent weeks. Her sister Ravenâs phone call got her full attention. âWhat about him?â
âI think the Kansas City police are getting close to an arrest. Justin and his lawyer spent the better part of the afternoon in an interrogation room with the detectives working his wifeâs homicide.â
âI just canât believe it,â Keri breathed, almost to herself.
âI absolutely donât believe it,â Raven said emphatically. âJustin Kramer is no killer.â
âNot when he was fourteen, you mean.â But considering he never bothered to keep in touch after his familyâs move, how could Keri really know if he was capable of murder at the ripe old age of twenty-nine?
The Mahoney Sisters: Fighting for justice and love.
REASONABLE DOUBT
SUSPICION OF GUILT
BETRAYAL OF TRUST
lives in Missouri with her husband and their four children. She writes full-time and is active in various roles in her home church. She has won several awards for her writing and credits Godâs grace and a limited number of entries for each win. To relax, she enjoys long talks with her husband, reading and music and hanging out with her kids, who can finally enjoy movies she likes. Tracey loves to encourage everyone to dream big. She believes she is living proof that, with God, nothing is impossible.
Reasonable Doubt
Tracey V. Bateman
âFor I know the plans I have for you,â says the Lord. âThey are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.â
âJeremiah 29:11
Dedicated to my niece Amanda Guidry.
Thanks for your editorial input and practical, commonsense ideas as I put the proposal together for this book. You are so talented. I look forward to watching as God unfolds your future.
Dear Reader,
Is God really a God of second chances? Would Jesus have told His disciples to forgive seventy times seven if He Himself were not willing to do the same?
These were the questions probing my mind and heart as I worked on Reasonable Doubt. Looking back at the poor choices Iâve made over the years, and particularly in my late teens and early twenties, I am awed and humbled at the grace God has poured into my life to give me a future and a hope that I donât deserve. His mercies are new and fresh daily. Oh, how grateful I am for that.
The world is so hopeless, so unforgiving, but we have a message to give that there is hope. As Justin and Keri discovered, although poor choices drove them apart, God saw the end from the beginning and brought them back together in order to use them for His glorious purpose.
My prayer as I write this, my first letter to Steeple Hill readers, is that God spoke to your heart through this book, that He assured you that you have His plan and His purpose for youâa future and a hope, new mercies every day.
Until next time, may God bless you and keep you in His care.
Tracey V. Bateman
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Justin Kramer knew two things for certain.
One, he hadnât murdered his wife.
Two, the detectives werenât buying it.
The four-month-old memory of Ameliaâs body lying facedown on the blue living-room carpet was etched as a horrifying image in his mind. An image Justin knew he wouldnât shake for the rest of his lifeâwhich, if the cops had their way, would be spent up the river, without possibility of parole.
The detectives stood over him like a couple of lions working together to bring down a zebra. Justinâs glare swept them both. âWhat do you think my wifeâs killer is doing while you two are playing good cop/bad cop for the third time?â
Detective Raney slapped his hands flat on the table and rested his considerable weight on tree trunk-like arms. He leaned forward and stared Justin square in the eye.
Disgusted, Justin clamped his lips together and shifted backward. The guyâs breath stank of cigarettes and coffeeâone or the other was enough to gag a horse. Together they were nothing less than cruel and unusual punishment.
The detective pressed forward to close the distance caused by Justinâs not-so-subtle retreat. âJust shut your smart mouth and answer the questions.â
Without even trying to hide his amusement, Justin twisted his lips. âI canât shut my mouth and answer the questions at the same time.â He knew he sounded like a juvenile delinquent, but he was getting pretty sick of being accused of murder when heâd done nothing worse than allow Amelia to run all over him for years.
Detective Appling clapped his partner on the shoulder, effectively getting him out of Justinâs immediate air space.
Applingâs face molded into an amiable expressionâone obviously carefully practiced and intended to instill confidence in the would-be criminal. âCome on, Justin. Donât you think itâs time to tell the truth?â