No Witness but the Moon by Suzanne Chazin is the 3rd book in the Jimmy Vega Mystery series, featuring a tense stand-off between a Hispanic police officer and an undocumented immigrant that leads to the shooting death of one, the shattered life of the other, and the shocking connection between them (Available October 25, 2016).
Read this exclusive excerpt from No Witness but the Moon by Suzanne Chazin, and make sure you're signed in and comment below for a chance to win the latest Jimmy Vega mystery!
On a clear, moonlit night in December, police detective Jimmy Vega races to the scene of a reported home invasion in an upscale New York community. As Vega arrives, he spots a Hispanic man who fits the description of the armed intruder, running from the victim’s estate. Vega chases him into the woods. When the suspect refuses to surrender—and reaches into his pocket—Vega has only seconds to make a life-or-death decision.
What begins as a tragic mistake takes an even darker turn when Vega uncovers disturbing links between the dead man and his own mother’s brutal, unsolved murder. Vega’s need for answers propels him back to his old Bronx neighborhood, where he is viewed as a disgraced cop, not a homegrown hero. It also puts him at odds with his girlfriend, Adele Figueroa, head of a local immigrant center, who must weigh her own doubts about his behavior.
When a shocking piece of evidence surfaces, it becomes clear that someone doesn’t want Vega to put all the pieces together—and is willing to do whatever it takes to bury the truth. Only by risking everything will Vega be able to find justice, redemption, and the most elusive goal of all: the ability to forgive himself.
Excerpt
He typed Six Oak Hill into his GPS. He was two streets away. He could be on the scene long before any of the Wickford patrols or an ambulance responded. He grabbed the speaker on his department radio.
“County twenty-nine,” he said, identifying his unmarked vehicle to dispatchers. “I’m on Perkins Road in Wickford. I’ll take this in. Alert local PD that a plainclothes Hispanic detective will be on scene in a silver Pontiac Grand Am.” Vega didn’t want to get shot by some townie cop who mistakenly took him for the perp.
He turned off Perkins Road and navigated his way to Oak Hill—a steep ridge of newly constructed estates on four-acre expanses of lawn. Deep pockets of woods blocked the road from any of its neighbors and its high elevation kept the trees on adjoining roads from spoiling the view. There were only a few houses on the cul-de-sac. Six Oak Hill was a sprawling red-tile-roofed hacienda at the end of a long circular driveway. There were no cars parked on the street but that didn’t mean one wasn’t parked nearby. From what Vega had learned about the gang’s operations, they sent a forward party of one or two guys. Only after they’d secured the property did they bring a car.
He nosed the Grand Am along the curb and switched on his police grill lights. They bathed the perfectly trimmed boxwood hedge and pale stucco arches of the house in alternating flashes of red and blue. There was a fountain at the center of the driveway but it looked as if it had been turned off for the winter. The night air was still and silent save for the voice of a female dispatcher over his police radio giving the estimated time of arrival for backup. It would be at least four minutes.
Vega sprang from his car and began walking briskly down the driveway. He tensed as a door along the side of the house swung open. A short, Hispanic-looking man in a puffy black jacket and jeans stumbled onto the driveway. Floodlights bounced off the brim of his tan baseball cap. The man’s right hand clutched his left shoulder as he tried to regain his footing. On his heels was a taller, movie star handsome man, also Hispanic-looking, waving a gun.
Vega pulled his Glock 19 service pistol from his holster and sprinted down the driveway.
“Police!” He shouted, pointing his weapon at the good-looking man. “Drop the gun! Hands up!”
The man immediately obeyed. “I’m Ricardo Luis,” he called out in a Spanish accent. “Don’t shoot! This is my home.” His name sounded vaguely familiar but Vega was too pumped up to remember where he’d heard it.
The man in the baseball cap pitched forward and ran into the rear yard, still clutching his left shoulder. Then he disappeared.
“Stay where you are,” Vega ordered Luis. “Keep your hands where I can see them. More police are coming.” Vega scooped Luis’s weapon off the driveway and tucked it into his waistband next to his handcuffs. Then he took off after the other figure in the baseball cap.
Bright floodlights blinded Vega as he plastered his body up against the side of the house and scanned the backyard for movement. Colored strands of Christmas lights flashed from a white columned pergola, illuminating a patio and pool covered over for the winter and a fenced tennis court to the far right. Nothing moved. Vega tried to catch his breath. He waited. And then he saw it—the shadow of something moving at the edge of the tennis courts. A figure. The suspect broke from the bushes and began running straight for the woods in back.
“Police! Stop!” Vega shouted again. The man kept running. Even with a full moon out tonight, Vega knew the canopy of dense branches and pines would seal off the light. He had no idea how far the woods extended. In Wickford, it could easily go a half mile in any direction. Still, he couldn’t hang back. He couldn’t take the chance that once again, this gang would get away.
He ran to the pergola and took cover behind one of the columns. He felt like a pinball in an arcade game, zigzagging between bumpers, trying to stay out the line of fire as he made his way across the lawn. His heart beat hard against his ribcage. Sweat poured down his body. The homeowner’s gun was digging into the small of Vega’s back. The cold had begun to numb his fingers around the handle of his gun. Vega wished he were back in uniform. At least he’d have a radio on his collar—not this bulky hand-held unit that only served to weigh him down. At least he’d be wearing his Kevlar vest. He still owned one but he hadn’t expected to need it today.
Vega was at the edge of the woods now. He’d lost the suspect entirely. The darkness was like a wool blanket. Overhead, bright moonlight dusted the tops of the trees. But on the ground, there were only shapes and silhouettes. Thorny branches snagged Vega’s pants and jacket. Logs and stumps half-hidden by leaves tripped up his feet. The cold made his nose run and his fingers tingle. He heard the whoosh of his own hard breathing in his ears. He couldn’t turn on his flashlight. He had to mute the volume on his radio. Both would give away his location. So he was forced to stagger blindly across the uneven terrain, guided only by sound and shadow.
The land sloped steeply downward. Vega felt drawn by gravity and momentum. Ahead, he heard the snap of dry branches and the crunch of dead leaves. That made it easier to track the suspect’s location but also for the suspect to track his. If there was a gang waiting to ambush Vega at the bottom of this hill, he was as good as dead.
Then Vega’s right eye caught something in his peripheral vision. He swung his whole body in the direction of the movement and listened. He heard a crackle of dead branches. A scuff of pebbles. Vega’s heart fisted up in his chest. He aimed his gun. The milliseconds felt like hours. Something darted out of the bushes. Something sleek and fast. Moonlight caught the white of its tail. A deer. It leapt over a log and scampered away. Was that all it was? Vega couldn’t be sure. His own sandpaper breathing trumped every other sound.
And then—luck. Fifty feet farther down the hill, the suspect stumbled, his forward momentum carrying him right into a clearing that was lit up by a neighbor’s floodlight. The man got to his feet but before he could start running again, Vega caught up just short of the pool of light and took cover behind a tree.
“Police! Stop! Put your hands over your head!”
The suspect froze. He had his back to Vega but he was hunched over slightly, breathing hard, his jacket rising and falling with each intake of breath. Vega trained his gun on the man’s torso and waited for him to straighten and put his hands in the air.
He didn’t.
The suspect’s left hand remained somewhere in front of him out of Vega’s line of sight. His right one stayed planted on his left shoulder. Was he shot? Reaching for a weapon? From this angle, Vega couldn’t be sure. In the time it would take to be sure, it could all be over. Several years ago while working undercover in narcotics, Vega had witnessed one drug dealer shoot and kill another. One minute, they were standing around arguing the disputed weight of the merchandise. The next, one of the dealers was lying on the ground, bleeding out. It had happened that fast. Vega never saw it coming.
“Let me see your hands!” Vega shouted again.
No response. No compliance. Was he stalling? Vega scanned the woods. This was just how that rookie in Connecticut got disarmed. He thought he’d gotten the drop on one of the gang only to find himself surrounded by three more.
Vega switched to Spanish: “Estoy policía! Déjeme ver sus manos!” I’m the police! Let me see your hands!
Nothing.
“Are you deaf, pendejo? Está usted sordo?”
The man straightened but kept his back to Vega and his hands hidden. “Hay una razón…” the man choked out between gasps of air, “…por la que…hice esto.” There’s a reason I did this.
So they were going to conduct this interchange in Spanish. Fine. At least now Vega knew. But why wasn’t the suspect cooperating? What could he possibly hope to gain by refusing to obey a police officer with a gun pointed at him? “I don’t care about your reason, pendejo,” Vega replied in Spanish. “Put your hands where I can see them.”
“You are making a mistake,” said the man in Spanish.
Was that a threat? “Show me your hands! Now!”
Vega felt a burning in his gut—that fight or flight instinct that every officer has to conquer in order to survive. You can’t back down when you’re a cop. You can’t negotiate a command or turn it into a request—or, God forbid, a plea. You’re no good to anybody if you do. Not to other cops. Not to civilians. Not even to yourself. You have to own the situation or one way or another, it will own you.
“I’m not gonna tell you again,” shouted Vega.
“But you don’t understand. You can’t do this—”
The man lifted his right hand off his left shoulder. Vega thought he was going to raise it in the air. Instead, he shoved it into the right front pocket of his jeans and spun around to face Vega.
One. Two. Two seconds. That’s all the time a police officer has to make a decision.
One. Two. A lot can happen in two seconds.
An object can fall sixty-four feet.
A bullet can travel a mile.
And an indecisive cop can become a dead one.
Vega wasn’t aware of squeezing the trigger. But he heard the shots. Like burst balloons.
Bam
Bam
Bam
Bam
The man crumpled to the ground. The confrontation was over.
The pain had just begun.
Copyright © 2016 Suzanne Chazin.
Comment below for a chance to win a copy of No Witness but the Moon by Suzanne Chazin!
To enter, make sure you're a registered member of the site and simply leave a comment below.
TIP: Since only comments from registered users will be tabulated, if your user name appears in red above your comment—STOP—go log in, then try commenting again. If your user name appears in black above your comment, You’re In!
No Witness but the Moon Comment Sweepstakes: NO PURCHASE NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN. A purchase does not improve your chances of winning. Sweepstakes open to legal residents of 50 United States, D.C., and Canada (excluding Quebec), who are 18 years or older as of the date of entry. To enter, complete the “Post a Comment” entry at https://www.criminalelement.com/stories/2016/10/no-witness-but-the-moon-new-excerpt-suzanne-chazin-comment-sweepstakes beginning at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time (ET) October 17, 2016. Sweepstakes ends 9:59 a.m. ET October 24, 2016. Void outside the United States and Canada and where prohibited by law. Please see full details and official rules here. Sponsor: Macmillan, 175 Fifth Ave., New York, NY 10010.
To learn more or order a copy, visit:
opens in a new window
opens in a new window
Suzanne Chazin won widespread acclaim for the first mystery in the Jimmy Vega series, Land of Careful Shadows, and for its sequel, A Blossom of Bright Light. She is also the author of The Fourth Angel, Flashover, and Fireplay. She has twice been the recipient of the Washington Irving Book Award for fiction. Her fiction, essays and articles have appeared in numerous magazines and newspapers, as well as the award-winning short story anthology, Bronx Noir. She lives in the New York City area. Visit her on Facebook or at www.suzannechazin.com.
This is a very real, human story…can’t wait to read it!
Looks like a good series to read
I would love to read the book.
Would love to win!
Great series…looking forward to this newest installment! Thank you for the chance to win a copy!!
This is a new author for me. Would love to win a copy.
Suzanne Chazin is also a new author to me. Looking forward to reading her work.
This sounds like an interesting title.
Yes, please enter me in this sweepstakes.
Thanks!
Oh this looks incredible!! I’ve wanted to read this series since the first book was released but this one sounds like the best one yet! I’d absolutely LOVE to have a copy!
Sounds like an interesting series.
That situation is something that policeman have to deal with. Split second decisions that have grave consequences.
interesting excerpt
Definitely one of those “I want to know what happens next” novels…and I do!
Looks great
Love a good mystery!
sounds like a good one
Wow!! This sounds like a great book! I would love to win this.
Looks like a fun read. Looking forward to it.
Sounds like a really great book. One I hope to read.
Looks very intriguing.
This is one book I want to read, a story very much in the news.
The story sounds interesting
I don’t believe I’ve read another Jimmy Vega book but this one sounds like a good one to start with.
This sounds great–how have I missed this series?
Wouild love to read a Jimmy Vega mystery!
I would like to read this book. It sounds like one that you don’t want to put down until it is all read.
Looks great. Thanks for the excerpt.
New author to me. Sounds exciting. Thanks for the excerpt.
Count me in, please!
read the excerpt, sounds good thanks
Sounds like a winner.
I’m eager to read more!
Interesting start to the book. Now I need the book to finish it.
This excerpt certainly fits into some of the recent news stories, and highlights the quick and sometimes horrible decisions policemen have to make in a split second.
new to me author and series – i really liked the excerpt and am very interested in reading this book.
I enjoyed reading the excerpt. It looks like an exciting read. Wish me luck!
Read the blurb of this book. Am excited to read the whole story.
Thanks for the opportunity to learn about a new mystery offer. I love learning of all your new books.
Would love to read this book!
Would love to read this book!