As promised, here is the first chapter of my upcoming book, A Killer Present. I hope you enjoy it.

    As the woman sat bound to the chair, Chuck studied her. Her head was slumped forward in unconscious repose, chin resting on her collar, brown hair falling over her face. Even dressed as she was in only her underwear, she didn't do anything for him. Chuck figured the best way to describe her was homely.
    She stirred, her head lolling to the side as she began her return to consciousness. Within a minute she was looking around. When her eyes found him, she spoke.
    "Charlie..." her voice rasped. "What... what's happening?"
    "Kari," he said, moving closer, setting his own chair in front of her. "I need information from you."
    "Information?" she repeated, as though it were a new word he'd just invented. "I don't understand. Where... my clothes."
    Kari tried to move her hands, but they were bound to the back of her chair by plastic ties. Fear finally began to show on her face as her predicament dawned on her.
    "I've taken your clothes until you tell me what I need to know," he explained.
    "It's cold," she said, her teeth rattling, her breath steaming.
    "Yes, it is. About ten degrees. The sooner you tell me what I need to know, the sooner you can have your clothes back."
    "What... what do you want?"
    "I need some information about one of your patients," Chuck explained.
    "I c... can't give you information about my patients. It's c... confidential."
    Her teeth continued to rattle and the rest of her shivered.
    "When you got your PhD, did you have to study hypothermia?"
    "I'm not that kind of doctor," she said.
    "I know, but how long do you think it takes for hypothermia to set in at temperatures like this?"
    "I don't know."
    "Neither do I," Chuck admitted. "Do you want to find out?"
    Kari shook her head.
    "Tell me about Holly," Chuck said.
    "Who?"
    "Don't play stupid, doc. Teenage girl, blonde, recently pregnant. Recently not. You know who I'm talking about."
    "I don't know-"
    Chuck cut her off by slapping her across the face. It was open-handed and it stung even his gloved hand, but it wouldn't do any real damage.
    "Don't lie, doc. You know who I'm talking about."
    "She's not my patient any longer," Kari admitted.
    "That's okay. When was the last time you saw her?"
    "She hasn't been my patient for months," she said.
    Chuck slapped her again, across the other side of her face. She gasped after the contact.
    "I know you visited her two days ago in the hospital."
    "Then why did you ask?"
    Chuck chuckled.
    "I want you to understand that I know when you're lying to me. Do you understand that?"
    Kari nodded.
    "Good. Now tell me, where is she?"
    "I don't know."
    He hit her again.
    "I don't," she said with a whimper.
    "Doc, you must know something. Otherwise, how would you have known she was in the hospital?"
    "I got a call."
    "From who?"
    Kari shook her head. Chuck struck her again, this time with a closed hand.
    "Who called you to tell you she was in the hospital?" he asked again.
    "Beth," she replied, between sobs.
    "Beth who?" Chuck asked.
    Again she shook her head. Again Chuck was forced to hit her. She shook him off, so he did it once more.
    "You need to talk to me, Kari," he calmly told her.
    "Why should I?"
    "For your own good."
    "You're going to kill me anyway," she sobbed.
    "Why would you say that?"
    "Because I know who you are. I can describe you to the police."
    "That's true." Chuck shrugged. "Okay, so you know I'm going to kill you. The question is, how unpleasant will your last moments be?"
    "I don't care," Kari said, defiance in her voice.
    "You don't care? I can be pretty unpleasant when I need to be."
    "I don't care," she repeated. She looked him right in the eye. "I've had worse."
    "I genuinely doubt that," he replied, smiling.
    "Do what you want. You're not getting anything else out of me."
    Chuck took a moment to study the woman. He hadn't expected to meet any real resistance in her. He didn't think she had that sort of resolve in her. He had pegged her as a meek and mousy woman averse to pain.
    "So Beth..." he said, trailing off. "You think she'll be as tough a nut to crack as you?"
    It was Kari's turn to study him. Perhaps she was gauging how likely he was to find Beth.
    "Do you think I can't find her?" he asked.
    "It doesn't matter," she replied.
    "Why's that?"
    "She won't tell you anything, either."
    Chuck shook his head in mild awe. He had interrogated men who coughed up information after less abuse and intimidation.
    He punched Kari in the stomach. She tried to ball up into herself, but her legs were bound to the chair as well. Instead, she simply retched as her abdomen went through a series of spasms and her lungs tried to take in the cold air.
    Chuck grabbed her by the hair and turned her face up. Her expression was pained, but not submissive. He punched her in the nose, hearing cartilage snap and crack.
    Again he turned her head using her hair. She spit blood into his face. Chuck laughed as he wiped it away. Kari held her chin up defiantly. Chuck obliged her with an uppercut that toppled the chair backward.
    Chuck heard another crack as she hit the concrete floor. He figured that had to hurt worse than the punch.
    Grabbing the chair between her legs, he righted it once more. Kari's head lolled as she settled upright again. Taking another handful of hair, he looked into her face. Her eyes were closed, blood from her nose colored her mouth. He slapped her a couple of times to get her attention. It had no effect.
    "Come on now, I'm not done with you yet," he said, slapping her a bit harder.
    When he got no response, he sat back down in his chair to wait. He wiped the sweat off his forehead with the back of his gloved hand. The beads of sweat trickling down the nape of his neck were a rude reminder of the chill in the air. That and the puffs of steam as he caught his breath from the rush of his exertment.
    Chuck froze for a moment, holding his breath. The steam cleared. He noticed there was none around Kari.
    "Shit," he muttered as he reached out to her neck.
    He felt for a pulse, found none.
    "Shit," he repeated.
    Chuck reached around to the back of her head, felt up her neck to the base of her skull. He stood when he felt the gash there. Looking behind her, he could see where her head had hit off the concrete base of a steel pillar. A red stain marred its otherwise pristine new grey.
    "Well God damn it," he swore.
    He looked around the rest of the open floor. Countless other steel pillars just like it dotted this level of the unfinished building. Chuck knew that if he'd simply angled the chair a little to the side, he would not have had this hiccup. But he hadn't expected the woman to offer any real resistance.
    "Fucking sloppy," he chastised himself.
    There was nothing to be done for it now. Chuck cut Kari loose from the plastic ties binding her to the chair. Lifting her up into a fireman's carry, he walked over to the edge of the floor where an orange waste chute opened. Angling her head-first, he pushed her into it. A moment later, he heard a heavy crash as Kari's body hit the waiting dumpster below.
    Chuck grabbed the chairs, tossing them into the chute as well, before making his way out of the new building. He climbed into his car and pulled out of the lot of the construction area. He needed to find Beth.