Blood of Angels: A Novel

371 Pages·2005·1.34 MB·English

by  Reed Arvin

B L O O D
o f
A N G E L S
A Novel
R E E D A R V I N
your spirit is great
it will live forever
Contents
CHAPTER 1
I am the Assistant district attorney of Davidson
County,Tennessee,… 1
CHAPTER 2
I leave the 222 West Building in downtown
Nashville in… 21
CHAPTER 3
It’s fifteen minutes before nine the next
morning when I… 38
CHAPTER 4
“That didn’t go well.” 50
CHAPTER 5
The weekend comes, and I miss Jazz like
hell. This… 67
CHAPTER 6
Hovering over our heads like the angel of
death is… 77
CHAPTER 7
we show up at the office about 3:30, half
expecting… 89
CHAPTER 8
Dr. Tina Gessman, staff psychologist for
the Metro Davidson County… 98

CHAPTER 9

I have a smashed nose. Not bad smashed—not
boxer… 125

CHAPTER 10

As a senior Prosecutor with Carl, I have

enjoyed one… 134

CHAPTER 11

We sit inside Rayburn’s car back at 222

West, but… 144

CHAPTER 12

By morning the rain clears out, leaving

behind a stifling,… 165

CHAPTER 13

Banana. cup of Peet’s . Daily Zoloft.

Breakfast, in other words. 174

CHAPTER 14

Monday. Eggs, Bacon; coffee, immaculately

prepared, then the blue pill. 180
CHAPTER 15
Rita West and I are seated in the hallway
outside…. 200
CHAPTER 16
Six o’clock the next morning, Tuesday. The
Tennessean, open to… 203
CHAPTER 17
Rhonda Hartlett, Tamra’s mother, wears a
blue, kneelength dress, high… 221
CHAPTER 18
Coffee and Zoloft, but no run. There are
two days… 238
CHAPTER 19
I head to Paul Landmeyer’s office, hoping
to get a… 243
CHAPTER 20
That night, I don’t sleep well. I wake in the… 257
CHAPTER 21
The unofficial “Paul Landmeyer Saved Our
Asses” party—precursor by only… 268
CHAPTER 22
I make it back to 222 West just before
7:00 a.m.,… 283
CHAPTER 23
My hand is on the cell phone before I’m
fully… 303
CHAPTER 24
When I killed Wilson Owens, he died
according to the… 328
CHAPTER 25
We cling to each other, waiting for the
ambulance. Jazz… 336
CHAPTER 26
Bridges and Fiona sit at the opposite end
of the… 340
CHAPTER 27
The Scar, Sarandokos assures Me, is
something he can make… 345
CHAPTER 28
The thirty-six-foot boat cuts a clear path
through the water,… 352
AUTHOR'S NOTE
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
OTHER BOOKS BY REED ARVIN
CREDITS
COVER
COPYRIGHT
ABOUT THE PUBLISHER

C H A P T E R

1
I AM TH E AS S IST AN T district attorney of Davidson County,
Tennessee, and on May 18, 2004, I killed Wilson Owens. He was
determined, and I was willing. We were like lovers, in that way.
Wilson pursued me with a string of petty thefts and miscellaneous
criminal acts—working his way through his lesser loves—until he
could wait for our union no longer. On that day—three years, two
months, and eleven days before his own death—Owens killed
Steven Davidson, the manager of the Sunshine Grocery Store in
east Nashville. The moment Wilson’s bullet entered Davidson’s
chest, the dance between us began.
I mention these names because it’s important in my line of work
that they are remembered. Both are dead, and both are lamented
by their families. Ironically, both have gravestones in the same
cemetery, Roselawn Memorial Gardens, in east Nashville; Wilson