Snap Judgement

Snap Judgement is the first in a series of fiction stories featuring California Highway Patrol (CHP) Officer Corbin 'CD' Dixon. This story takes place in Lake County, California, home of the Clear Lake CHP Office. Officer Dixon is assigned to investigate a fatal hit-and-run accident near the mountain community of Cobb, in which Shelly Travers, the wife of prominent local defense attorney Jack Travers, is killed. As the clues reveal, Shelly was actually struck by two separate hit-and-run vehicles, the first of which severely injured her, and then a second vehicle, which killed her outright. CD must find them both to unravel the case. When CD is unexpectedly thwarted at every turn by Travers, he begins to suspect the first 'accident' may be a murder, and that Travers himself is the prime suspect. A carefully orchestrated game of cat and mouse ensues, as Travers remains one step ahead of CD, and, one by one, every piece of potential evidence is destroyed or is excluded by the courts, until he is down to one tiny scrap of cloth evidence upon which the entire case may hinge. When CD is ordered by the court to surrender the scrap of cloth for destruction, the case appears lost. Then CD comes up with a tricky plan to save the scrap of fiber as evidence. Will it work? Just when it appears it might be successful, the case is blown wide open by the most unexpected game-changing witness.