3 Men and a Body Read Online Free PDF Page B

ask if it
    wasn’t important.”
    “I’m sorry. I just can’t help you. Maybe you should call the
    police—”
    Mouse flipped the phone shut, then sighed. “I should’ve
    worn a dark suit.” He went to the door, opened it and
    shook his head.
    The Carver reappeared, a paper napkin tucked in his col ar
    like a bib. Wesley considered making a run for it, but he
    was having trouble even holding his head up. Besides, he
    was stil wearing only one shoe. And he wouldn’t get far
    with his hands cuffed. Mouse held him for the next
    carving, but Wesley didn’t put up much resistance as an R
    was engraved on his arm. He didn’t even have the strength
    to squeal. The Carver left with no conversation.
    Wesley was on the verge of passing out.
    “You’re kil ing me, kid,” Mouse said. “Give me a name—a
    good one.”
    With what little strength he had left, Wesley considered
    his options—all of them bad, but one of them viable.
    Objectionable, but viable.
    He gave Mouse the name and hoped for the best.

    5
    Carlotta stood in her living room and glared up at Jack.
    “Why are you just standing there? Do something!”
    Jack seemed to struggle for patience. “Carlotta, we can’t
    just send in a SWAT team to storm the place. We need a
    warrant, and I can’t get one without probable cause. I
    need some kind of proof that Hol is Carver kidnapped
    Wesley or—” He broke off. “Or that he’s holding him.”
    “You were going to say proof that he’s kil ed him, weren’t
    you?” “No.”
    “So that’s the guy’s real name—Hol is Carver?”
    Jack nodded.
    She threw her hands in the air, and cringed when pain
    zipped up her left arm. “If you’re on first-name basis with
    this criminal, why don’t you call him up and ask him if he
    has Wesley?”
    He hesitated. “With Hol is Carver, the communication is
    one-way.”
    “Meaning what?”
    “Meaning,” Hannah interjected, her eyes narrowed at
    Jack, “The Carver is a narc. And the police leave him alone,
    right?”
    Carlotta looked back to Jack. “Is that true?”
    He scratched the back of his neck—she was starting to
    learn his “tel s.” He didn’t want to say.
    “Jack?”
    “I can’t divulge anything that might impact open and
    future investigations. But Hol is Carver has been helpful to
    the APD in cleaning up the city.”
    “Cleaning it up?”
    He jammed his hands on his hips, feet wide. “Yes. Believe
    it or not, Carlotta, there are a lot worse criminals in this
    city than The Carver. People sel ing poison crack cocaine.
    Sickos running pedophile rings. Serial kil ers—as if I have to
    remind you. Hol is Carver lends money to foolish,
    desperate people. Unless he starts kil ing off nonpaying
    customers, it’s his business, not the police department’s.”
    She stepped as close to him as she could get without
    touching him, and lifted her chin. “So he has to kil Wesley
    before you’l get involved, is that what you’re saying?”
    A muscle ticked in his jaw. “No, that’s not what I’m saying.
    I sent a couple of uniforms to Carver’s warehouse to take a
    look around. If we find something that might have
    belonged to Wesley—his bike, for instance—then we’ll
    have something to work with. Until then, you need to calm
    down.” He glanced at Hannah, who was parked on the
    couch. “Help me out here.”
    Hannah scoffed. “You’re on your own, Starsky.” She
    continued flipping through TV channels.
    Carlotta looked up at him, changing tack. “I’m scared,
    Jack.”
    He sighed. “Carlotta, you’re not responsible for the
    decisions made by the men in your family.”
    “Why are you bringing up my father?” Her throat
    constricted and she self-consciously rubbed her arm over
    the area where the note was tucked into her bra. Her
    heart beat faster, then she relaxed a little—Jack couldn’t
    possibly know about the note.
    He glanced away. Another tel . He was keeping something
    from her.
    But then, she was keeping something from