American Crow Read Online Free PDF Page A

I
thought. Or maybe I was just losing my touch. Usually, I was good at fitting a
voice to a name, but she was just the opposite of what I’d conjured up in my mind.
She was no homely girl-next-door-type. She was covered in ink as befitting her
job. I should have realized.
    When I walked through the door she was
sitting behind a counter, thumbing through some plastic folders where people
could choose their designs. Her black hair was part-pulled up into a fierce
pony tail on the top of her head, and the few remaining strands left to dangle
loosely over her shoulders as if she’d got up late and couldn’t be bothered. I
liked her look...
    ‘So you’re the mysterious new detective
then?’ she said sarcastically, looking up.
    ‘Just Blake will do...’
    She eyed me up and down, intrigued. I was
wearing faded black jeans, an original Clash tee-shirt, and an old black bomber
jacket that had been sown up more times than I could remember.
    ‘Is that your first or second name?’ she
said with a cold smile.
    ‘Both.’
    She raised an eyebrow and pointed over to
the customers’ seats by the window. I decided to accept to make her feel in
control.
    ‘So that dick of a father is employing you now, uh?’
    I liked her assessment.
    ‘Kind of.’
    ‘But you’re not the usual sort of private
detective?’
    ‘No, I work in a different way. I look
after my contacts and respect their privacy.’
    She looked at me unsure.
    ‘And I bet Henry’s paying you a fortune,
right?’
    ‘Lots of cash thanks, that’s the other
reason I’m doing it. Look, I couldn’t give a toss about some high-flying
banker, I just want to find this friend of yours, take a picture of her to
prove that she’s alive then be on my way. If she’s wanting time out from her
father then that’s fine by me too, so don’t worry about grassing your mate up.
I won’t be telling Henry any exact locations. I don’t like sneaks myself. My
main motivation is to insure that she’s okay,’ I lied. ‘Plain and simple…’
    I threw a couple of fifty pound notes on
the counter.
    ‘These are for you anyway, if you want to
help. I’m more than happy to cover your time...’
    She stuffed the money into her bra, not
that she needed one.
    ‘I like you, Blake.’
    ‘I like me too.’
    ‘He’s the reason she went away, you
know.’
    Interesting.
    ‘Go on...’ I probed.
    ‘She said that she might go AWOL for a
bit when she got over there.’
    ‘Did she now?’
    ‘He runs her bloody life with a rod of
iron, Henry does. He smothers her, if you hadn’t gathered that already...has done
since her mother died. And she’s just had enough of it. Thought that if she
agreed to go away, it would be a good opportunity to have some time alone where
he wouldn’t be able to harass her for once.’
    ‘Really?’
    ‘Really...She might not even come back you
know, if things work out.’
    ‘I would have done the same,’ I replied,
thinking that the girl didn’t know much about America to think that possible.
    I wasn’t surprised at the revelation too.
Henry didn’t seem like the controlling sort, but I’d learnt early on not to
judge a book by its cover. 
    ‘Look, Blake. I really don’t know where
she is, okay. All I know is that she met some new guy over there and that she’s
probably very happy right now, wherever she is...’
    Bingo.
    ‘When did you hear from her last, Izzy?’
    ‘I got a Facebook message around five and
a half weeks ago. Since then, she’s gone off-line big time. Probably having too
much of a good time, the cow.’
    I smiled warmly, stood up and placed my
hand boldly over hers playing it cocky, like I’d done countless times before
when working an informant. She looked up and eyed me warily, but didn’t shy
away.
    ‘You’re a very attractive girl, Izzy.’
    ‘My boyfriend seems to think so,’ she
said with a flirtatious smile.
    I squeezed gently.
    ‘Does he get jealous?’
    ‘Yes.’
    ‘Good...I like a bit of competition.’
    I