Casting Bones Read Online Free PDF

part of the drug ring he’d tried to expose. He’d busted his ass to prove there was at least one member of the clan who turned out all right. And look where it got him.
    â€˜So you do want this kid to be guilty.’
    â€˜Sure. Anything to make this job easier. Anything to make us a hero. That’s what it’s about, Q. We come off like heroes and the world is good. Let’s make this guy the killer. All of our problems go away.’
    â€˜Where does he live?’
    â€˜The Lower Ninth.’
    Q nodded. ‘How do we play it?’
    â€˜Probably two doors. I’ll knock on the front, you cover the back.’
    The Buick cruised by Mango Mango on Conti and Bourbon, the original absinthe house where such notables as Andrew Jackson and Mark Twain had hoisted a drink. The garish neon sign advertising daiquiris was a more recent addition.
    Out of the Quarter the route took a stranger twist, Strand pointing out the old Intracoastal, showing Archer where the water had overflowed the banks when Katrina hit.
    â€˜Hell of a mess, Q. I saw it with my own eyes. Some of it in my old neighborhood.’
    Payback for some of the pushers, Archer thought as two young men walked toward them on the brown worn lawn. One of the boys raised his middle finger, sneering at the detectives.
    â€˜Cover’s already blown, Q. Two guys wearing ties in this neighborhood got to be cops.’
    Further into the Lower Ninth, Archer saw the crudely drawn tattoos on the houses.
    Archer had researched the drawings. They appeared on specific homes. The search-and-rescue teams had marked those that had already been searched so that people would know not to re-search. The signals also marked which houses had dead bodies so that workers could come for them. Very sad.
    â€˜Badges of courage, man. Some of these homes, no one’s there. But some of them remodeled and they leave that information on the front. The Katrina tattoo. It’s an honor.’
    He pointed to the left.
    â€˜Down here, Fats Domino’s studio. And the Ellis Marsalis School of Music in Musician Village. Man, Harry Connick Jr and Wynton Marsalis, they helped a lot. But look at those homes there.’
    The detective pointed to an odd-looking shotgun house, narrow and two stories high.
    â€˜This is what’s happening, man. The actor Brad Pitt and some other guys have invested some serious jack in building new homes. These people who live here, they buy the place, they pay an agreed-upon monthly and they get a really inexpensive house. On stilts, see?’
    Archer saw the new construction, complete with solar panels that heated the homes. Wouldn’t happen in Detroit. Detroit registered a little colder in the winter months. A lot colder. And the sun didn’t shine like it did here.
    â€˜Kid lives up about two streets.’ Strand stared straight ahead now, focused like a laser beam.
    Turning left, he passed four houses, before pulling up to the curb. 1323 Barataria. The number was poorly scrawled on the mailbox.
    â€˜This is it?’
    â€˜â€™Tis.’ He reached across Archer and opened the glove box. Pulling out a silver pint-sized flask he twisted off the cap and, tilting it back, took a slug. ‘You want some, Archer?’
    â€˜No. I’m on duty.’
    â€˜Duty gets a little easier, my man. Jack Daniel’s has been my partner for several years.’
    â€˜I’ll cover the back,’ Archer hesitated, ‘and the side. Sometimes there’s a—’
    â€˜Side door. I know. Chances aren’t likely. These older homes were built on the cheap. Front door, back door …’
    Strand wiped his lips, put the flask back into the compartment and they both stepped from the car.
    â€˜Give me a second to hit the rear and—’
    Archer was interrupted by a tall figure who appeared from behind the house, running full pelt. In seven seconds the runner was behind the ramshackle building to the