Dead Lies Read Online Free PDF

beautifully maintained as this. Most of the crime scenes she’d come across during her three years as a city cop were total pits, places that animals shouldn’t live in, let alone people. They reflected the apathy—and despair—of their occupants. She’d never really understood the level of poverty in New York City until she’d earned her badge and started seeing what was behind the walls of the worst neighborhoods.
    By far the most disgusting apartment she’d searched was a dingy basement flat inhabited by a lowly Mob enforcer nicknamed Tommy Two-by-Four—so-called because he had once beaten a hooker nearly to death using a piece of wood outfitted with a rusty nail. Anna and her team were raiding his apartment because Tony was the prime suspect in a drug shoot out that had left three people dead, and she could still vividly recall the sight that greeted her when they busted down his door. The apartment was dark and cramped, and every inch of it was filled with piles of junk, everything from stacks of old newspapers and greasy pizza boxes to empty beer bottles and piles of rodent droppings. The smell of rotting food and urine was overwhelming.
    Doing their best to ignore the foul odor and scurry of little critters scurrying for cover among the rubbish, she and her fellow officers had made a thorough search of the place. They worked their way through the living room then moved to the kitchen and bathroom and finally the bedroom. They’d had to work in the dark because the electricity wasn’t on. Clearly Tommy Two-by-Four hadn’t been paying his bills. Anna was given the task of checking the bedroom—the last place they needed to clear—and when she opened the closet door she became aware of movement in back. She’d almost discharged her weapon, but just as she was about to fire, she realized it wasn’t a figure hiding in the shadows. Rather, the entire back wall seemed to be moving, like a dark, shiny curtain shimmering in the breeze. She could hear a faint rustling noise, something that sounded a little like a body being dragged across the floor, then jumped back in horror when she realized what she was looking at. The wall wascovered with cockroaches.
    She’d turned away and vomited on the floor.
    Although the incident had occurred almost three years ago, Anna remembered it like it was yesterday. She still found it hard to believe that people—even murdering low-lifes like Tommy Two-by-Four—lived that way.
    She turned her attention back to Sanjay, who was pointing at a drawer in the wall unit. It contained a velvet-lined jewelry tray. An empty one. Except for a single gold hoop earring stuck in the corner.
    The couple had been robbed.
    “Hard to believe that someone killed two people for that,” Frank said skeptically.
    Anna agreed. Burglars usually didn’t kill the homeowners; they broke in when nobody was home. She opened her mouth to comment but was stopped by the sudden sounds of banging and yelling coming from downstairs.
    “What the…?” said Frank with alarm.
    A piercing cry came from downstairs, making the hairs on Anna’s arms stand up and salute.
    “Paul!” she gasped. She raced from the room, the other two officers at her heels. Together, the three cops bounded down the stairs, hearing commotion in the kitchen. When they reached the center hall, they instinctively separated, each heading the way they’d originally come. Even in their haste, they knew it was safest to approach from different locations. They all carefully entered the kitchen at the same moment, and the sight of what lay before them made them re-holster their weapons.
    The victim’s brother was sitting in the middle of the bloody floor, his white dress shirt covered with bright red stains. He was clutching his dead sister’s body, crying, “No, no,” over and over again. His other sister was crouching behind him, one arm wrapped around him and the other pushing at Paul, who was unsuccessfully trying to pull them away.