Dirty Work (Rapid Reads) Read Online Free PDF Page A

Hot, but a good girl. No trouble. Henry said he thought she had a boyfriend at Bloomfield Prep. A mile or two away from Wilton.”
    Gulliver said, “I figured she must’ve had a boyfriend. So there’s nothing there.”
    “I didn’t say that. Did I say that? Seems a few of the girls reported seeing an older man hangin’ around just outside the campus. He had cameras and such. Henry saw the man. Tried to chase him off. The older man wouldn’t go. He said he was on public land. Said he was bird-watchin’. Henry thinks he was bird-watchin’, all right. That bird was named Anka Morton. Guy had a camera on a tripod. Henry looked through it. It was aimed at Anka’s dorm-room window.”
    “Was it reported to the local cops?” Gulliver asked.
    “It was. But like the guy said, he was on public land.”
    “Did Henry get the man’s name?”
    “Nah. Guy refused to give it. There wasn’t nothin’ Henry could do about that.”
    “Maybe it was nothing.” Gulliver didn’t really believe what he had just said.
    Ahmed shook his head. “That’s what Henry thought too. Then he was in town one day when he was off duty. He saw that guy comin’ out of the local coffee shop. When Henry went inside, Anka was sittin’ at a table for two. There was a wrapped-up gift box in a shopping bag next to the table. The girl was, like, all smiley and shit.”
    “Maybe Henry was reading too much into it, Ahmed. Maybe they both just happened to be there at the same time.”
    “Sorry, little man, but no. Coffee shop was empty ’cept for Anka. The only table in use was that two-top. He had definitely been at that table with her. I’m thinkin’ he’s a predator. You know. Chats her up online and then starts bringin’ her gifts and all. Next time maybe they ain’t meetin’ at no coffee shop, but at the local no-tell motel.”
    “Could be. Or maybe he was setting her up for something else.”
    Ahmed didn’t get it. “Somethin’ else. Like what?”
    “Never mind that. Did Henry tell you what the guy looked like?”
    “White, thirty-five or forty. About six foot tall, two hundred pounds. Light brown hair. Blue eyes.”
    “Okay,” Gulliver said. “Head to Staten Island.”
    “Staten Island! What’s in Staten Island besides that big closed-down garbage dump?”
    “Joey Vespucci.”
    “You crazy, Gulliver? That man ain’t gonna talk to you.”
    “How much money did it take to get Henry to talk to you?”
    “A hundred bucks,” Ahmed said. “Why?”
    “Double or nothing. If Joey Dollar Menu will see me, you lose the hundred. If the man refuses, you get the hundred back plus another hundred on top.”
    Ahmed removed his right hand from the steering wheel. He offered it to Gulliver. “It’s a bet.”
    Gulliver shook it. “Staten Island, here we come.”

Chapter Seven
    F or years the Todt Hill area of Staten Island had been a favorite of the mob. Gulliver wondered if the mob boys knew that todt meant dead in Dutch. He doubted it. The wiseguys Gulliver knew weren’t keen on learning Dutch. Or the deeper meanings of things. The Mafia types he met were focused on three things. Making money. Staying out of prison. And staying alive. Since the mid- 1980 s, all of those things were harder to do. The Mafia was still alive and kicking. Just not as alive or as kicking as it once had been. The code of silence that had kept the big bosses out of the law’s reach was a thing of the past.
    The only big boss left with a high profile was Joey Vespucci. The other bosses were like ghosts. You didn’t see their names in the papers. You didn’t see them on TV . They lived quietly, in tasteful houses far away from the old neighborhoods.
    That wasn’t Joey Vespucci’s way. He made sure the world knew who he was. He lived in a huge house. It was much bigger than the rest of the houses on his street. Not only was his home too large, it was ugly. It looked like a mix between a stucco castle, a fast-food restaurant and a strip club. The lawn