For My Brother Read Online Free PDF

else?”
    Jason looked at Nina. They shook their heads.
    “Well, I don’t know how it is in Homicide. Down here, when you’re handed a file, you get going.”
    Nina and Jason exchanged glances, then beat a hasty retreat out the door. Back in the elevator, Nina did her best imitation.
    “Well, I don’t know how it is in Homicide…”
    Jason laughed.
    “She’s all business, that’s for sure.”
    “She’s all something.”
    The elevator doors opened and they went to their desks. Nina got on her computer while Jason read through the file.
    Ed Garland was a factory worker, had been at the same job for eight years, and lived on the west side. A uniformed officer had responded to the initial call for a missing person. Apparently, Mr. Garland didn’t show for a golf date yesterday, and his friend hadn’t been able to reach him in two days.
    Nina looked up from the computer screen.
    “No record. Valid driver’s license.”
    “Okay. Let’s go out to the house.”
     
    *******
     
    Donnie looked through the bars at his first ‘guest.’ Ed Garland sat on the blanket, one end of a padlocked chain wrapped around his leg and the other bolted to the far wall. He couldn’t move more than about two feet in either direction.
    Donnie unlocked the door. He carried a glass and a granola bar into the room.
    “Here. Drink this protein shake and eat the granola bar.”
    Ed ignored the food.
    “Why are you doing this? Why am I here?”
    “Can’t tell you yet. You’ll find out soon enough.”
    Donnie could see the fear and confusion in Ed’s face, and he felt for him, but there was no choice. Ed was just one of the necessary pieces for Billy’s plan.
    Donnie had to focus on the mission, not emotions. Especially now that he’d taken his first captive. He had to see it through.
    “Just let me go. I won’t tell anyone. Please.”
    Donnie left the food on the floor and exited the room. He closed the door behind him without saying anything more.
    Padlock in place, he went over to his desk and turned on the computer. A file popped up of the next person he was to go after. Chelsea Burt, now Chelsea Morris.
    The face on the screen looked back at him with a carefree smile. She had no way of knowing Donnie was coming, and he liked it that way.
    The women are the hardest for Donnie—his momma had always taught him respect—but he would do what he had to. He closed the computer and headed up the stairs.
     
    *******
     
    Jason and Nina pulled up at the address on the west side of the city. The neighborhood was run-down and tired-looking, the kind of area where people don’t have the garbage cans by the house, but instead bring the garbage to the curb. More than one can had been knocked over, its contents scattered by hungry dogs.
    Ed Garland lived in a small duplex with peeling, yellow paint and virtually no landscaping. The responding officer was still there, standing in front of Ed Garland’s door. A man stood next to the officer, who Jason assumed was the golfing buddy.
    “Nina, you want to see if you can learn anything from the neighbors?”
    “Sure.”
    Jason walked up to the officer.
    “Have we got access to the house?”
    “Yes, sir. His friend here, Jerry Baker, had a key. When he found Mr. Garland wasn’t home, he called us. Mr. Baker stayed outside until I got here.”
    “Okay, good. Anybody else live with him?”
    “No. An ex-wife lives here in town, and I spoke with her, but she claims to have had no contact with Mr. Garland in a couple months. Also, she apparently wasn’t surprised to hear her ex was missing, but she wouldn’t say why.”
    “Really? Okay, stay here while I take a look around.”
    Jason went up the walk and pushed the door open. In the living room, he found a half-eaten hot dog, and a partial glass of something that looked like milk.
    He continued through to the kitchen and down a small hallway, glancing into the bathroom as he passed it. Everything seemed to be in order until he got to the