Green Light (Sam Archer 7) Read Online Free PDF Page B

had happened in that parking lot four weeks
ago.
    It
wasn’t exactly a stretch to see him doing it.
    ‘ Let’s track back, to the beginning,’ Marquez said, cradling
her cup. ‘See if we can figure out where he could possibly
be.’
    Josh
nodded. ‘I’ll start. Archer and Vargas are on their way home and
stop to pick up a six pack and some pizza. As they’re about to
leave a van pulls up, someone shoots a girl then takes out Arch and
Alice before they could react. Vargas takes one to the neck, Arch
two to the chest; the vest saves his life.’
    ‘ With the shooting going down in their Precinct’s jurisdiction,
Homicide from the 114 th take charge of the investigation,’ Marquez
continued. ‘But they don’t make any progress in almost a month.
When we go over there last Saturday to find out what the hell is
going on, Archer loses his shit and lays out one of the
investigative team.’
    She
paused.
    ‘ A Lieutenant.’
    ‘ Archer’s suspended on the spot and his badge and gun are
confiscated,’ Josh continued. ‘Four days later, the two leading
suspects are found and the case is closed, which was Thursday,
seventy two hours ago.’
    ‘ And Archer’s hearing for assaulting the Lieutenant is tomorrow
at 10am,’ Marquez finished. ‘If he’s lucky he’ll be demoted. If
he’s not, which is far more likely, they’ll kick him out of the
Counter-Terrorism Bureau. That’s if he even shows up.’
    Josh
cursed. ‘I don’t know much about the guy he punched, but I heard he
has a bad reputation.’
    Marquez nodded. ‘I’ve got a friend at the
114 th ;
she said if you get on the wrong side of this guy, he’s like
kryptonite to your career. He’s a vindictive bastard and right now,
Archer is the number one target in his crosshairs. Lieutenant
Royston wants him on a platter with sides.’
    There
was another pause. Frustrated and worried in equal measure, Josh
looked around the coffee shop as Marquez took a sip from her
drink.
    ‘ How’s Isabel?’ she asked, keeping the cup close to her
lips.
    ‘ Confused.’
    ‘ What does she know?’
    ‘ Nothing. When it all went down, Archer told her Vargas had to
go away to see some family. She doesn’t understand why Alice hasn’t
called in a month. Or Arch, now.’
    ‘ When was the last time he spoke to her?’
    ‘ Three days ago. She keeps asking where he is and why he hasn’t
called. I’m beginning to run out of excuses.’
    Marquez
took another mouthful of coffee then reached inside her jacket and
pulled out a folded brown envelope, sliding it over to
Josh.
    ‘ After you called, I stopped by the Bureau. Ethan pulled it for
me. It’s the 114 th s closed case file from the
shooting. Check it out.’
    Quickly
scooping it up, Josh opened the envelope, curious to see first-hand
the details of the investigation that they were all so invested
in.
    The
uppermost sheet was a photo of a dead blonde woman slumped on
concrete, keys and bag lying beside her, the girl who’d been shot
in the parking lot. A small square police mug-shot of her holding a
placard was pinned to the top; she was very attractive with a
porcelain complexion, arresting green eyes and long blonde hair.
She wouldn’t have looked out of place on a catwalk or gracing a
magazine cover.
    ‘ Her name was Leann Casey,’ Marquez said, as Josh studied the
girl’s photo. ‘She was a nineteen year old escort.’
    ‘ Pretty girl.’
    Marquez
nodded. ‘Expensive too, not street trash. The day that mug-shot was
taken, she was arrested in a Vice bust on an Upper West Side hotel.
Client unknown due to an injunction, which means he had a profile
to protect. But apparently her rate was $5000 a night. She served
three months in the women’s facility on Rikers Island.’
    ‘ A kid like this?’ he said. ‘She’d be feed in a place like
that.’
    ‘ She was,’ Marquez said, turning the photo over.
    There
were several of the girl’s face, this time badly battered and
bruised, her lip split, one eye