In the Blood Read Online Free PDF Page A

Eichorn stood slumped against the doorway, lighting another cigarette. Her hands were trembling as well.
    "He used to laugh like nobody's business," she continued. "His daddy thought the world of him, because of that laugh. It made him stay around a couple of years longer than he would have if Jimmy had cried like most babies, I guess. When he ran off in '79, Jimmy was just five. Things changed. I... I was just fifteen when Jimmy was born. What did I know about bringing a kid up by myself?" She looked at the cigarette in her hand then glanced at Palmer, as if daring him to say otherwise. He suddenly realized this hopeless, washed-out woman was seven years his junior.
    "It's not my fault he got like this... someone did that to him." Her voice tightened and she looked away. "He wouldn't be like that if he hadn't been with the gang that night. I asked him not to go-to break it off. But he wouldn't do it. He said being a Blue Monkey was important to him. More important than anything. You know what they made him do to be a part of their goddamn special gang? They made him suck their... their things! I couldn't believe he still wanted to have anything to do with them after what they made him do, but he was proud of being a Blue Monkey."
    She shook her head in disgust. "I told him that night I didn't want him hanging around that bar with those scum. I told him that if he went there he better not come home. He cursed me out! His own mama! And he went anyway." Her eyes were bright with unshed tears, but her cheeks remained dry. "I guess we're both paying for our sins, huh?"
    Palmer couldn't bring himself to look at her. "Mrs. Eichorn... I'm sorry, I didn't realize my questioning your son would... upset him."
    She shrugged. "No way you could know. It's funny what sets him off sometimes. But you didn't have to ask him, though. I could have told you where to find Chaz."
    "You know Chaz?"

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    "Yeah, I knew him. He's dead. Died the same night the Blue Monkeys got into trouble. Jimmy brought him here once or twice. I figured him for a dealer. I told Jimmy I didn't like the kind of trash he hung out with, so he stopped bringing Chaz over. Rumor had it Chaz got himself bumped off."
    "You mean it was a hit?"
    "That's what it looked like, at least. I wouldn't have been surprised. Chaz was the kind of jerk who'd cross the wrong people just for kicks."
    "Mrs. Eichorn, this is real important: Did Jimmy ever mention if Chaz had a girlfriend?"
    "Not that I recall. But, then, Jimmy and I didn't exactly talk a lot by then."
    "I don't want to delay you anymore than I already have, Mrs. Eichorn. I appreciate everything you've been able to tell me." Palmer slipped a couple of fifty-dollar bills into her apron pocket as he left.
    "You know something?" she said, opening the door for him. "It's funny, in a way, but I can't bring myself to really hate whoever it was that did those things. In a way, I got what I wanted. I got my little boy back. Don't you think that's funny?"
    Palmer simply nodded and hurried away. On the third landing he paused long enough to sneak a pain pill. By the time he reached the street, his ribs no longer felt like they were being cracked open with a lobster mallet. He did not look up to see if Jimmy was watching over him.

    That night Palmer dreamed he was in a wheelchair, being pushed down a long, poorly lit corridor. The wheelchair needed to be oiled and squeaked whenever it moved. Everything seemed so vivid, so real, Palmer thought he was back in the prison infirmary. Then he remembered he'd been released. Confused, he twisted around to find out who was propelling the wheelchair.
    Loli smiled back at him, looking both sexy and menacing in her starched white nurse's uniform. Palmer was acutely aware of the erection tenting his hospital johnny.
    "Did you miss me, darling?" asked Loli, her lips painted the color of fresh blood.
    "Yes. Very