Lady Justice on the Dark Side (Volume 19) Read Online Free PDF

well give it a try.
     

     
        I followed Kevin to a warehouse in the West Bottoms.
        He had me park in an alley a half block from the exit I was to watch.
        “That’s the door. Just keep your eye peeled and if the perp comes out, get your shots and give me a call on my cell phone. Got it?”
        “Seems simple enough. So we don’t try to nab the guy or call the cops?”
        “Nope, our job is just to gather the information and deliver it to Bonnaducci. It’s up to him how he wants to handle things from that point.”
        Kevin left to man his post on the opposite side of the building.
        Surveillance is always boring. Ox and I had done a ton of it over the years. At least during those times, I had him to talk with and pass the time.
        As the hours ticked by, I thought about the cases we had worked together and wondered how he was doing with a new partner.
        I missed the big guy and missed our time together on the job. I kept telling myself I had made the right decision to retire, but I had no idea it was going to be this hard.
        I had to really fight to keep from dropping off to sleep, but when I saw the warehouse door pop open, the adrenalin kicked in.
        A short, stocky guy carried a garment bag almost as big as he was. It was a good bet that a very expensive coat had just walked out the back door.
        I snapped a half dozen photos before the guy disappeared around a corner.
        I dialed Kevin’s cell. “Got him!”
        Kevin showed up a few minutes later.
        “Short, stocky guy?” he asked, taking the camera.
        “Yes.”
        “Damn!” he said, thumbing through the photos on the camera screen.
        “What? Didn’t I do it right?”
        “Oh, no, you did it right. The problem is that it’s Dino’s cousin.”
        “So what do we do now?”
        “We take this to Dino,” he said, taking the SD card from the camera.
        A few minutes later, we were in the plush office of Dino Bonnaducci.
        “Bad news, Dino,” Kevin said, handing him the SD card.
        “It’s Frankie, isn’t it,” he replied, shaking his head.
        “I’m afraid so.”
        “Well, it is what it is. Thank you for a job well done,” he said, handing Kevin an envelope.
        “I’ll be around if you need me,” Kevin replied, pocketing the envelope.
        Outside, Kevin pulled the envelope out of his pocket and peeled five one hundred dollar bills off a wad of cash and handed them to me.
        “Jesus, Kevin. All I did was snap a few photos. Five hundred? How much is in that envelope?”
        “Five grand. That was a bargain for Bonnaducci. He had lost over fifty thousand in furs and it would have been more if we hadn’t caught the guy.”
        “Holy crap! That’s quite a payday for a babysitting gig.”
        “There’s more where that came from. If I happen to need an extra hand and you’re not too busy, are you interested?”
        “I might be, as long as it’s nothing illegal.”
        “Wouldn’t dream of it,” he said, smiling. “Say ‘hi’ to Maggie for me.”
     

     
       The next morning, I was doing my usual morning routine, reading the paper while consuming my bowl of Wheaties.
        I dropped my spoon, and Wheaties splattered out of the bowl when an article buried on page six caught my eye.
     
        In the early hours of the morning, police found a car in a gorge below Cliff Drive. The driver, identified by police as Francis Bonnaducci, had apparently lost control of the vehicle on a curve, crashing through a guardrail and plunging fifty feet into the gorge below. Evidence at the scene led authorities to believe that alcohol might have been a contributing factor.
     
        The article hit me in the gut and I almost lost my breakfast. Less than twenty-four hours earlier, I had taken photos of the guy stealing furs and now he was dead. There was just no way this