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

was a coincidence.
        Then I remembered Kevin’s words when I asked him what was to happen next, “It’s up to him how he wants to handle things from that point.”
        It was pretty obvious how Bonnaducci had handled the situation. His cousin was dead.
        I was furious.
        I threw on my clothes and was headed to the door when Maggie stopped me.
        “Where on earth are you going at this hour?”
        “I just have something I have to take care of,” I replied, slipping out the door.
        I parked in front of Kevin’s building, climbed the stairs to his apartment and pounded my fist on his door.
        He answered in his robe and slippers.
        I waved the article in his face. “We need to talk.”
        “I figured I might be hearing from you today,” he replied.
        “How can you be so nonchalant about this? Francis Bonnaducci has been murdered and it’s our fault!”
        “Sit down, Walt.”
        “I don’t want to sit down. I want to know what we’re going to do about this.”
        “Please, sit. I know what you’re thinking and you’re not responsible for Bonnaducci’s death.”
        “How do you figure? I can’t wait to hear how you rationalize this one.”
        “First of all, it was Frankie’s choice to rip off his cousin. He had to know there would be consequences if he was caught.
        “Second, you’re not responsible for how Dino dealt with the information we gave him. Sure, he could have gone to the cops, but he chose to handle it his own way.”
        “So, knowing what we know, we have to go to the police.”
        “And tell them what? You read the paper. They’ve already put this to bed as a drunk driving accident, and you can bet your butt that Dino has an iron-clad alibi for last night.”
        “So that’s it. He gets away with murder? Where’s the justice?”
        “Really, Walt? The justice is that a guy screwed up and paid the price. Look, I know that for the past five years you’ve been working for Lady Justice, the one in the white flowing robe and wearing a blindfold. When you worked for her, you went by the book. How many times had you seen a perp who was guilty as sin walk away because your Lady was blindfolded by the letter of the law? Where was your justice then?
        “Well, your Lady Justice has a sister and she doesn’t wear a white robe. She wears a skin-tight skirt, fishnet stockings and high heels, and she for damned sure isn’t wearing a blindfold. It’s still her job to make sure the scales of justice stay balanced, but she isn’t bound by the same rules as her sister.
        “Take this Bonnaducci case. As far as the cops know, there was never a crime committed. They’ll never know about the theft of the furs, and they’ll never know how the situation was resolved. How many of those do you think occur in a year’s time? Plenty. How many cases are on your books labeled as ‘unresolved?’ Plenty. That’s the other Lady Justice that you just met today doing her job. You may not like it, but it’s just the way it is.”
        “That may be true, but I don’t have to be part of it,” I said, slamming the door.
        I stopped by the super market and picked up another box of Wheaties. When I returned home, I would have to tell Maggie where I’d been and I didn’t want to tell her I had just consorted with a gal wearing a skin tight skirt, fishnet stockings and high heels.

CHAPTER 6
     
        “So how’s he doing?” Maggie asked.
        “About what you’d expect,” Judy replied. “The two of them were inseparable for five years. He mopes around the apartment a lot. He misses his little buddy. How about your guy?”
        “About the same. Every time we see a cop car drive by he gets all teary eyed, but he never says a word. I just hope we’ve done the right thing.”
        “You absolutely did. He’s seventy, and he’s had more close calls than some