Merciless Read Online Free PDF Page A

us for failures.”
    “And yet you keep seeing each other.”
    Garrison shook his head. “The woman drives me crazy.”
    “That good or bad?”
    “Both. We got into it at King’s last night.” Eva worked at King’s as a waitress/bartender and office manager. At twenty-eight, she’d just started her junior year in college. She made no attempt to hide the fact that she’d first entered college at seventeen but a decade in prison for a murder she’d not committed had delayed her education. The real killer had been caught, Eva’s conviction had been overturned last year, and she rarely looked back. Fiercely independent, she didn’t shy away from conflict and had an IQ that was off the charts.
    “She’s still volunteering at that halfway house for ex-cons?”
    “Yeah.” Garrison shook his head. “Damn dangerous. They had a knifing there last week.”
    “Eva in the middle of it?”
    “Oh, she broke it up. I only found out about it yesterday. The uniform that had been on scene told me.” The darkening of Garrison’s gaze testified to his frustrations.
    “Eva’s a little too fearless.”
    “Must run in the family.” Eva’s older sister was Angie Carlson, Esquire. Defense attorney. Brilliant, hardworking, and tenacious, many in the department called her “The Barracuda.” Malcolm had only crossed swords with her a few times, and the encounters confirmed she would do whatever it took to defend her client.
    “They are as different as night and day,” Garrison said.
    “Maybe in looks, but under the skin … there’s no mistaking the genetic link.”
    Garrison frowned. None of the cops in the area were fond of Carlson’s tenacity. “You trying to piss me off?”
    “Stay out of my love life, and I’ll stay out of yours.”
    “Agreed.”
    They strode up to the theater’s double red front doors. Brass knockers, tarnished by weather and neglect, hung in the center of each. To the right of the door was a list of the upcoming season’s plays, which was to kick off next week with
The Taming of the Shrew
. Spring brought two plays unfamiliar to him: a comedy,
Noises Off
, and the drama
Terra Nova
.
A Christmas Carol
was their December production.
    “According to the theater’s website, the place used to be a warehouse when the city was a thriving port. The building was about to be condemned when a bunch of rich ladies bought the place in the thirties and founded the theater. It was their way of creating jobs and entertainment during the depression.”
    Garrison pounded on the front door. “Well, let’s see what we can find out about Sierra Day.”
    Heavy footsteps sounded on the other side of the door, and seconds later it opened.
    A short man with red-rimmed eyes, a neatly trimmed beard, and wire-rimmed glasses glared up at them. He wore jeans, a Stones black T-shirt, and polished black cowboy boots. “You Kier?”
    Malcolm nodded. “That’s right.You Terry Burgess?”
    “Yeah.”
    “This is my partner, Detective Deacon Garrison. Thanks for meeting with us.”
    “Didn’t sound like I had a choice.” Burgess stepped aside so that they could enter the building.
    The hallway was lined with hundreds of framedphotos taken during countless plays. An overhead bulb didn’t spit out enough light to fully illuminate the hall, but Malcolm guessed that was intentional. In full light the place likely would show more age and wear. Stacked along the wall were dozens of brown boxes imprinted with the logo A&A PRINTING.
    “You always get in early?” Malcolm asked.
    “It’s late for me. I’ve been here for thirty-six hours straight.” Brittleness crackled in the guy’s tone.
    Malcolm held on to his patience, as he remembered he was also sleep deprived. “That’s rough.”
    Terry pinched the bridge of his nose. “It’s been a very long night. My understudy for Sierra Day is a disaster, and at the rate she is going reviewers will hammer us when we open next week. Can we just talk about the missing