More Perfect Union (9780061760228) Read Online Free PDF Page A

grinned.“Yeah, we’ll be happy to come back and administer first aid to her anytime.”
    Maybe Derrick Parker didn’t like her much, but Hannah Boyer was obviously a hit with Seattle’s Medic One.
    By the time I collared Manny, my temper was fairly well back under control. “If that asshole Kramer wants a search, let’s give him one, but let’s get it over with now while we wait for Harbor Patrol to show up.”
    So for the next forty-five minutes, while we waited the arrival of the police boat, we diligently combed every inch of the area Kramer had cordoned off. It didn’t take long, and it wasn’t tough, either. The creosoted wooden planks yielded nothing useful. The whole dock was clean as a whistle. By the time Harbor Patrol got there, even Kramer was ready to admit defeat.
    Harbor Patrol Three arrived along with two Seattle P.D. old-timers, Jim Harrison and Ken Lee, both of whom are contemporaries of mine. They brought their thirty-eight-foot Modu-Tech alongside the dock and gently eased in close enough to reach the corpse with a body hook.
    That particular piece of police equipment is very much like a ten-foot-long question mark. The long handle has foam floats to help keep it on the surface of the water. Despite its name, the implement is neither pointed nor sharp. The curve at the end, formed by one continuous U-shaped piece of tubing, is about the size of a basketball hoop.
    Harrison gently maneuvered the metal half-circle around the midsection of the corpse and pulled it toward the boat while Ken Lee untied the body basket from where it was stowed on top of the cabin. The basket, a man-sized frame of galvanized tubing lined with small-mesh chicken wire, was dropped into the water and positioned under the corpse. Once the body was tied in place, they hefted it into the boat.
    All this was done with absolutely no discussion. Lee and Harrison worked together quickly and efficiently, the way good partners are supposed to.
    Only when they were finished and had covered the body with a disposable paper blanket did Harrison look up. “Sorry it took so long for us to get here, Manny,” he said. “We were stuck in the locks. Do you want him here on the dock, or should we take him back to Harbor Station?”
    Kramer answered before Manny had a chance. “Here,” he said.
    That’s when I hit the end of my rope and bounced into the fray. “Wait a minute,” I said, turning to Wilson. “Is it going to make any difference to you if you look at him here or there?”
    â€œNone whatsoever,” Wilson replied. “Either place is fine with me, although I think the dock over at Harbor Station is a little easier to work from.”
    â€œThen how about doing it there?” I suggested.“That way these people can get back to work.”
    Kramer started to object, but for a change Manny beat him to the punch and backed me up. “Good deal,” he said to Harrison. “Take him down to Harbor Station and off-load him onto your dock. We’ll meet you there in a couple of minutes.”
    â€œOkay.” Harrison nodded. “You’re the boss.”
    Kramer’s face turned beet-red. With a little help from his friends, J. P. Beaumont had won that round fair and square. I motioned for Officer Jackson. “Do you see those two people standing there with Derrick Parker?” Derrick was standing in a tight little threesome with Sam Goldfarb and Cassie Young.
    Officer Jackson looked where I pointed and nodded. “I see them,” she said.
    â€œGo tell them to start getting their people lined up. Now that the body’s leaving, we’ll be able to get back to work.”
    Merrilee Jackson flashed me a smile. “I’ll be more than happy to do that,” she said.
    Jim Harrison finished securing the body to the deck and straightened up. Catching sight of me, he gave me a half-assed salute. Naturally, he was wearing