Murder Stalks Read Online Free PDF

this unit are Hague, Rains, Owens and myself. And no rookies
who don’t know what to do with the press,” Tony barked.
    He paused. He’d done it again. He turned
back to Sally, ready to apologize and found her standing with her
hand on her hip. An angry smirk masked her face.
    “ What about
Sekorski?”
    Tony glanced around the area, making sure no
one else was within earshot. “Sally, I’m sorry but you have—”
    “ I don't know why you have
it out for me. But I'm not quitting the force. I'm a good cop.”
Sally’s voice rose in pitch.
    Tony ground his teeth, holding back the
accusations he wanted to let loose. “I’m not going to place any
blame, but...” Tony stopped, weighing his words before he made
another mistake. She’d sent those damn letters and pictures. He
wanted to point that out to her, but starting the argument wouldn’t
benefit either of them. He hadn’t gone to internal affairs, that
had been his big mistake, and now he would have to handle the
situation carefully.
    “ Listen, we have to work
together, and if you want to advance to detective then you’re just
going to—What? Don’t look at me like that.”
    He realized too late that he was being
condescending again. Sally brought out the worst in him. The first
note from her should have gone to personnel, but it hadn’t.
Instead, he let his bruised ego play her game. Games sucked. And he
knew it. Now he was paying for his mistake.
    “ Excuse me? I’m going to
have to get past it? Past what? You need to stop discriminating
against me. Like I said, I'm here to stay.” Sally’s steady stare
pricked at Tony’s ego.
    “ Damn it,
Gerrig—”
    She held up her hand. The intense expression
on her face put a halt to his words, “A news van just pulled up. Do
you really want us arguing on tape?”
    “ Fine, just keep the
riffraff out.”
    “ Got it.”
    Tony shook off the uncomfortable feeling
Gerrig left him with and headed over to speak to the manager.
    The man behind the desk was short and dumpy,
dressed in a pair of wrinkled khaki shorts and a grease-stained
undershirt that did little to hide his rounded beer belly. Ms.
Lucy, the manager from when Tony lived here, was gone and it looked
like she’d taken all the class she’d brought with her.
    The apartment office was small and dirty,
much worse than the last time he’d been here. The scent of soured
food in desperate need of a trash dump assaulted his senses. Stacks
of paperwork were strewn around the room, giving it a just exploded
look. Heat filled the small space, leaving Tony wishing he were
still outside. This guy, although sleazy looking, couldn’t have
pulled off the murder in the apartment down the breezeway. His
trash would have followed him there, and the stench would have
settled in Angela’s apartment, making it smell worse than it
already did.
    “ Excuse me,” Tony said as
he stepped up to the desk. “Are you the manager?”
    “ Sure, I’m the manager.
Jack’s my name. You a cop?” Jack’s gap toothed grin covered the
lower third of his face, making him appear clownish instead of
friendly. A waft of whisky drifted off of Jack as he
spoke.
    “ I’m Detective Tony
Santos. Were you here, in the office last night?”
    “ Is that when you think he
killed her? I mean, you think she died? You know, her apartment was
cold. It was like an arctic blast when I cracked the door open to
have a look see. Didn’t like the smell so I didn’t go in. I heard
once that a body can last really long in the cold. You sure she
wasn’t done in last week? There was a real shady character here on
Thursday—or was it Wednesday?” Jack squeezed his eyes almost closed
as he picked at his front tooth with a black-rimmed
fingernail.
    Tony inspected the man. Was he letting his
prejudice rule this guy out, or were the key indicators of a rapist
and murder present in this man? Violence could be brought out in
the best of people, but it took a special type of killer to do what
had been