No Hero Read Online Free PDF Page A

hand through his hair. “Yeah. I’m just—” Too close to losing it.
    Rather than yell at everybody within hearing distance, he stalked over to the edge of the levee to calm down. He looked out at the river. He knew exactly where his anger was coming from.
    Two kids from his center had been murdered within little more than a week of each other, and the investigation had turned up nothing—no suspect, no weapon, no clues. And no connection, besides the obvious that they’d both been residents at the center Dev himself had started and named after the man who’d rescued him from the streets, giving him the first place in his life where he could feel safe.
    He heard Thibaud Johnson’s gruff voice in his head. You can always find a connection, cher . The thing that won’ connect that’s the thing plus importante . C’est vrai .
    It had taken Dev a long time to completely trust the cop who’d caught him running from a liquor store with a stolen bottle of Jim Beam under his threadbare jacket, then had taken him home instead of to jail. Fourteen at the time, after two-plus years of running and hiding, Dev hadn’t trusted anyone. But eventually, Thibaud had earned his trust, and he had earned Thibaud’s.
    Thibaud had been dead for seven years but Dev still missed him every day, and would for the rest of his life. If he were still around, Thibaud would no doubt have made an acerbic comment about Brian’s and Darnell’s deaths, which would probably give Dev exactly the insight he needed to solve the case.
    Talk to me, Thibaud .
    He heard stealthy footsteps behind him. A lean, scruffy man of indeterminate years walked up beside him, his face hidden by matted dreadlocks and a disreputable cap. Dev met the vagrant’s eyes. It took him a beat to recognize Rick Easterling, a vice cop who specialized in undercover work. Rick had definitely earned the nickname the guys at the station had given him. He really was “the man of a thousand faces.” Outwardly, Dev didn’t react to Rick’s presence. He just turned his attention back out over the water.
    Rick dug in his pockets until he eventually came out with a cigarette butt. “Got a light, bud?” he rasped.
    Dev produced a lighter and held it, wondering how Rick managed not to burn his dreads as he leaned in toward the flame. “Hey man,” Dev muttered. “Anything happening down here?”
    “Tons,” Rick said out of the corner of his mouth as he puffed on the butt. “There was a kid hanging around, bragging that he knew the dead teen. Haven’t seen him before. Head shaved. Torn ear.”
    Dev tensed. “Right ear?”
    Rick coughed like a man with catarrh. “Know him?”
    Dev grimaced. “Scrawny? Loads of attitude? He’s a slummer. Probably not eighteen yet. His name’s Elliott. He likes hanging out at the center with the homeless kids.”
    “A slummer.” Rick spat the word like a piece of spoiled food. “Want me to feel him out?”
    “Nah. I’ll let Givens know. He can drag him in for questioning—and put the fear of God into him. Elliott’s too puny to take down a kid like Darnell by himself. He might know something, though. Thanks for the tip.” Dev expected Rick to slink back into the shadows, but the smaller man spoke again.
    “So, the redhead you were getting so cozy with over there. Isn’t she the one who—”
    “Ripped me a new one on her show and got me suspended from the force for three months? That’s her.”
    “Wow. She must really have a bug up her butt to climb out of bed at this hour. How’d she get past the police tape?”
    Dev rolled his eyes. “She’s pretty sneaky.”
    Rick snorted. “What’d she want?”
    “To tell me she had a DVD I needed to see.”
    Rick flicked cigarette ash. “From one of her shows?”
    “I guess. Apparently an interview she did with that scumbag Gerard Fontenot.”
    Rick shot him a sidelong look.
    “She believes he said something I need to hear,” Dev said impassively. “I sent Stevens with her to get