Once a Killer Read Online Free PDF Page A

plenty of work still to do today.”
    Rondell rolled his head again. “You haven’t changed. Still the same person.”
    “Is that right?”
    “Always the one to do the right thing. I bet you don’t drink much at all.” Rondell slid over a large glass of scotch. “You must have picked up some vices after they locked you away.”
    Michael ignored the comment and pretended to take a sip, but just held it to his lips. He wanted a clear head for this conversation.
    Rondell emptied most of his glass in one swallow. “You’re looking well. Life as a lawyer must suit you.”
    “How did you find me?”
    “Fluke, really.”
    “How’s that?”
    “It was your voice. I’d never have recognized you from your face. Great surgery, by the way. Looks expensive.”
    Michael rubbed the close-cropped beard covering his lower jaw. “I haven’t had surgery.”
    Rondell smiled, again revealing his expensive teeth. “Yeah, right.”
    “You said it was my voice?”
    The office door behind Michael opened, and a head appeared around it. It was Glass Eye.
    Rondell’s smile dissolved when he saw who it was. “Get out of here. Can’t you see I’m busy?”
    The door closed.
    “I’m sorry,” said Rondell. “Where were we?”
    “My voice.”
    The smile returned. “Yeah. I heard you on TV about six months back. You were being interviewed about some deal or other. Completely stopped me in my tracks, I can tell you. I thought I know that voice and, when I looked up, there you were. Bam! Danny Boy, right in front of my eyes. Man, I can’t tell you how that made me feel.” Rondell took down the remaining scotch and then held up his glass. “Another?”
    Michael shook his head no. “This one’s fine for me,” he said, pointing to his untouched drink on the desk.
    Rondell poured himself another large measure. “It’s not every day you get to welcome an old friend.” He drank half the glass. “Anyway, there you were on the screen. You sounded like my Danny Boy, but you looked different. I wasn’t completely certain it was you, so I had some of my people follow you. We knew you worked over at Dudek’s from the TV report, so we started there.”
    “Why didn’t you just call me to find out if you knew where I worked?”
    “And you would have said what? Yeah, I’m Danny Seifert, but I call myself Michael Hoffman now. How can I help you?” Rondell laughed. “Hell, you wouldn’t even have taken my call.”
    “You’re right. And if I had, I’d have told you to get lost.”
    “That’s what I figured, so I did things my way.”
    “Using your people.”
    “Uh-huh.”
    “And who exactly are your people?”
    “I’ll get to that. You’ve met a couple of them already.”
    “I’m curious. How did they confirm who I was?”
    “It wasn’t easy. You buried your past pretty well, my friend.”
    Michael narrowed his eyes. “Haven’t you?”
    “Yeah, but you’ve taken it to the next level. After months of digging, my people came up with nothing concrete linking you to Danny Seifert. Everything pointed to you being plain old Michael Hoffman. At one point, I thought I must have made a mistake. But I’d know your voice anywhere. It had to be you.” Rondell sat forward. “Then we had a lucky break.”
    “What was that?”
    “We heard your mom died.” Rondell rested his forearms on the desk. “Well, of course, I was sorry to hear about her. She was always good to me.”
    “She always put on an act for strangers.”
    Rondell took another slug of whiskey. “Anyway, even though you were never that close to her, I figured, if there was a way, you’d try to make the funeral. You being a decent person and all.”
    “You were right. I needed to see for myself that she was actually dead.”
    Rondell nodded his acknowledgment. “Well, once you turned up, we knew we had our man. After that—”
    Michael raised his palms. “Save it. I know the rest. But what I don’t understand is why go to all this trouble to find me? You