Parker 05 - The Darkness Read Online Free PDF Page A

Curt, Jack
    O'Donnell."
    They both nodded, familiar with the drill.
    "Henry's talked a lot about you," Curt said. "I figure
    he must go through your garbage the way he knows you
    front to back. Take care of our boy, he's one of the few
    journos we can trust in this burg."
    "I'll teach him everything I know," Jack said with a smile.
    "Hey," I said, "how's Detective Makhoulian? I didn't
    really get to thank him for his help."
    Detective Sevag Makhoulian was the officer assigned
    to investigating my brother's death. He'd been an invaluable asset to the investigation. Plus he had impeccable
    timing. Makhoulian was Armenian. Quiet and intense, as
    no-nonsense as they came, but he'd proved his reliability and dedication. I owed him, big-time.
    "He's doing well. Mandatory leave for an officer
    The Darkness
    31
    involved in a shooting, but it's a clean-cut case and he'll
    be back on the street any day now."
    "Good. City needs more cops like you guys."
    "Not going to argue with you there. I keep telling my
    captain that they need to clone my ass. Sure as hell save
    the city some money, and they need to save every penny
    they can these days."
    Jack decided to chime in. "So according to Henry," he
    said, "Ken Tsang's body was beaten pretty bad?"
    "Naw. The cops pushing three bills who have to play
    center field on our softball team get beaten pretty bad.
    This guy looks like somebody took a baseball bat and
    decided to flatten him out to the point where you can slip
    him inside a mail slot."
    I felt a bad taste in the back of my throat.
    Curt said, "Worst part is, Forensics thinks at least half
    of the bone breaks were inflicted postmortem. Which
    means whoever killed Tsang didn't just want him to hurt.
    They wanted people to see him look more like a bean bag
    than a person."
    "First Hector, now his roommate. Somebody is taking
    out drug runners in the city."
    "Taking them out," Curt said, "with extreme prejudice.
    This isn't just about somebody cleaning up their mess, this
    is sending a message that if you don't watch your back,
    you'll find yourself dumped in the East River a whole lot
    more flexible than when you woke up that morning. What
    I want to know is, who is this message going to?"
    "Officer Sheffield, where exactly was the body
    found?" Jack asked. He'd taken out a small notepad, uncapping a pen with his teeth. I did the same, feeling
    somewhat foolish. Normally when I talked to Curt it was
    informal. Friend talking to friend, both aware of the
    32
    Jason Pinter
    other's professional responsibilities. But Jack was right.
    The story came first. Curt looked at the pad, saw Jack was
    waiting for his answer.
    "Garbage scow saw a big canvas bag floating in the
    river, a few blocks south of the garbage transfer station
    on Ninety-first Street."
    "The body was in a bag?" I said.
    Curt nodded. "Big, heavy burlap sack."
    "You said it was floating," Jack said. "How would a
    canvas bag with a body inside float on a river without
    sinking?"
    Curt blinked. He wasn't holding back. He just didn't
    know.
    "Hold on a second," he said. He walked off quickly,
    and I could tell Curt was as curious about the answer to
    that question as we were.
    Jack was busy scribbling in his notepad. I held back a
    smile. His eyes were focused, his handwriting sloppy, but
    that didn't matter. Mine was no great shakes either, but
    as long as we could decipher our own it would make do.
    Of course recently my handwriting had taken a turn for
    the worse, which led to several notes from Evelyn Waterstone, the Gazette' s managing editor, with helpful tips
    like "Learn basic penmanship."
    "How you feeling?" I said to Jack.
    "Hm?" He didn't look up from the page.
    "Just wondering how you're feeling. That's all."
    "Fine," he said. "Why wouldn't I be?"
    I waited to see if he was going to laugh, but Jack was
    totally serious.
    "I mean, come on, this is your first day back on the job
    in almost a year. You disappeared faster than Michael
    Moore at a Weight Watchers