Polly Iyer - Diana Racine 03 - Backlash Read Online Free PDF Page A

scientist to figure out the rest, even without a body. Goddamn Alba. Goddamn Chenault.
    Hodge pulled out his burner phone.

Chapter Six
The Chain Gang
     
    D iana plopped onto the sofa when she got home. Seeing Keys dead had taken too much out of her, and the image of the dead guy with the silver eyes stripped whatever energy remained. She wanted to go back to bed and pull the covers over her head, and that’s exactly what she planned to do.
    The one load of laundry she’d started before Lucier called sat wet in the washing machine. There were things she needed to do, and she didn’t feel like doing any of them. She hadn’t spoken to her parents in a week, hadn’t emailed them either. The last time she checked, a few emails awaited, but she hadn’t been in a mind to tackle them, especially the one from her father. If she read it, she’d have to call, and talking to Galen, who still tried to lure her back into performing, would drain her of any energy she had left. Not to mention his disdain for her “nigra” boyfriend. Not this afternoon, she decided. Maybe later.
    Her head pounded. She put the wash in the dryer, tossed in a fabric softener sheet, downed a couple of aspirin, and crawled into bed.
    * * * * *
    O n the way back to his office, Lucier thought about Moran’s last job for the department. The leaks involved every district, and Moran obviously hadn’t found the source, or it wouldn’t still be a priority. Maybe the leaker was afraid Moran was getting close. Was that enough to murder someone? Ha! Murders had been committed for far less. Right now, Lucier bet Moran’s death resulted from a lover’s quarrel.
    He parked his car and headed inside, passing Halloran, Cash, and Beecher in the squad room on the way to his office. “Find anything out in Moran’s neighborhood, Mickey?”
    “His neighbors liked Moran and were pretty shook up. He apparently had a lot of friends over on the nights he didn’t work at Miss Kitty’s. One neighbor played cards with them. He didn’t think they were boyfriends, just card-playing buddies. Also nice guys, he said. I got what he could remember of their names. Nothing I recognized, but we’ll check them out. No one saw him with anyone in particular. They did see him with a woman occasionally. Black, attractive. Beecher can tell you more.”
    “Sam?”
    “The woman works at Kitty’s. Someone said Moran teetered between two worlds. Straight and gay. One of his buddies said he was bisexual. But you know what they say: if you boink your own sex, you’re gay, no matter you boink the opposite sex. Anyway, he favored guys. That’s what his friend said.”
    Leave it to Beecher to be Beecher . “Any known lovers?” Lucier asked.
    “Not openly. He wasn’t in the closet, but he wasn’t out there either, except in his act.”
    “Keep digging, and find out who the woman from Kitty’s is.”
    Willy Cash looked like he was about to jump out of his skin.
    “What’cha got on our tattooed victim, Willy?”
    “Thought you’d never ask. Mendez said the chain and padlock tattoo belongs to a new gang called, are you ready? The Chain Gang. You had to do time to belong, even if it was juvie. The minute he told me, I remembered one of the gang members walked a couple of years ago on a rape charge because the judge ruled it was the eleven-year-old girl’s fault for enticing him.”
    “Asshole judge,” Beecher mumbled. “Protests outside the courthouse went on for days. Considered going there myself, then changed my mind.”
    “I remember,” Lucier said. “Judge should’ve been removed from the bench. Got a picture of the gangbanger?”
    “Yup, and you’re going to like it.” Cash handed a mug shot to Lucier. “What do you think?”
    Lucier studied the picture. “Multiracial, mid-twenties, with eyes that glow from the photo. Can’t see his arm, but the tattoo’s listed in his description. Fits Diana’s description exactly. If he’s the same guy who raped the girl,