Raven: A political thriller Read Online Free PDF

was one thing never
lacking in a big city and the was crimes to solve, as everyone seemed to be
busy investigating their latest cases. Don’s head was beginning to pound. He
quickly opened the top drawer and took out a bottle, opened it, and popped a
few aspirins from the bottle into his mouth. He downed them with a swig of the
hot brew. It would be a few minutes before they kicked in. He only hoped no one
would talk to him until then.
    But that was not to be, as Fred glanced up once he set the receiver
down. He stared at the bags under Don’s bloodshot eyes.
    “So what do you have so far?” Don asked, taking a deep breath as if it
would give him some form of resemblance of life.
    “Garbage pickup is tomorrow.”
    Don looked puzzled for a moment. It was like he had a hard time
focusing, and then Fred quickly added.
    “VanBuren’s neighborhood, you wanted me to check that out, remember?”
    Don took another sip of the hot brew and then nodded. “Oh yeah, I
forgot,” he said, pausing for a moment as he waited for the aspirin and
caffeine to kick in. “You were right about the girl coming from old money,” Don
said.
    “You read the paper.”
    “Contrary to popular belief around here, I am literate,” Don snapped.
    “How did a reporter get that info, we’re not even sure it’s her in the
morgue yet?”
    “My guess is, a beat cop on the take with some reporter,” Don added.
    “Sure hope they got it right, otherwise someone will have to retract
the story.”
    That’s the way it was in a city as big as the Capital. Newspapers were
always vying for the big story, and sometimes getting it wrong was the price
you paid for being the first to break a story. The story about Raven VanBuren’s
death made it on the front page above the fold, so she was someone of
importance. Along with coming from a prominent Washington, DC, family, she was
also the personal assistant of Senator Maxfield, who had been missing for
almost a week. When the newspapers got it wrong, though, the retraction was
always printed on the bottom corner of page 20.
    “I wonder what she was doing in that part of town that late at night?”
    “Do they have a fix on time of death yet?” Don asked.
    Fred flipped through the sheets in the folder that was on his desk.
    “Near as they can tell, given the damage to the body, she was dead
before the car was torched. Coroner put time of death around 12:30 am.”
    “Get a cause yet?”
    “Wasn’t the fire for sure, no soot in the trach. With her face
missing, and no gun, coroner ruled out suicide. Definitely a homicide.”
    “Let me know when the complete report comes in,” Don said as he took a
bite off the breakfast sandwich and then savored the smell of the coffee for a
moment.
    “Should be later this morning. There’s a big push on this from the
top. The chief wants to talk to us,” Fred said as he shut the folder and tossed
it to Don for a quick look.
    “That’s all I need,” Don said as he gulped his coffee while opening
the folder and quickly reading the notes. “How many cases we on already? Now
this one pulls rank.”
    “All I’m saying is, the brass wants it put to bed
and fast.”
    “Well, they’ll just have to wait in line with all the rest.”
    Don took another gulp of coffee and set it down. He quickly took
another bite of his breakfast sandwich as Chief Webber walked up to them. All
he did was point to the two of them.
    “You two, in my office, now!”
    The Chief turned and walked back to his office. Fred looked at Don and
rolled his eyes.
    Don had seen that look on the Chief’s face before and knew he meant
business. It was last year when a senator’s son was convicted of killing his
girlfriend. The kid claimed a frame job but all the evidence pointed to him. It
turned out that the kid was a serial rapist and in the end was serving hard
time for his actions.
    Life was made difficult for Don during the investigation, with
everyone wanting him to look the other way. Don got