Shadow Boys Read Online Free PDF Page B

a file folder. “I’m inventorying cold-case evidence boxes even as we speak.”
    “Fun.”
    “Beats watching bull humping on TV or whatever the hell they’re showing.”
    Silence settled over the table for a few moments. Then:
    “Did he ask about me?” She glanced up from her files.
    I lied, shook my head.
    Crowd noises from the TV. Something important happened at the rodeo. Maybe a bull started humping one of the cowboys. The uniformed cops at the bar let out whoops of encouragement.
    Piper looked up again. “So. What did he want?”
    Silence.
    He would be Deputy Chief Raul Delgado.
    “You want to get involved?” I asked.
    “I’m making conversation. That’s what people in polite society do.”
    Piper had eyes that were as blue as a spring sky and hair the color of wheat. Her features were attractive but possessed a haunted quality that was hard to define, like a fashion model weary from being on the lam for a murder she didn’t commit.
    “I don’t want to get in the middle,” I said. “You know, of whatever is going on between you and your boyfriend.”
    “He is not my boyfriend.” Piper’s voice raised a click higher than what was needed for a quiet conversation. She pushed the file away.
    Deep inside both of us lay a wellspring of anger. We were the sum of our choices, a lifetime of bad decisions combined with actions beyond our control, events that had been thrust upon us.
    Sam the bartender approached, wiping his hands on a rag.
    “Everything okay over here?” he said.
    Neither of us spoke for a moment.
    “It’s fine, Sam.” Piper pulled the file back. Picked up her pen.
    We were like gin and tonic, better together but a dangerous mix in certain circumstances. We could finish each other’s sentences. Cover each other instinctively in a firefight. Know when to talk and when to remain silent.
    “You doing okay, Jon?” Sam smiled. “Haven’t seen you around in a while.”
    Sam had a gentle, kindhearted way about him that masked an innate ability to handle any situation. He was well into his seventies but had forearms like Popeye’s.
    A month ago I’d watched him toss two bikers out who were harassing an off-duty waitress from the Waffle House down the street. The bikers were forty years younger. He’d broken the nose of one of the men.
    “Everything’s peaches and cream, Sam.” I tried to sound like I meant it. “You can go away now.”
    Piper sighed loudly and dropped her pen.
    “Aw, c’mon, Jon.” He shook his head. “Why you gotta be that way?”
    I didn’t say anything, more than a little ashamed that I’d let nothing turn into something.
    “Spray a little more gas on the fire, why don’t you.” Piper shook her head. “Sam, it’s all good. Really.”
    Sam mumbled under his breath but left.
    After he was gone, Piper said, “Were you born an asshole or did you take lessons?”
    “I’m doing well today, thanks for asking.”
    Piper drank some coffee.
    “Your boyfriend wants to hire me to find a missing kid.”
    “He’s not my boyfriend.” She kept her voice to a whisper this time.
    Piper had dated the deputy chief for a few months, a period of time punctuated with several breakups, as neither she nor Delgado were well suited to stable relationships. Not to imply that I was.
    “Tremont Washington,” I said. “That name mean anything to you?”
    A police radio from the bar clanged, an alarm of some sort. Two uniformed officers paid their tab, lumbered to their feet, prepared to leave.
    After they were gone, Piper looked at me. “Do you miss being a cop, Jon?”
    I lied again. “No.”
    I missed the sense of belonging that came from wearing a blue uniform. But I’d feathered my own nest and there was no going back.
    Piper pulled out a smartphone, tapped the screen a few times.
    “A patrol unit entered the name Tremont Washington under its daily activity log,” she said. “Note says, ‘possible runaway.’ ”
    A daily activity log was where the police kept a