Suspect Read Online Free PDF Page B

friendly.
    “Did Melon tell you what happened?”
    “Yes, he told me. He said you were an ungrateful prick.”
    “I am.”
    Fuckit. Scott hadn’t cared what Melon thought of him, and didn’t care what the new guy thought, either, but he was surprised when Orso laughed.
    “Look, I know you had a problem with him, but I’m the new guy. I’d like to meet you, and go over a couple of things in the file.”
    Scott felt a flare of hope.
    “Did Melon turn any new leads?”
    “No, I can’t say that. This is just me, trying to get up to speed on what happened that night. Could you roll by sometime today?”
    The flare of hope faded to a bitter ember. Orso sounded like a nice guy, but Scott had just relived what happened that night, and was fed up with talking about it.
    “I’m on shift, then I have plans.”
    Orso paused. This told Scott Orso knew Scott was giving him the brush.
    Orso said, “How about tomorrow, or whenever is convenient?”
    “Can I give you a call?”
    Orso gave him his direct-dial number, and hung up.
    Scott dropped his phone on the seat between his legs. The numbness he felt only moments earlier had been replaced with irritation. Scott wondered what Orso wanted to ask about, and if he should have mentioned the sideburns even though he didn’t know if they were real.
    Scott cut across lanes and veered toward the city. He punched in Orso’s number as he passed Griffith Park.
    “Detective Orso, it’s Scott James again. If you’re there now, I can swing by.”
    “I’m here. You remember where we are?”
    Scott smiled at that, and wondered if this was Orso’s idea of a joke.
    “I remember.”
    “Try not to hit anyone when you get here.”
    Scott didn’t laugh, and neither did Orso.
    Scott phoned Dominick Leland next, and told him he wouldn’t be in to see the new dogs. Leland growled like a German shepherd.
    “Why in hell not?”
    “I’m on my way to the Boat.”
    “Fuck the Boat. There is nothing and no one in that damned building more important than these dogs. I did not let you into my K-9 platoon to waste time with those people down there.”
    Robbery-Homicide housed their special units on the fifth floor of the Police Administration Building. The PAB was a ten-story structure across from City Hall. The side of the PAB facing City Hall was a thin, pointy, triangular glass wedge. This made the PAB look like the prow of a ship, so rank-and-file officers dubbed it the Boat.
    “They want me at Robbery-Homicide. It’s about the case.”
    Leland’s growl softened.
    “Your case?”
    “Yes, sir. I’m on my way now.”
    Leland’s voice turned gruff again.
    “All right, then, get your ass here as soon as you can.”
    Scott never wore his uniform to Goodman’s office. He kept his uniform in a gym bag and his handgun in a lockbox in the trunk. He dropped off the freeway on First Street, and changed in the Boat’s parking garage. He expected more than a few detectives to give him the glare because of his scene with Melon. Scott didn’t give a rat’s ass, either way. He wanted to remind them he was a police officer.
    Scott showed his badge and LAPD ID card to the lobby receptionist, and told her he was there to see Orso. She made a brief call, then gave Scott a different ID card to clip to his shirt.
    “He’s expecting you. You know where they are?”
    “I know.”
    Scott tried not to limp as he crossed the lobby, which wasn’t so easy with all the steel in his leg. The night they wheeled him into the Good Samaritan emergency room, Scott had surgeries on his thigh, shoulder, and lower chest. Three more surgeries followed later that same week, with two additional surgeries six weeks later. The leg wound cost him three pounds of muscle tissue, needed a steel rod and six screws to rebuild his femur, and left him with nerve damage. The shoulder reconstruction required three plates, eight screws, and also left him with nerve damage. The PT after the multiple surgeries had been painful,