The Cold Nowhere Read Online Free PDF Page B

can’t go through something like that and not get screwed up. Sooner or later, she had to pay the price.’
    ‘How bad is it?’
    ‘Hey, she’s still a good kid, you know? She’s not far gone like some of them. That’s why I thought Brooke could help her, but you want the truth? I’m scared to death.’
    ‘Drugs?’ Stride asked.
    ‘Yeah, sometimes.’
    ‘Do you supply her?’
    Dory leaped to her feet. He thought she was ready to slap him. ‘No! Never! You think I would do that to my own niece?’
    ‘I had to ask.’
    ‘I never give her anything!’
    ‘You’re not clean, Dory,’ Stride said. ‘You think I can’t tell?’
    ‘Yeah, okay, it’s been a shitty year, and I’m circling the drain. If that’s what you want to hear, fine. But Cat? No way. She never got so much as one fucking pill from me.’
    He sat her down again. ‘I’m sorry,’ he said.
    ‘I wouldn’t trust me, either, but it’s the truth.’
    ‘Who has their hooks into her, Dory? I need a name.’
    ‘I don’t know. It could be anybody. Try Curt Dickes. Greasy little bastard. He’s a janitor at one of the hotels in Canal Park. Word is, he’s been fixing tourists up with the local girls. Cat mentioned him a couple times.’
    ‘I know Curt,’ Stride said.
    He and his team knew most of the repeat offenders by name. Curt Dickes had been on his radar screen for ten years, ever since Stride caught him coming out the rear door of the Great Lakes Aquarium with half a dozen stolen stingray pups in a tank of water. The kid came from a big family of girls. He was the little brother who always got into trouble. He was mostly a petty thief and con artist, but if he’d expanded into prostitution, Stride needed to talk to him.
    ‘Listen, Dory,’ Stride went on, ‘Cat thinks someone is trying to kill her. Did she talk to you about that?’
    ‘Yeah, I didn’t know whether to believe her.’
    ‘Why not?’
    Dory hesitated. ‘Look, Cat’s pretty scrambled upstairs. You and me, we both know why. Some days I don’t know what’s real with her and what’s not. I’m not sure she knows herself.’
    ‘Can you think of a reason why anyone would want to hurt her?’
    ‘Most guys don’t need a reason to hurt street girls,’ Dory said. ‘You know that.’
    ‘I want to check on some things she told me, but I don’t want her on her own when she’s done. I’m afraid she’ll take off again. Can you make sure she stays here until I get back?’
    Dory looked at the clinic building and frowned, but she nodded. ‘Sure, whatever.’
    He stood up to leave but Dory tugged on his sleeve. ‘Hey, Stride, can I ask you something? Why are you doing this for Cat?’
    ‘It’s my job.’
    ‘Yeah? A lot of cops would dump a girl like her at County and forget about her. Is this because of what happened to Michaela?’
    ‘Partly,’ he admitted.
    Dory lit another cigarette and shook her head. ‘Michaela wasn’t perfect, you know. I warned her about Marty. I said he’d keep coming after her. She didn’t listen.’
    ‘It wasn’t her fault,’ he said.
    ‘Yeah, maybe not, but I blamed her for being so stupid. I blamed myself, too. If I’d had my head on straight, I could have done something to stop him. As it is …’
    She closed her eyes. Her lips squeezed into a thin, pale line. He could see guilt licking at her insides like flames. He knew what that was like.
    ‘I have to go,’ he said. ‘Believe me, Dory, I’ll do whatever I can to protect Cat.’
    Dory opened her eyes. Her face darkened, not with anger, but with sadness. ‘Like you protected her mother?’ she asked.

5
    Stride lived in a place that never forgot the past.
    Duluth was a small town masquerading as a big city, and small towns had long memories. Fewer than one hundred thousand souls lived inside its borders. It sounded like a lot, but for a native, it was nothing. When Stride dragged a middle-aged man to the drunk tank, there was a good chance it was someone who’d gone to