The Evidence Room: A Mystery Read Online Free PDF Page A

the remains of a frozen cappuccino, upended on the counter, that had begun to rush in an icy waterfall over the edge towards Josh’s feet. “I mean, welcome to Java Jive. Can I help you?”
    Josh smiled and picked up the overturned cup. “I’ll keep it simple. Cuban coffee to go.” The brunette standing next in line smiled, and Josh smiled back. The feeling was already beginning to loosen its grip.
    Outside, his cell phone began to chirp. Josh glanced at the caller ID. Boone.
    He fished the phone out of his pocket. “Don’t tell me Niney woke up and wandered off.”
    On the other end of the line, Boone let out a breath. “Not yet,” he said. “But the guys from Hambone showed up a while ago looking for you. Said you’re supposed to meet them over there—they need you.”
    The drug squad. What the hell time was it? He was late for the operation. He began to jog towards the car, the details of it clicking through his mind, the thought of the Shadow Man already retreating from his consciousness like an unpleasant dream.
    “Tell them I’m on my way,” he said.

 
    CHAPTER FIVE
    “It’s Hudson. I’m at the—um, the beauty parlor.”
    On the other end of the phone, Officer Clifford Fizzard, Josh’s partner on the tri-county narcotics interdiction force, clucked with laughter. Police chief of Hambone, five counties over to the east, Fizz also worked part-time as the owner of the Pig Squealer BBQ, but brought his best work to his full-time job as a Class-A ballbuster.
    “You gonna ask her for a perm before you take her down, Princess?”
    Josh suppressed a smile. “Now, that’s just the jealousy talkin’, Baldy,” he said. “Tell you what, I’ll see if I can grab ya some cans of spray-on hair on my way out.”
    Fizz snorted. “Laugh it up, young buck. It happens overnight. One day you’re running around chasing ass, next day you’re balder than a peeled egg and three days older than dirt.” He cleared his throat, and his voice took on a grave tone. “You ready for this one?”
    “Sure am.”
    “Atta boy. Just get her talkin’ on that tape. Fix a time for the buy tomorrow, then we’ll let the DEA know, and they can bring in the big dogs.”
    “Got it.”
    “And, Hudson?”
    “Yep?”
    “Be careful. None of this bravery garr-bage,” Fizz said, his Cajun accent stretching the word out as far as it would go. “If shit gets bad, just get your ass out of there.”
    “I got it, Fizz. Call you later.” Josh ended the call, the adrenaline molten in his veins. The tri-county narcotics force had only been in existence for six months, created at the feds’ direction to help fight rural Florida’s worsening drug problem, and already they’d taken down two prescription drug rings and were close on a third. They’d gather the evidence and then turn things over to the feds. The fact that ten cops from three hillbilly towns with a combined population under twenty thousand had made the busts was beginning to garner attention from larger cities and had even been profiled on a local news station.
    Josh didn’t give a shit about that. He liked the job because it was always different; every operation brought something you didn’t expect, so you always had to be ready for anything. The youngest on the force, with a tall, lean frame, stubbled complexion, and no girlfriend to force a haircut on him, Josh was the natural choice to play the role of Matt Saunders, drug seeker. Josh glanced down at his battered jeans and work shirt with the sleeves cut out. The transformation was almost too easy.
    Josh parked across the street from the Kut and Kurl, the salon they believed was a cover for a multicounty drug ring. In the backseat, Beau chewed a pulled pork sandwich, the remains of Josh’s lunch.
    This whole block on the outskirts of Hambone had once been the slave quarters for a Confederate general’s plantation. Now it was a neglected row of failing businesses. That was how things were down here; they upgraded