The Replacements Read Online Free PDF Page A

that was old Melvin.” She finished her text and took up her drink. Had she just made up the name Melvin Milkyfor Jake Donaldson, and was using it as an excuse to text her backup to swarm in?
    â€œOkay,” I said, “come on, tell me. I can’t stand it anymore. Why are you here?”
    She sipped her drink, her expression unreadable.
    â€œBarbara?”
    She smiled, set the glass down. “I think you know why.” She nodded behind me.
    My stomach dropped the same as if I’d been in a high-speed elevator falling a hundred floors. The police were waiting out there, I knew it, could feel it. She must’ve been nodding toward her backup. I thought of Marie and the kids and Dad.
    I got mad. “I didn’t think you, of all people, would come this far to stab me in the back like this.”
    She chuckled. “Bruno, what the hell are you talking about?”
    I didn’t like being the fool. I spun around. No storm-trooper cops were creeping up. A few tan and lobster-red tourists milled about the pool, drinking and talking. The place was quiet. I looked up at the television. The station was replaying the interview with Montclair Chief of Police Barbara Wicks, on a continuous loop like the press does with sensational incidents.
    I spun back to face her, pointed up, over my shoulder. “The kidnapped kids? Those kids? Barbara, I don’t have
those
kids. You’ve made a long trip for nothing.”
    Her smile fled, shifted to stone-cold. “Now what are
you
talking about?”
    â€œWhat are
you
talking about?”
    She leaned over the bar, reached out, placed her hand on my arm, and said, “I need you to come back and chase down the guy who’s taken these two little girls.”

CHAPTER SIX
    Barbara
didn’t
know about my kids. She didn’t know about Wally Kim. Could it be that her sole purpose in traveling all those thousands of miles down to Costa Rica was to ask me to…no, no way in hell. That didn’t compute, not at all.
    â€œI can’t step a foot back in the States. You know that.”
    She took a sip and stared at me, said, “You know I wouldn’t ask you if it wasn’t important.”
    â€œWhy me? And don’t try that old saw that it’s because I’m the best at this kind of thing. I won’t buy—”
    She waved her hand, “No, that would be ridiculous and you know it.”
    â€œOh, thanks for that, Barbara.”
    She laughed, “You know what I mean.”
    I waited until her laughter died. “Tell me.” I didn’t want to know, not really. This had to be some link back to my old life, and it wouldn’t be good. None of my old life had been good. That wasn’t true, I had met Marie in my past life, and she was the best thing that ever happened to me, bar none.
    Barbara again lost her smile, “You’re my only chance, and you know me, I wouldn’t be here, hat in hand, asking, if there was any other way. I wouldn’t ask you to hang yourself out like that.”
    This time I was the one who couldn’t speak, and only nodded.
    Her cell buzzed on the bar. She left it, not caring if I saw it, displaying a little trust. I couldn’t read the text upside down and didn’t want to. She said, “It’s about your boy Milky.” She noddedover her shoulder in the direction Jake Donaldson had walked off. She pushed another button and a photo came up on her cell screen. I didn’t need to turn it right side up to recognize Jake. She picked up her phone, moved it closer for me to see. “That him? That the guy who just walked off?”
    â€œNope, close, but it’s not the same guy.” Of course it was, but I wasn’t going to rat.
    She looked surprised, “Maybe you’re not the right guy for this job. Maybe I’m wrong. The Bruno Johnson I used to know has changed.”
    â€œWhat are you talking about?”
    â€œUsed to be, no matter