Three Ways to Die Read Online Free PDF

mortgage on his house to pay for it, just to smooth things over as fast as possible.
    At the time, even the officers who were snickering behind Masters' back at his embarrassment felt sorry for him.
    Once, Bud picked her up at a McDonalds, where she was sitting naked, casually eating a Happy Meal, at 3 am. Bud sat across from her, sharing her fries, before he drove her home and dropped her off outside her door. He didn't want the Chief seeing him.
    A few hours later, she walked back out into the sunrise and wasn't seen again. That was two years ago.
    "You know I tried to help her," the chief finally declared. "I put her into rehab three times, though drugs and alcohol were never her problem. I wish they were, at least I could have understood that."
    "I'm afraid you'll have to come down and identify the body, sir."
    The chief turned around and looked at Bud, who immediately straightened up in his seat.
    "I'm aware of what I have to do, Flanek," the Chief said.
    Bud swallowed. "Yes, sir."
    During his entire career, such as it was, Bud was careful to go unnoticed, a feat he accomplished by showing absolutely no ambition or initiative whatsoever. Everybody took him for granted, a familiar piece of squad room furniture, and he liked that. Now here he was in the Chief's office, where he couldn't help but make a resoundingly bad impression. Why couldn't some other cop have found Lissy Masters?
    "Any idea where she's been," The Chief asked, "or how she ended up in the park?"
    "No sir," Bud replied, "but I've got officers questioning the homeless to see if any of them knew her."
    "She wasn't homeless," the Chief snapped. "She had a home, a good home."
    "Yes, sir." Bud felt beads of sweat rolling down his back.
    "If she was living on the streets in my city, don't you think I would have known about it? That we all would have?"
    "Of course, sir."
    There was no way this could turn out well for Bud, but at least it would be over soon. He thanked God that it was clearly an accidental death, something that could be wrapped up in a day, as opposed to a protracted murder investigation, which could drag on for weeks and give the Chief ample opportunity to be dissatisfied and disgusted with him. With luck, in a couple days the Chief would forget Bud Flanek ever existed.
    "You're sure about how she died?"
    "There's nothing at this point to indicate a homicide, sir. The coroner is pretty certain she froze to death, but we'll have the results of the autopsy this afternoon."
    The Chief nodded, as much an acknowledgement as a dismissal. "Go down to the morgue, wait on that report, I don't want the press getting it before I do."
    "Yes, sir."
    Bud rose from his seat and gathered his overcoat from the adjoining chair. "I'm very sorry, sir."
    "So am I." The Chief turned back to the window.
    Bud glanced one more time at Lissy's picture and left.
    * * * * * *
    He had no desire to see someone he knew dissected, so Bud waited in the hall, eating a bag of chips and staring at the diagram of the building's emergency exits on the opposite wall.
    By the time Erno Pender finally emerged in his blood-streaked lab-gown, Bud had memorized the ingredients of Nacho Cheese Doritos and knew how to get out of the building in any situation.
    "How did it go?" Bud asked.
    "As hard as I tried, I couldn't revive her," Erno held his palm out to Bud. "You got some change for the vending machine?"
    "I meant were there any surprises?"
    "Low blood sugar makes it hard for me to recall."
    Bud dug into his pockets and scowled. "You make at least twenty grand more than me."
    "But you have pockets and I don't."
    He handed Erno a handful of assorted change.
    "Thanks," Erno shuffled up to the machine. "She froze to death."
    "Is that all you've got to tell me?"
    "I thought you'd be relieved."
    "I am, but with the Chief involved, I need all the details."
    Erno scrutinized the selections. "Besides being a little drunk, there were no drugs in her blood stream, no needle marks, no suspicious