Trail of Blood Read Online Free PDF

for him, so they often stopped at this collection of offices, eateries, and shops arranged in rings around five stories of open air, topped by a glass ceiling. Throngs of office workers, young clerks with out-of-style ties, and secretaries in modest skirts, swirled around them.
    They sat in the diner window to watch the people going by, recognizing a good number of them. James pointed out a wiry guy skulking along with another man. “What about Henry?”
    “Only hits groceries. He’d never try a jewelry store, he doesn’t have the contacts to unload the goods.”
    “Maybe he’s trying to come up in the world.”
    “Ain’t we all.”
    The waitress came by. James ordered the cheapest thing on the menu—a ten-cent ham sandwich—instead of the tuna fish he would have preferred, because he knew he wouldn’t have to pay for it. An inefficient sop to his conscience—or his ego.
    “How’s Helen?” Walter asked.
    Not a non sequitur. Helen definitely planned to move up in the world.
    “She wants a refrigerator.”
    “Can’t blame her,” Walter said. “They’re great. No more dealing with the iceman, having that damn drip pan overflow and flood the kitchen. I couldn’t stand our iceman. Always showing off his muscles to my wife. You lift blocks of ice for a living, idiot, and she’s supposed to be impressed with you? I mean, you and Helen got electricity, right?”
    “I have electricity. I don’t have the five hundred bucks a refrigerator would cost. I could buy a new car for that.”
    “You don’t need a car. You do need to eat.”
    “We eat fine.” He shouldn’t have said anything, knowing his partner would take his wife’s side. Walter’s spouse got whatever she wanted, because Walter’s police salary came with a healthy supplement from appreciative citizens—people who appreciated not being arrested for gambling, speeding, bootlegging, or beating up a business rival. Walter’s wife had a refrigerator. And a new dress every month. And their kids went to the parish school.
    Helen, on the other hand, altered her dresses once in a while for a fresh look, made leftovers last for days, and saved her mascara for social occasions.
    The other cop persisted. “Stuff lasts longer, because the temperature don’t go up and down as the ice melts.”
    “Uh-huh.”
    “I trust you, Jimmy. You know that, right?”
    Again, the path his partner’s mind took did not present a mystery. James would have had plenty of money if he were a “normal” cop. Refusing to take it only gave the other “normal” cops a reason to think he might not be a stand-up kind of guy. Cops who weren’t stand-up guys made other cops nervous. “I know. I’m just careful, Walter. Maybe you should be, too.”
    “What does that mean?”
    “Nothing from me, you know that. But once Ness takes over—” Walter dropped his sandwich back onto his plate with disgust. “I don’t care about what that pretty-boy newshound did to Capone! Anybody could have gotten Capone, the guy did everything but piss in full view of the entire city! The ones operating here are a lot smarter.”
    James waited until Walter went to work on another mouthful and kept his voice low. “Smarts may not have anything to do with it. You know Burton is going to win the mayoral race and his entire platform seems to be police corruption. Even without Ness, people are going to go down and I don’t want to be one of them.”
    Walter licked his fingers and winked at the waitress. “I don’t get you, Jimmy. Without even blinking you’ll go up against a drunk with a gun who’s beating his wife, but let some politician shake his fist and you quiver.”
    James had no trade to fall back on, no extended family to help him along, and the army didn’t have the budget to take guys back. He pictured himself waiting in a line of hungry men. “I can’t lose my job.”
    Walter’s soft face softened even more, and he shook his head. He understood, really. Walter wasn’t a bad