Dead Cold Mysteries Box Set #4: Books 13-16 (A Dead Cold Box Set) by Blake Banner (best ereader for academics .txt) 📕

shame it’s not that easy. Actually the U.S.A. is below the international average for murders, and most murders are committed with knives and bare hands, not guns. So he didn’t own or buy a gun.”

“No, no, no! He hates guns.”

“What about Agnes?”

She raised her hands and hunched her shoulders and made a face only Mediterraneans know how to make. “Ah! I don’t know! I speak to her only for say hello! But I think—I think—she is not a kind of person who owns a gun! Is just my opinion, eh! I don’t know.”

Dehan pointed at a pendant Cobos had around her neck and smiled. “That’s a very pretty cross. My mother gave me one very similar. Are you a Catholic?”

“Oh, yes! My mother too, she give it to me, for my communion. God is always with me, taking care of me. I no go to the church every Sunday, but in my heart I am a Catholic and with the Lord. Is important.”

“It sure is.” She turned to me. “So, Stone, I don’t know if you have any more questions…?” I shook my head. She went on, “Summing up, you and Jose were just friends, though you did spend the night together twice, Agnes was aware of that, and as far as you know, neither of them owned a gun?”

“That is correct—as far as I know!”

I stood. “Well, Dr. Cobos, I don’t think we need detain you any longer. Thank you for coming in, and maybe try some of the Italian cafes for your coffee. You have a good day.”

She left on prancing legs with a swing of her hips and a cute smile. Dehan stared at the empty doorway and chewed her lip. I said, “There’s your motive, right there.”

She nodded. “And you don’t like it any more than I do.”

I leaned against the wall and folded my arms. “What’s bugging you?”

“It’s nothing. It doesn’t count, but…” She shook her head. “She didn’t hit the sack with Jose.”

I was surprised and my eyebrows said so. “Based on what?”

She shook her head again. “I told you, it’s nothing. It’s stupid, but she’s a real, devout Catholic. She wears her cross on the outside of her blouse. I know the type. There is no way on God’s green Earth she is going to hit the sack with Jose if they are just good friends. I just don’t buy it. If they were engaged, maybe, but just friends? No way.”

I frowned. “Then why the hell would she tell us she had?”

“I don’t know, Stone. But I am telling you, sure as eggs is eggs, that woman did not have sex with Jose Robles.”

“As sure as eggs is eggs? Really?”

“Shut up. I read it somewhere.”

FIVE

Back at my desk, the internal phone buzzed. I answered and Maria the desk sergeant said, “Hey, lover boy, you got a call on line two.”

I smiled at Dehan as she dropped into her chair. “Maria, if Carmen ever catches us, she will surely kill us both.”

“Say hi to her for me.”

“Maria says hi.”

“Tell her to give her husband more celery, he has no staying power.”

I frowned. “Put it through, will you, Maria?”

Suddenly I could hear traffic, and the slightly breathless voice of a man who was walking.

“Stone.”

“Detective Stone, who was at the university before?”

“Yes, who am I speaking to?”

“My name is Am.”

“Am?”

“Uh-huh, Am is for Americano, like the coffee.”

I narrowed my eyes at Dehan, who was watching me with curious ones, and said, “I’m not really following you. Americano coffee?”

“The color, bro. My daddy had me with a black chick, called me Americano on account of the color of my skin.”

“Oh, I see.”

“We done with my name?”

“Yes, how can I help you, Am?”

“I was a student of Jose Robles. Me an’ him had a special connection. He knew I was a genius. I figure maybe I can help you.”

“You have information that can help us?”

“Maybe I have.”

“Am, maybe isn’t really good enough. Do you have information that can help the investigation or not?”

“Well, I don’t know until I tell you, do I? You gotta decide that. Me an’ him use to talk. We talked a lot. I told him ’bout my plans and my projects, an’ the stuff I aim to do with my life, and he wanted to help me, you feel me? He was a good dude. I feel I owe him. I can tell you what we use to talk about, and then maybe there is somethin’ in there that can help you.”

I tried not to sigh. “Can you come in to the station, Am?”

He laughed. “No, man. I ain’t goin’ to no police station. I go in there, you ain’t never gonna let me out again.”

“OK, give me your number and I’ll call you when we…”

“No, man.” He laughed again. “Don’t give me that, ‘I’ll call you’ routine. You ain’t never gonna call me. You think I’m as crazy as his lady. But I ain’t crazy. You don’t wanna talk to me, that’s cool. I jus’ wanna help the dude. You hear what I’m sayin’ to you?”

“He’s a little beyond helping, but I hear what you’re saying. Where do you want to meet, Am?”

“You know where I live?”

I looked at Dehan, closed my eyes and pinched the bridge of my nose. “No, Am, I don’t know where you live.”

“I’m gonna tell you. You know Hunts Point Avenue?”

“Yes.”

“You know where it makes a kind of wishbone with Bryant Avenue?”

“Yes.”

“Well that’s where I live. Right there, dude. That’s where I got me my apartment. It’s new, you know?”

“And is that where you would like to meet?”

“Yeah, that would be cool. Do you think I need to be afraid,