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

“Come on, you big brute. Let’s get you inside.”

Far off, I could hear the howl of sirens approaching across the night. As we walked, I said, “Did he tell you anything? You were going to break his arm. That’s illegal, you know? You are not allowed to break prisoner’s arms.”

“I was only bluffing. I would only have dislocated his shoulder. But no, all he said was agh, agh. But he wasn’t wearing gloves.”

“What do you mean? He would have said more if he’d had gloves on?”

She smiled as we reached the front steps and pulled a Glock 19 from her coat pocket, wrapped in a handkerchief. “Prints,” she said simply. “Am I a good girl? Do you think Santa will bring me tickets to Goa this year?”

“You are some piece of work, Dehan. I am in awe.”

“Awe? Really?”

She giggled. Two patrol cars turned in off Rhinelande Avenue and accelerated toward us. As we watched them pull up, she said, “He didn’t give us very long, did he? Did he know we had decided not to drop the case? Has he got a source? Or was this guy only intended to scare us?”

I watched the lights pulsing red and blue on the snow and the officers climbing out and moving toward us. “Whichever way you look at it,” I said, “it is not coherent.”

SIXTEEN

I took the gun from Dehan and put it into an evidence bag from my pocket. Gomez and Smith were the first to get to us, closely followed by Derringer and Hoffmeier. I handed the gun to Gomez.

“Hoffmeier, you and Derringer go with Detective Dehan and cordon off the area. Find where the car was parked, cordon that off too. You never know, there might be a cigarette butt or something. Gomez, I want you to take this to the lab. I’ll call ahead and tell them you’re coming. If Joe is still there, you hand it to him personally. If not, whoever is standing in for him. This has to be processed tonight. Scram.”

She took it and she and Smith withdrew at speed, with the siren blaring. While Dehan returned to the scene of the fight, with Hoffmeier and Derringer, I called Joe at the lab.

“Good evening, John!”

“You still at the lab?”

“I was just putting my coat on, why?”

“Couple of guys just tried to pop me and Dehan with a Glock 19.”

“Oh, that was you, was it? A team is on its way. They just left.”

“Yeah, Dehan managed to wrestle the piece out of the shooter’s hand.”

Joe burst out laughing. “She’s one in a million!”

“No argument from me. She probably saved my life. Anyway, the gun is on its way to the lab right now in a patrol car. Sergeant Gomez has it. There’s a BOLO out on the shooters and their vehicle…”

“And you’d like the prints to go with it. I’ll do it myself, John, and run them. I’ll let you know the moment we get a match.”

“I appreciate that, Joe. Thanks.”

I hung up and called the inspector.

“John, good evening, what can I do for you?”

“I’m sorry to disturb you at home, sir.” He muttered something about not at all and I went on, “Two men just tried to shoot us outside our front door.”

“Good Heavens, man! Are you all right? And Carmen?”

“Yes, we’re fine, thank you, sir. She managed to get most of the registration of the car, I put two rounds into it and there is a BOLO out. Dehan also managed to wrestle the gun from the shooter’s hand. She may have broken his fingers in the process. His prints are being run as we speak.”

“That girl is something, isn’t she!”

“Yes, sir. Now, here’s the thing. This had to be Costas, and I want him arrested right now.”

“Yes, I see… How can you be so certain?”

“It can’t be anybody else. It has panic written all over it and the only person panicking right now is Costas. Simple process of elimination. He told us to drop the case and accept the confession. I said I wouldn’t and as soon as I get home there is a car waiting for me and the shooter tries to kill us both. It’s Costas.”

“I’ll have a car sent to his house and have him brought in.” He hesitated. “You are sure about this, John…?”

“One hundred percent. I’m going to have something to eat and get a few hours sleep. I’ll talk to him first thing in the morning. Have them let me know when he’s in custody, will you?”

“Right, right. Of course I will. Get some rest. Good work.”

The Crime Scene van had arrived while I was talking. Liz Greene was heading the team and we ran through the events together, setting yellow markers where each event took place. We managed to recover most of the slugs and she took my Colt in for comparison. We recovered the spent shells from the Glock, but found nothing where the Audi had been parked. After that, there was little to do but wait for the results to come back from the lab.

When they had gone, we went inside and Dehan tended to my shoulder. My coat, my jacket and my shirt were ruined, and there was a channel gouged out of my upper arm, one inch long and a quarter of an inch deep. It hurt like hell but I refused to show it, and two aspirins and a glass of Bushmills made it tolerable. At half past nine, when we were putting the dishes in the dishwasher, the phone rang.

“Detective Stone?”

“Speaking.”

“This is Gomez, sir. Deputy Inspector John Newman asked me to let you know as soon as we had Assistant District Attorney Varu…”

“Varufakis.”

“Yes, sir, thank you, in custody. We have him in custody,