Blind to Midnight by Reed Farrel Coleman

Author:Reed Farrel Coleman [Coleman, Reed Farrel]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Blackstone Publishing

THIRTY

A thoroughfare of delis, convenience stores, funeral homes, ethnic restaurants, gas stations, used-car lots, and grimy brick apartments above empty storefronts, Coney Island Avenue defined Brooklyn ugly. Molloy’s Funeral Home was a tired-looking building on the corner of Avenue M and Coney Island Avenue. Nick parked the GTO a block away. The crisp air stank of car exhaust and buzzed with traffic noise. His phone vibrated in his pocket.

“Nick Ryan.”

“Detective Ryan, it’s Carla Ruvolo. I found our old phone book with Petar Stankovic’s number and address.”

“Can you text them to me?”

“I’ll do that now.”

“Thank you.”

“Detective Ryan.”

“Yeah.”

“I realized afterwards how I must’ve sounded to you. The way Vlado and I . . . you know.”

“How’s that?”

“Like a mercenary or . . . a whore.”

“I don’t think that, but my guess is, part of you does. No one is harder on us than ourselves.”

“I haven’t thought about the money for years and now that I look back, I never told anyone about it before today.”

“There’s nothing back there for you to undo or change, Mrs. Ruvolo. No one forced anyone to do what they did. What does the other stuff matter?”

“Thank you for saying that. I’m texting the number now.”

The phone call ended and the text came through.

He got to Molloy’s early. He had his reasons.

The first things he noticed were the matching rosewood coffins, lids closed, at the front of the room. There were flowers all around. The flags by Tony’s coffin: the gold-fringed Stars and Stripes, the New York City flag, the green, white, and blue NYPD flag. The room smelled of the flowers, not of the dead. He wondered if that was the original purpose of flowers at a wake—to cover the stink of the dead when they were laid on ice out in the family’s parlor. He spotted Puleo and Rosen at the back of the room. Their presence was SOP. No one realistically expected the killer to show, but there was always a chance. Nick nodded to the partners. Annalise nodded back. Rosen stood up, coming around to Nick.

“Got a minute?”

“Sure.”

They stepped into the reception area.

Rosen said, “Thanks for the heads-up on Franjo Petrovic.”

“Anything from the FBI, ICE, or TSA?”

“A guy like Petrovic isn’t going to come into the country under his own name. Nasty piece of work, that guy. As for the feds, I’m not sure they’d tell us even if they had something.”

“Thought I’d ask anyway.”

“So what’s your angle, Ryan?”

“What are you talking about?”

“I figured you’d be all over us with you being so close to the vics. Besides the intel on Petrovic, nothing from you. Puleo told me you’ve only called her once and that was for something else. I know you better than that.”

“Trust me, Rosen, you don’t know me at all. I’ve got my own cases to deal with. This may really surprise you, but I trust Annalise and know you’re a dog with a bone. I’ll keep out of your way as long as I think you’re doing your job.”

“Just keep it that way.

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