Burnt Black by Ed Kovacs

Author:Ed Kovacs
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: St. Martin's Press

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

I checked with Janean Bayham, and she agreed to drop the assault charges against Hans Vermack. While he got processed out, I ran a check on Anastasia Fournier and came up with nothing but a DUI on her DMV record. When Kruger popped into the office, I buttonholed him.

“I’m trying to run down Tony Fournier’s niece, Anastasia. You know anything about his family?”

“I didn’t know Tony had a niece.”

“He told me his brother and sister-in-law were killed in a boating accident a few years ago. Anastasia is the daughter.”

“I vaguely remember him mentioning a brother. I know he had a sister, career army officer, stationed in Germany. But that was years ago.”

“I’ll check with personnel.”

The personnel office was closed, but my gut told me that Tony Fournier was up to something, and I needed to find out what. So I walked out of Homicide and popped in to the Vice offices. I approached a detective I didn’t know at his desk.

“Saint James, Homicide. Listen…” I handed him a copy of Townsend’s mug shots. “A reliable source tells me she’s running girls out of an apartment in town. My guy is on tape accusing detectives from this unit of stopping in for freebies. My partner and I report directly to the chief, so Pointer is going to either listen to the tape or read a transcript. I’m going to make sure that any false accusation against your unit gets edited out. Okay? You have my word.”

The vice detective looked at the mug shots but didn’t say anything.

“One way or the other, I’m bringing this chick down, maybe for Murder One. If someone were protecting her, and I’m sure no one here is, they would get tarnished. And who wants to see that? What I need is the current location of her brothel. Off the record, of course.”

I scribbled my cell number on the copy of Townsend’s mug shots.

“I’ll ask around,” said the vice dick, coolly. “Give it a day or so.”

* * *

Honey came back from the morgue, and I waved her over just as I took a call from Fred Gaudet, who had gone out to check on Gina Sanchez. I put the call on speaker.

“Fred, I thought you’d be back here with some taquitos by now.”

“Gina Sanchez has disappeared.”

My smile faded quickly as I looked to Honey. I remembered Sanchez’s fears of being targeted for death, concerns that seemed exaggerated at the time.

“Fred, this is Honey. What happened?”

“She wasn’t grabbed, she cleared out. Didn’t even ask for her rent deposit refund. Landlord says a couple of Mexican guys in a beat-up van helped her move. Her place is empty except for the furniture that came with it.”

“No forwarding address, phone number? The owner get a van description, plate number?”

“Zip, zero, nada. Sanchez had a state ID card, so I pulled her photo. Been showing it to my Mexican contacts, at the mercados, the markets, and the panaderías, the bakeries. Someone will spot her.”

“Don’t forget the check-cashing service she used.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.