Case of the Deadly Kiss by Milton K. Ozaki

Author:Milton K. Ozaki [Ozaki, Milton K.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781440559716
Publisher: Prologue Books
Published: 1985-07-15T00:00:00+00:00

3

“So what have you got?” Chief Hunt demanded.

Lieutenant Koda looked up from the pile of papers on his desk. He shrugged, “Not a damned thing,” he admitted wearily.

“You’ve questioned everybody?”

“From Z to A – and back and forth and sideways. Not a damned one of them knew Jeanne Lister. One of them thought he might have gone to school with her, but it turned out he hadn’t.”

“We’re wasting a hell of a lot of time, Ken!”

“Maybe.” Koda stared at the pile of chewed butts in his ashtray. “I think there’s a connection, though. There has to be.”

“I think you and D’Alessandro are nuts, Ken. The theory sounded good at first, but you’ve run it into the ground. The mayor has been banging my ear every day, and, damn it, all I can tell him is that we’re ‘working on it.’ He’s beginning to act as though he suspects me of deliberately stalling things. I don’t blame him, either. We don’t know a damned bit more right now than we did a week ago.”

“Yes we do.” Koda nodded thoughtfully.

“Give me the good news, then,” Hunt said. “I haven’t heard it.”

“We know that none of these men –” Koda slapped a hand on the pile of transcripts –“had anything to do with Jeanne Lister.”

“Oh, that!” Hunt said disgustedly. “Suppose we assume that Jeanne Lister had a cop for a boy friend. What would it prove? Nothing!”

“I disagree, Chief. This killer isn’t just some screwball with a yen for strangling dames. Take Milly Beckman. It was a cold night, no time for anybody, not even a psycho, to go wandering around in a park looking for a victim. But ne waited outside that auditorium for her and trailed her to the park. Why her and not some other girl? I think he had her spotted, that he planned to kill her in particular – and that he had a reason for choosing that night for the job.”

“Look, Ken. I’m not saying you’re wrong. I don’t know. Killers do crazy things. But you’re missing the point entirely. While you’re knocking yourself out trying to find a connection between Jeanne Lister and someone on the force, time is running out. Every day, I keep expecting the mayor to ask for my resignation. This is the fifth of March. On April first, I’m liable to be walking around looking for a job, unless –”

“The day to worry about is March twenty-fifth,” Koda muttered.

“What’s that got to do with –”

“The night of the twenty-fifth, Chief. It’s coming. And he’s getting ready right now, probably, to strike again. It’ll be a Monday night, and somewhere in Stillwell a girl is going to be alone. He’s going to grab her, strangle her, force his mouth over hers, leave her lying there dead. Who? Where? Why? We’ve got to get the answers to those questions, Chief.”

Hunt studied Koda’s face for a moment. “Okay,” he said quietly. “Play it your way, Ken. I guess I can always get another job, but nobody can breathe life into a dead body.

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