Cold Frame: A Novel by Deutermann P. T

Author:Deutermann, P. T. [Deutermann, P. T.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: thriller, Mystery, Suspense
ISBN: 9781466863927
Goodreads: 23941323
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Published: 2015-07-14T07:00:00+00:00

TWELVE

Av had been noodling on his brand-new personal tarbaby all morning. Friday had turned into a perfect cluster, with Precious on a tear from the very first hour over some new and preposterous budgetary edict from “upstairs,” Wong Daddy getting served with a paternity suit, Mau-Mau getting called into the internal affairs office over an off-duty altercation that had resulted in a civilian being thrown into the Potomac, and Miz Brown announcing that he had truly found Jesus Christ and was going to put his papers in and go to divinity college.

He told Howie that he needed to talk to Precious.

“What about?”

“The mother of all tarbabies?” Av said.

“You right. Don’t wanna hear nothin’ about it. It’s Friday, so, when you get done, we’ll be havin’ lunch in Chinatown at the Dragon.”

Av was waiting when Wong came out, looking appropriately contrite. He knocked on her door and stepped in before she had time to sink her teeth into the next problem.

“Lemme guess,” she said, looking up at him over her reading glasses. “Dog ate your homework.”

“I wish,” Av said. He closed the office door, prompting Precious to give him a look. “That bad, Sergeant?”

“This’ll take a few minutes,” he began.

When he’d finished, Precious, visibly at a loss for words, began to shake her head.

“And this all goes back to that business with the FPS?” she said.

He nodded. “Apparently they weren’t FPS, either. Truth be told, I’m not sure who any of these people are.”

“And you probably don’t want to know, either,” she said. “Damn!”

She swung her chair around to look out the window for a minute. Her office had a magnificent view of several large white courthouse buildings across the congested street, which appeared to be littered with cop cars, lawyers conferring in little knots while cadging a quick smoke, and bewildered witnesses trying to figure out which court was theirs.

“Does this alleged supervisory special agent have any evidence that this Mandeville dude killed those two people?”

“Evidence?” Av asked. “As in go-to-a-grand-jury evidence? I don’t think so. She’s convinced that he used her somehow to ice McGavin, and the second one, Logan, is just too much of a coincidence in her mind.”

“Dear God, Sergeant. The National Security Council? That is so far above our pay grade as to lack breathable oxygen. Why did she come to you?”

“Metro caught the McGavin incident,” he reminded her. “Second District handed it off to ILB. Mau-Mau and I zigged instead of zagging, thereby planting both feet in it. Ultimately, we succeeded in handing it off to the Bureau, or so I thought.”

She nodded her head vigorously. “And that’s what we’re gonna do again,” she declared. “And right now, too.”

She reached for the phone, then hesitated.

“Yeah, that’s the problem, isn’t it,” Av said. “Who you gonna call…?”

She chewed on her lower lip as she thought about that. “And this shooter down in Rock Creek?” she asked.

“A messenger,” Av said. “As in, somebody with assets wants me, or more likely MPD, out of this business.”

“What’d your special agent friend think?”

“Supervisory special agent,” Av said.

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.