Dead of Winter by Stuart M. Kaminsky

Author:Stuart M. Kaminsky
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Simon & Schuster, Inc.
Published: 2005-09-01T06:00:00+00:00

11

“WHO?” asked Danny the next morning after Stella finished reading the E-mail message on the screen in front of her.

Danny hadn’t slept well. He dreamt of a chain dangling in the cold wind and himself slowly sliding down it, trying to hold on, his hands slipping, knowing he would eventually run out of chain and fall into the darkness below him. It was a long dream. He remembered calling out for help below but no one could hear him at that distance in the darkness and the whistling wind. He had been happy to get out of bed at five and get to work.

“Jacob Laudano,” Stella said.

Danny looked over her shoulder at the screen and read out loud, “Jacob the Jockey?”

“That’s what he’s called,” she said.

“He’s a jockey?”

“Was,” she said.

“Which means…” Danny began.

“He’s probably small,” said Stella. “Let’s…”

She used the mouse and hit more keys.

“The last time he was pulled in, that was last August, he stood four ten and weighed ninety pounds. Look at his rap sheet.”

Danny looked. The list was long and included an arrest for stabbing a prostitute and five other arrests for bar fights, all involving knives.

“Laudano is a known associate of Steven Guista,” said Stella.

“What do we do?” he asked.

“Attach a ninety-pound weight to that chain,” she said. “Lower it twelve feet and see if it holds.”

“We’ll need more chain,” said Danny.

“We’ll need more chain,” Stella agreed. “But that can wait. Guista’s bakery truck was picked up last night. It’s at an impound on Staten Island.”

“So we’re going there first?” asked Danny.

Stella shook her head “no” and said, “First we go to Brooklyn.”

“Brooklyn,” Danny repeated. “Why?”

“Guista took a car service from a location in Brooklyn last night,” said Stella, reaching for a report next to her desk and handing it to Danny. “We check the company. Find out where he went. Should be easy. One of the two kids who took Guista’s truck for a spin remembered Guista, the time and the car.”

“It’s going to be a busy day,” said Danny. “What about Laudano, the Jockey?”

“Flack is on it,” she said.

“He should be in bed,” said Danny.

“He should be in the hospital,” said Stella, “but he’s not. He’s on the street. Let’s go.”

“Since we’re on the subject of hospitals,” he said. “You’re not looking any better.”

“I’m fine.”

“Your face is red,” he said. “You have a fever.”

She ignored his comment and put the computer in sleep mode, dropped a small stack of reports in a file folder, and stood up.

“The Jockey,” Danny said almost to himself. “Who would have thought? It makes no sense.”

“Why not?” asked Stella, leading the way out of the lab.

“A crooked union boss with mob connections hires a circus act to murder a witness? A strong man and a…” Don asked.

“Little person,” Stella completed.

“Why?” asked Danny. “They were sure to be noticed.”

Stella picked up her kit in one hand and her file folder in the other. Danny took her place at the computer.

“Maybe we’re supposed to think it’s a circus act,” she said.

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