Desolate angel by Chaz McGee

Author:Chaz McGee [McGee, Chaz]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Policier
ISBN: 9780425228739
Published: 2009-07-07T10:39:58+00:00

Chapter 22

With warrant in hand, Maggie radiated an immense, intractable resolve that transcended consciousness. It was a determination to conquer her prey that extended back thousands of years, connecting her to her primal ancestors hunting for their survival. She no longer needed to kill to eat, but she still had the urge in her. I could feel it throbbing like a piano wire being plucked with a thumb. She had simply turned the compulsion to hunting a new kind of prey. Was this why she was so much better than I had ever been at her job?

She exuded a cold and terrible light about her when she was in this state. Nothing living would want to venture near her, and even I, beyond such things, felt a vague fear as I waited with her in her car, an unseen companion who craved her company as a way to chase all other thoughts from my overactive mind. Where had Danny gone? Had my old partner known more about who killed Alissa Hayes than he’d let on? Why had he disappeared?

Let it go, I told myself. Just let it go. Watch Maggie be Maggie and let it go.

Maggie had parked down a side street with a clear view of the Hayes front door. She was waiting for Alan Hayes to leave his home before she served her warrant. Backup was awaiting her instructions and, occasionally, she would update them via radio, always telling them to keep standing by. She knew his schedule by heart. He would be leaving for a faculty meeting soon. She’d approach once he left. His wife would be easier to deal with alone. Maggie was not as reckless as Danny and I had been. Today, she just wanted information. This was a preliminary search. She’d get Hayes for good later on.

The sun was setting with a spectacular fiery pulsing of reds and oranges in the western sky. Maggie did not give it a glance. Me? I sat in the backseat and stared as fingers of scarlet tinged with purple began to spread across the horizon, marveling at its beauty. I could feel the dying beauty of the earth around me acutely now that I was dead: the choking of the rivers, the poisons in the air. But sunset was one earthly glory that pollution enhanced. And enjoying it would not make anything worse.

It was, I realized, as terrible and as beautiful in its power as Maggie herself.

She waited. Finally, Alan Hayes left his house. She gave him ten minutes to come back for anything he might have forgotten. She then asked her backup for a five-minute head start and walked briskly to the front door, knowing exactly what she was going to say. A single uniformed officer emerged from a car across the street, ready to accompany her inside. Morty, her father’s old friend. Morty, master of the notification and condolence call. Morty, a man I had underestimated.

“Ready?” he asked her in a low voice.

She nodded and rapped sharply on the door, then pounded when no one responded.

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.