The Underground Detective: A Novel of Chicago Streets by Laird Thomas

Author:Laird, Thomas [Laird, Thomas]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: Parkgate Digital / Parkgate Press
Published: 2015-04-27T16:00:00+00:00

“Who did Franklin Toliver hang with in high school or college?” Justin muses as we finish up with yet another drive-by slaying on the near northside. This time it’s a ten year old African American boy. I can see a stab register on Justin’s face as he looks at the dead boy lying on the sidewalk at Ardmore and Durham Avenues. It’s gang-related. It almost always is. But this time we don’t have any willing witnesses who are ready to talk to us. Everyone around here is deaf and dumb by choice.

We walk back to our car. Justin asks the same question again about Franklin, the phantom of Old Town. The murderer of six women. Jack the Ripper, who only rips some of his victims. Others he simply strangles or incinerates.

“He had no one. He was always a loner,” I tell my new full time partner.

Apparently Lila has called the Captain and made her wishes formal.

“He didn’t hang with anyone,” I repeat.

“He must have someone he confides in. Someone he’d go to in desperation.”

“Only mommy. But the shrink said he had problems with her, too. I think his old man would drop a dime, himself, if Franklin showed up in Springfield.”

“So if he doesn’t hang with his mother or father, he has to be holing up somewhere, and he can’t be going to the grocery store or the laundromat on his own, so that leaves a girlfriend or a boyfriend.”

“I’d figure a female, if he’s living with anyone. A moll, like in the gangster movies,” I smile at Grant.

“Who’d know about a woman in sonny’s life?” Justin poses.

“The shrink in Elgin, maybe?” I reply.

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.