When the Night Bird Sings by John Lansdale

Author:John Lansdale
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: detective, noir, page turner, veteran, hard boiled, teamwork, female, partner, pi, texas

Chapter 9

The first thing I noticed when I pulled the contents out of the envelope was one of the crime scene pictures of Ashton Kane. It showed him lying on the bed face-down, a sheet pulled over the lower part of his body with his legs and feet sticking out. He was naked when he was killed by four 9mm slugs that could have been from a small hand gun. It was also the preferred choice of pistol for many women.

Candy was licensed to carry a handgun but she wasn’t there to do it; unless we could prove otherwise. Verves and his bunch couldn’t.

A 5”x7” picture was clipped to the page; showing Mr. Kane in a white coat with a nametag and a stethoscope around his neck. He was a good-looking man with blue eyes, a full head of combed-back black hair with a touch of gray that gave him a distinguished look. A note on the bottom of the picture listed his height as 6’ 2’’, weight at 200 lbs. and age as 48 years old.

According to the files, his parents were killed in a plane crash on their way to a business trip in Florida for the bank where they both worked. Luckily for Ashton, he was being taken care of by his aunt so he could play a little league game that day. He was ten years old when it happened, and spent the rest of his childhood in the care of his aunt.

He was turned down for a full academic scholarship to medical school because he was not active in any extra-curricular activities benefiting the country or community required for the scholarship, even though he was a straight-A student.

He had been arrested for assault and battery for beating up a kid in college after a hazing attempt and was then considered an undesirable by all the other fraternities he attempted to join.

He was also arrested three times for soliciting prostitution after the women filed complaints because of his unusual behavior.

One of the women claimed he hypnotized her to do weird sex things and another one said she was locked in a dark room where he made her watch a video of people having sex for hours and later “tested” her on it. Since no evidence was found, the school only suspended him for a year before he returned to graduate at the top of his class.

A federal charge of fraud was filed three years ago by an Edward Fillmore but Kane had been acquitted of all charges. There was no mention of any lasting relationships with any women other than Candy. Not exactly an all-American boy, but a huge success with an eye for the oldest profession.

Candy was listed as the wife of a doctor and a socialite charity fundraiser.

Her name and her mother’s name were as she said. A marriage license to Ashton Kane revealed her maiden name and a rap sheet on her mother’s prostitution and drug charges, but Candy had never been booked on any charges.

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