By the Balls by Jim Pascoe & Tom Fassbender

Author:Jim Pascoe & Tom Fassbender [Pascoe, Jim & Fassbender, Tom]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: ebook, book, Suspense
ISBN: 9781617751592
Publisher: Akashic Books
Published: 2013-04-02T04:00:00+00:00

Glad to see you’re playing.

You won’t guess my next play,

so let me help you out.

Get over to Cedar and Fifth.

You just might be able to catch me.

—Jack

I found Rhoda and asked her if she knew who had delivered the note. She told me she found it when she opened up that morning; someone must have slid it under the office door.

I didn’t have times for guessing games. I had to get across town.

* * *

I drove through the intersection of Cedar and Fifth, just four blocks west of where they’d found Donna’s body in Jackson Park. When nothing suspicious jumped out at me, I parked and got out to investigate.

Silent duplexes stared at me on the west side of Fifth Street. The east side held vacant lots; the houses that used to be on this block burned down a few years ago. Looked like no one had bothered to rebuild, and now the grass grew tall—waist-high in some places.

The late-morning sun pounded down on me. Other than the occasional chirp from birds, the street remained silent. Just what was I supposed to find here? Maybe I beat my friend Jack to the punch.

A thought jumped into my head: maybe I was supposed to get here first. Nervous energy buzzed through my body, and I instinctively checked my gun. I should have figured this for a setup, but this case had the inside of my head all twisted up.

I spun in a slow circle, carefully scanning each house and scrutinizing each empty lot. Again, nothing suspicious jumped out at me.

Something on the street caught my eye, though; I looked down to see a lipstick case. Its cap was missing and the bright red lipstick stuck outward, melting in the rising heat. Not too far away, just on the edge of my vision, I spotted a single black shoe—a high-heeled number with a strap designed to wrap around the ankle. It rested against the curb, right in front of the empty land on the southeast side of Fifth.

I looked out across the lot. The tall grass swayed in the light breeze. I played a hunch.

It didn’t take me long to find her. She lay where the grass grew the tallest, gazing up at the sky with glassy eyes.

Bright red lips—slightly parted to show off dainty white teeth—still begging to be kissed.

Her throat had been slit, and the drying blood had spilled across her porcelain skin. On her forehead, just below her neatly cropped, jet-black bangs, a reddish-purple letter V advertised her killer.

As always, Beth Hrubi dressed in black.

She held a single piece of steno paper in her left hand. On one side, Jack had scrawled a crude drawing of a heart being punctured by a knife. On the other, he’d written me a note: Meet me at Lepke’s.

This cat-and-mouse Jack and I were playing had been personal, but I hadn’t fully realized that until the moment I’d found Beth’s body.

I considered her a friend, although we’d only met that one night at the H.

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