Crusader's Cross by James Lee Burke

Author:James Lee Burke [Burke, James Lee]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Fiction
ISBN: 9781597220620
Publisher: Pocket
Published: 2005-01-02T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Monday morning the Garden of Gethsemane was the 7:35 traffic backup at the railroad crossing. It also included a horn blowing like a shard of glass in the ear, the hot smell of tar and diesel fumes, undigested food that lay greasy and cold in the stomach, waiting to fountain out of my throat. Then, to demonstrate I was in control of things and not bothered by the metabolic disaster inside my body, I blew my horn at a passing streak of freight cars.

I had attended an AA meeting the previous night, determined to leave my weekend bender behind, and this morning I had dressed in pressed slacks, shined shoes, a striped tie, and a white shirt that crinkled with light. But as I walked into the office I knew my affectation of freshness and confidence was the cheap ruse of a willful man who had thrown away years of sobriety, betrayed his friends in AA, and perhaps mortgaged a long series of tomorrows.

By midmorning I could feel a tension band begin to tighten on the right side of my head. I constantly touched at my scalp, as though I were wearing a hat that had begun to shrink. I chewed gum, washed my face with cold water in the lavatory, and tried not to think about where I might go when the clock finally struck noon. But that problem was about to be taken away from me.

The chief of police in Jeanerette was Doogie Dugas. He was not a bad fellow, simply a showboat and political sycophant. But like most sycophants he was inept and lived in fear of people who had power. I was walking past Helen's open door when I saw her talking on the telephone, snapping her fingers at me. "Hang on, Chief, Dave Robicheaux just walked in," she said. "I'm going to put you on the speakerphone. Dave's the lead detective in our own investigation."

"— get the impression Mr. Val isn't a big fan of Dave Robicheaux," Doogie's voice said.

"Uh, you're on the speakerphone now, Chief," Helen said.

There was a pause. "You got any evidence this guy is local?" Doogie said.

"Which guy?" I said.

"The Baton Rouge serial killer," he said.

"No, we don't have any evidence to that effect. What's going on?" I said.

"What's going on is it looks like a butcher shop in there. The sheriff and me got road stops set up on the parish line, but I'm gonna need some lab hep here," he replied.

"Sir, I have no idea what you're talking about," I said.

"Honoria Chalons, somebody cut all over her. I never seen anyt'ing like this. Y'all coming over here or not?" he said.

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.