Goldman, Matt - Broken Ice by Goldman Matt

Author:Goldman, Matt [Goldman, Matt]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Tom Doherty Associates

21

I texted Jameson White that I needed more time. He said he had all day and so did the bacteria in my shoulder, so I should quit dillydallying and get shit done. Half an hour later, I sat across from Minneapolis PD Inspector Gabriella Núñez in her first precinct office. She’d let her black hair grow since I’d last seen her, which thickened the French braid behind her head. Her big, round black eyes had no creases around them. She had just turned thirty-nine but looked twenty-nine, probably because she’d never married, had no kids, and her parents and siblings lived in San Diego. She ran ten miles every morning regardless of what Minnesota’s weather had to say and ate a hamburger and fries for every lunch.

Gabriella Núñez kept her office as clean and neat as her life. Simple furniture with straight lines. Nothing on her desk but a computer terminal and phone. A dozen pictures and accolades hung on the walls. OCD, if pointed in the right direction, can be a good thing.

“Nice digs,” I said. “One of us has come a long way.”

“I had lunch with Ellegaard last month. I saw your offices. City Center. Administrative assistant. Junior investigator. You’re doing okay.” She stood. “I want to show you something.” She went to the wall and liberated a framed photograph from its hook and handed it to me. Thirty-two Minneapolis Police cadets taking their oath. Black pants. Blue shirts. White gloves. Ellegaard stood in the back row. Gabriella and I stood in the front row. I looked twelve years old.

Gabriella smiled. She didn’t smile often, but when she did, you had to squint. She said, “Seen that lately?”

“No. Mine’s in a box somewhere.”

“You and Ellie should hang one in the reception area of your office.” I handed it back to her, she returned it to its hook then straightened it. “You ever wonder what would have happened if the mayor hadn’t laid us off right after we graduated?”

“I know what would have happened. You’d have bossed me around the next seventeen years.”

“Yeah, I would have.” She sat behind her desk. “So what’s so urgent?”

“I have reason to believe there’s a Minneapolis kid who’s in contact with Linnea Engstrom. He lives by Powderhorn Park.” I didn’t need to catch her up on the case or why I was in a sling. She’d heard what happened. Word spreads fast in the biggest small town in the world.

“Why do you think the kid knows where she is?”

I told her about my run-in with Ernesto Cuellar yesterday and our friendly breakfast this morning.

“Do you think this Joaquin Maeda is holding Linnea against her will?”

“No. But I’d still like to find her.”

“Do you think Linnea’s in danger?”

“No idea. Her father was murdered yesterday. Same kind of arrow that stuck me. All I know is Joaquin’s message to me was to stop looking for Linnea and that she was okay.”

“So how can I help?”

“You can tell me what Miguel Maeda did to get himself deported.

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.