Purgatory Gardens by Peter Lefcourt

Author:Peter Lefcourt [Lefcourt, Peter]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Crime, Humour
Publisher: Skyhorse Publishing
Published: 2015-07-22T12:00:00+00:00

VII

SAMMY

By the time the screaming died down and the sound of police sirens could be heard in the distance, Sammy Dee was standing outside the supermarket looking at the carcass of his Lexus. All that was left were the chassis, with the steering wheel sticking up like a submarine periscope, and one axle. Everything else was scattered—some pieces, the police would later tell him, a quarter mile away. A man sitting outside Der Wienerschnitzel eating a chili dog was injured by a piece of shrapnel that turned out to be a part of the side view mirror.

When his heartbeat slowed down, Sammy considered whether he should disown his car. Just walk away and hope that the job was thorough enough that there would be no way to identify the owner. Within minutes they would throw up a crime scene tape, and no one would be permitted to leave.

But Sammy had watched enough episodes of CSI to know that these guys could make you from an eyelash. And if he were seen leaving the scene of the crime, it would make matters worse.

After the uniforms herded everyone back into the supermarket and the paramedics went through checking for injuries, Detectives Melendez and Guthrie arrived, like a couple of gauchos late for the rodeo. They walked with exaggerated slowness, slower even than Marshal Dillon, if that were possible, and conferred with the uniforms. Then they addressed the small group of shoppers and store personnel.

“I’m Detective Melendez, and this is Detective Guthrie, from the PSPD. We’ll do our best to get you out of here and home as soon as possible, but first we need everyone’s names, contact, and any information you can give us.”

People started talking all at once, claiming that they had to leave, that they had groceries melting, that their children had to go to the bathroom. Melendez quieted them with a loud whistle.

“The more cooperative you are, the faster it will go. Now, before we start taking names, we need to know two things. One, did anyone observe any suspicious activity in the parking lot, before entering or leaving the supermarket?”

An old man with a walker said, “There were a couple of gang-bangers hanging around, casing the cars.”

“Okay, sir, Detective Guthrie will take your statement.” Then he said, “Does the blown-up car belong to anyone here?”

Sammy sheepishly raised his hand, feeling like a school kid volunteering the correct answer. Melendez looked at him and slowly made the connection. He could see the cop’s eyes register recognition. You again?

The detectives interviewed him in the store manager’s office. Melendez sat behind a cluttered desk, Guthrie beside him, and went through his routine, as if he were taking an oral examination at the Police Academy.

“What type of vehicle was it?”

“Lexus, 450.”

“Year?”

It took ten minutes to get through the car shit, during which Guthrie sat with his iPad, running numbers through some computer program, no doubt verifying the information that Sammy was providing, down to the date of the last oil change.

Finally, Melendez got down to business.

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.