SNOW FALL by Andrew P Foster

Author:Andrew P Foster [Foster, Andrew P]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9798656956079
Goodreads: 56411554
Publisher: CityBound Books
Published: 2020-06-25T00:00:00+00:00

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January 2

Lilian watched as I stifled a yawn then tried to recover what I had been saying.

“Working too hard, huh?”

“Yeah, but I don’t have anything to show for it.”

She nodded. “I figured. Me neither.”

“No connections, the whole thing’s a mess. I think this is what they call a crime wave. A wave, a physical event, not a planned thing.”

She snorted as I gave her the small pile of papers I’d culled from the research as being out of the ordinary, having the most potential.

Lilian shook her head after paging through. “So no common factors. No connections. I know some kind of ties exist. I’ve seen drug running, believe me, we’ve had it for years up where I lived in the Heights, and petty crime, and burglary and assault, yes. But things are running so smoothly now, with so little…interference. I mean, you have a building, a normal building, and dealers start to move in. But nobody does anything. Complaints achieve nothing. Tenants leave, the building experiences a… vacuum, drugs move in. Destroy what’s left. Then boom, the dealers move on and boom again, renovation. Where is the mess, where is the gang warfare, the police raids, screaming landlords, furious tenants… I mean, where? It seems to be just me. Me, the only one yelling fire!”

I told her I’d review it all again. When I did, my instincts said the city agencies were the most questionable. I called and asked Eileen to find out a few facts for me about one real estate subsidy program whose presence in a building seemed to predate widespread problems, seemed to speed up decay instead of promote recovery. And whose numbers looked a bit cooked. She agreed to check with a few sources. After all, she said, “I am your big sister, right?”

Only a day later, Lilian was furious. My job description, it turned out, was not supposed to include upsetting important people. And that was what my call to Eileen had done, quickly and effectively.

“What is it I’m not getting, Philip? Do you have some close connection to Nord or Sculler or one of these drug kings? You want to tell me? I’m all ears! Are you into cocaine deeper than you said? Are you in debt to these people?”

“No!”

“All I expect is a warning, Philip. You just say, Geez, Miss Andallo, maybe I am a little messed up.”

“I don’t honestly see why you are so upset. I said I was checking on — ”

“This is a quiet investigation. You went outside.”

“We weren’t getting anywhere. Investigations always stir up trouble. If you can’t stand the heat — ”

“Get away from the fire? How, after you bring it to my door? Not only does your name get out there, but mine and Silverman’s as well. You know what kind of calls she got from these yo-yos in city housing? You know what Betty says about it? She says, ‘Fuck you, Lilian, what are you doing?’”

“I thought she was involved in this.”

Lilian shook her head in disbelief.

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