The Bridge That Went Nowhere by Fish Robert L.;

Author:Fish, Robert L.;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: MysteriousPress.com/Open Road

10

New Year’s Eve was not Lieutenant Perreira’s idea of the best time to be assigned to duty at headquarters. He recognized, philosophically, that the duty had to fall to someone, but his philosophy did not extend to understanding why that someone had to be him. It was not that the eve of the new year was a particularly quiet time; quite the contrary. Under the influence of both pinga and religious fervor, some of the celebrants at the beach at times got out of control, and it was not uncommon to pick up a few bodies along with the empty bottles, gutted candles, remnants of camp fires, and other debris left on the beach to be revealed by dawn. And a steady parade of pickpockets together with their accusers—often foreigners—added to the burden of the night. Basically, however, had he been honest in his main objection to working that night, it would have been because he himself would have liked to have joined in the macumba ceremony along the water’s edge. Lieutenant Perreira was a good Catholic, but like many other Brazilians, he saw no reason not to cover his bets.

He had come on duty at eleven o’clock the evening before, and unfortunately the major activity at headquarters did not generally begin before three in the morning. Fortunately, however, the collection of pornography to which he had been previously assigned afforded him both a means of passing time, as well as the satisfaction of knowing he was contributing to the department. He was studying one of the pictorial exhibits with equal parts of admiration and disbelief when the telephone at his elbow rang. With a sigh at the interruption, he laid the picture aside and picked up the instrument.

“Yes? Hello? Lieutenant Perreira here.”

“Perreira? This is Captain Da Silva—”

The lieutenant’s eyebrows went up in surprise even as he dutifully noted the time and marked it down on his pad together with the name of his caller. The captain had been off to a formal party that night; what could possibly have happened? With Captain Da Silva, Perreira thought, anything! “Yes, sir.”

“Two things. First, you know where Mr. Wilson’s apartment is, don’t you? On the Lagôa? Good. I want a wagon down here—to pick up two bodies.” Perreira’s eyebrows went up even farther, but he made no comment, merely scribbling faster. Da Silva’s deep voice continued, calmly and evenly. “They are to be taken to the Institute and identified. One has nothing visible on him for identification. The other has a wallet. In that wallet is a receipt copy with a thumbprint. If the thumbprint matches his own, we’ll know who he is. The institute can check the other out through any known criminals in or from Duque de Caxias or through any contact with the first one. Or any other way they want, as long as we get to know who he was. Is that clear?”

“Yes, sir.” Perreira paused, his pencil poised. “How were they killed?”

“Shot. Tell them down at the institute not to worry about ballistics.

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.