The Rising: A Badlands Novel by Morgan Brice

Author:Morgan Brice
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Darkwind Press
Published: 2019-02-13T05:00:00+00:00

8

VIC

Jacob Platz’s apartment was several blocks back from the ocean in Surfside Beach. The building looked like it might have been a hotel at one time. Each unit opened to an outside hallway that doubled as a balcony. Vic and Ross looked around before they let the forensics folks loose.

The one bedroom rental didn’t have the extras common in new, more expensive places. The galley kitchen was tidy, but looked well-used, suggesting that Platz cooked many meals himself. A worn but serviceable couch and recliner plus a coffee table filled the living room, and a small table doubled as a desk. Most of the furnishings were older, but the flatscreen TV was recent, although Vic recognized it as a less expensive brand.

A few car magazines lay on the coffee table, along with an empty cup. A set of bookshelves held some action movie DVDs, quite a few mystery and adventure paperbacks, and a framed photograph of a younger Platz standing arm-in-arm with a woman Vic guessed was his wife.

“Sixty years old, widowed, no children,” Ross read off the report. “Clean record, no arrests, no trouble of any kind. Been a landscaper all his life.”

Vic glanced into Platz’s bedroom, only to find a neatly made bed and a set of furniture that looked as old as the couch. “Guy kept things tidy for being on his own.”

“Not everyone’s a slob, Vic,” Ross replied without looking up, but Vic saw a hint of a smile.

“You get anything from the landlady about him?” Nothing in the apartment triggered Vic’s cop senses. Platz seemed like a decent guy who was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

“Said he was friends with Gus Thompson, down in 4B. I guess they played poker together, watched a lot of football.”

The forensics team started to swarm, making the small apartment feel even more cramped. “Let’s let them do what they do.” Vic said with a nod toward the technicians, “and see if Gus is at home.”

A rangy man with salt and pepper hair sat in a retro metal lawn chair outside apartment 4B, watching the cops arrive. He looked like he might have played college football in his younger days, and had the leathery tan of someone who spent a lifetime outdoors.

“Are you Gus?” Vic asked.

The man nodded. “You come to find out what sorry son of a bitch killed Jacob?” His blue eyes held fire.

“That’s as good a description as any,” Ross replied and introduced them. “The landlady said you and Jacob were friends.”

Gus shrugged. “We got along good. He didn’t cheat much at poker, and we rooted for the same football teams. He was a decent guy. And he didn’t deserve what happened to him. So I hope you catch the bastard and send him away.”

Vic leaned against the railing. “Did Jacob have any enemies? Anyone who might have wanted to hurt him?”

Gus raised an eyebrow. “Is that a way of asking if he played the horses or owed a bookie? Far as I ever knew, no to all that shit.

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