BLACK NOTICE. PATRICIA CORNWELL

“Yeah, This is how we do undercover work, boss. We take our uniforms off,” Marino was saying loudly.

Carson guffawed.

“And why, Detective Anderson, weren’t you in there collecting evidence and helping in any way possible?” I continued grilling her.

“I don’t answer to you,” she said with a shrug.

“Let me tell you something;” I said in a tone that got her attention. “I’m exactly who you answer to when there’s a dead body.” .

“. . . bet Bray had to go undercover a lot, too. Before rising to the top. Types like her, they gotta be on top,” Marino said with a wink.

The light blinked out in Carson’s eyes. He looked depressed again. He looked tired, as if life had pushed him as far as he could go.

“Al?” Marino got serious. “What the fuck’s going on? How come nobody showed up at this little party?”

A gleaming black Crown Victoria was driving toward the parking lot.

“Well, I’ve got to head on,” Carson abruptly said, his face etched with his mind elsewhere. “Let’s hook up at the F.O.P It’s your turn to buy the beer. Remember when

Louisville beat Charlotte and you lost the bet, old boy?”Then Carson was gone without acknowledging Anderson in any way, because it was clear he had no power over her.

“Hey, Anderson?” Marino said, pounding her back.

She gasped, clamping her hand over her nose and mouth.

“How you like working for Carson? Pretty nice guy, huh?” he said.

She backed away and he stayed with her. Even I was rather appalled by Marino and his stinking uniform pants, filthy gloves and booties. His undershirt would never be white again, and there were big holes where seams had succumbed to his big belly. He got so close to Anderson, I thought he might kiss her.

“You stink!” She tried to get away from him.

“Funny how that happens in a job like this.”

“Get away from me!”

But he wouldn’t. She darted this way and that, and with each step he blocked her like a mountain until she was pressed against supersacks of injectable carbon bound for the West Indies.

“Just what the fuck do you think you’re doing?” His words grabbed her by the collar. “We get some rotting body in a cargo container in a fucking international shipping port where half the people don’t speak fucking English and you decide you’re gonna handle things all by yourself?”

Gravel popped outside in the parking lot, the black Crown Victoria driving fast.

“Miss Junior Detective gets her first case. And may as well have the chief medical examiner show up, along with a few helicopter news crews?”

“I’m turning you in to internal affairs,” Anderson yelled at him. “I’m taking out a warrant on you!”

“For what? Stinking?”

“You’re dead!”

“No. What’s dead is that guy in there.” Marino pointed at the container. “What’s dead is your ass if you ever have to testify about this case in court.”

“Marino, come – on*” I said as the Crown Victoria brazenly drove onto the restricted dock.

“Hey!” Shaw was running after it, waving his arms. “You can’t park there!”

“You’re nothing but a used-up, washed-up, redneck loser;” Anderson said to Marino as she trotted off.

Marino yanked off gloves inside out and freed himself of his blue plasticized paper booties by stepping down on the heel of each with the opposite toe. He picked up his soiled white uniform shirt by the clip-on tie, which didn’t stay attached, so he stomped them as if they were a fire to put out. I quietly collected them and dropped them and mine into a red biological hazard bag.

“Are you quite finished?” I asked him.

“Ain’t even begun,” Marino said, staring out as the driver’s door of the Crown Victoria opened and a uniformed male officer climbed out.

Anderson rounded the side of the warehouse and walked quickly toward the car. Shaw was hurrying, too, dockworkers looking on as a striking woman in uniform and sparkling brass climbed out-of the back of the car. She looked around as the world looked back. Someone whistled. Someone else did. Then the dock sounded like referees protesting every foul imaginable.

Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168

Leave a Reply 0

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *