Dead Cold Mysteries Box Set #2: Books 5-8 (A Dead Cold Box Set), Blake Banner [readnow TXT] 📗

mouth and sighed. Dehan shook her head. “You should have gone to Colorado or Cali. New York has strict laws on dope.”

He nodded at her. “But you can’t get the price, can you? Everyone’s fuckin’ at it out there, growing their own. Make it legal and the bleedin’ price goes through the floor.” He looked back at me. “What do you want, then, if you’re not vice?”

“What can you tell me about Luis Irizarry?”

He frowned a moment, then his face cleared. “Oh, that wanker! Luis.” He shrugged. “Not a lot. Thinks he’s a fuckin’ cut above everybody else just ’cause he’s a doctor. That, and he’s got his fuckin’ sights on my girl…”

Dehan said, “Your girl?”

“Yeah, my girlfriend, you know…”

“Yeah, I know what a girl is, Jack. Who is she? What’s her name?”

He narrowed his pale blue eyes. “Why d’you wanna know that? What’s she got to do with anything?”

I raised my eyebrows at him and tilted my head on one side. “Just answer the question, Jack. Alternatively, we can do this by the book down at the station, record the interview, get a warrant…”

“All right, all right. Lynda, Lynda Graham. But she ain’t involved in nothing dodgy. She’s a nice girl, got a proper job, nice house. I help her out with the rent a bit…”

I nodded. “That’s good of you, Jack. So, what I hear you saying is that you are making a commitment to Lynda.”

He got a far away look in his eyes and smiled. “I suppose I am. She’s the kind of girl what might make you take a look at your life, know what I mean? Think twice about the direction you’re taking an’ that.”

“I’m glad to hear it because, my friend, let me tell you, where you are headed right now is not anywhere you want to be, especially if you are thinking of getting serious about a woman. If you have, in that basement, what I think you have in that basement, you are looking at a long sentence. By the time you get out, Lynda could be married and with kids.”

He became serious. “I know. I was never doing it in a big way. It’s just…”

“Relax, I can see you’re cooperating.” I gave him a man-to-man, lopsided grin. “Must have made you mad to see Luis coming on to your girl, am I right?”

He sagged back into the sofa. “He’s not fuckin’ serious, is he? To him it’s all a big fuckin’ larf. Life’s one big bleedin’ party. And Lynda loves a party, don’t she? So she’s well up for it! And I don’t mind that. I ain’t the bleedin’ jealous type. But she don’t realize he only wants her for one thing. Me, I’m in for the long haul, ain’t I? I want a commitment.”

“When was the last time you saw Luis, Jack?”

“Last night. Why?”

“Where was that?”

“It’s what I’m tellin’ you. I went ’round to Lynda’s place. She only lives ’round the corner, I knocks on the door, and I can hear fuckin’ music and laughing inside. I go in and there’s fuckin’ Luis and a mate of his, sitting there drinking beer with my girl, in the house what I’m paying the rent for…”

“Must have made you pretty crazy.”

He shrugged. “Well, you know, there’s a fuckin’ limit, ain’t there?”

“So what did you do?”

“I told her, her and me needed to have a serious talk, ’cause I ain’t payin’ the rent on her bleedin’ house so she can entertain gentlemen there. I mean, I ain’t fuckin’ stupid. So she has to decide whether she is serious or not.” He frowned. “Here, what’s this about? You didn’t come here to play fuckin’ agony aunt to me, did you?”

I smiled. “Not really, Jack. We’re almost done. Just tell me where you went and what you did after you left Lynda’s house.”

“I come home, got a take away pizza, and watched a movie.” His frown deepened. “Why? I’ve played straight with you guys, I have a right to know what you’re questioning me about.”

Dehan said, “Where were you between two and three AM last night?”

Now he looked alarmed. “I was here, on my couch, asleep. And I ain’t sayin’ another word till you tell me what this is about.”

“So you have no one who can vouch for you…”

“I ain’t got a fuckin’ alibi, if that’s what you’re askin’. But I didn’t fuckin’ know I’d need one. I played fair and square with you an’ you led me into a fuckin’ trap! That ain’t right!”

“Luis was shot last night.”

“Oh, fuckin ’ell!”

I said, “Do you own a gun, Jack?”

He turned on me. “No, of course I don’t own a fuckin’ gun! I ain’t a fuckin’ Yank, am I?” He stopped himself, closed his eyes, and took a deep breath. “Sorry, I didn’t mean that the way it sounded. It’s just I’m… You’re scaring the livin’ fuckin’ daylights out of me. You know, we just don’t go around shootin’ everybody the way you do!”

I heard Dehan snort and looked at her. She was suppressing a smile. Jack shrugged. “Well, you do a bit, don’t you?”

“So your defense is, ‘I didn’t shoot him because I am British, and we don’t do that kind of thing’?”

“English. And no, that isn’t my defense. Am I under arrest? Do I need a defense? So far, your case against me seems to be that I’m in love with a girl and Luis was flirting with her. You wanna do me for sellin’ weed, that’s a fair cop. But if you want to stitch me up for a murder…” He shook his head. “No way, mate.”

I studied his face a moment. “Who said it was a murder?”

He laughed. “Come off it! You did. You said he was shot.”

I sighed. “He was shot, he wasn’t