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

while she laughed, she leaned on my shoulder. It was astonishing to discover, after a year of working so closely together, how many things we did not know about each other, and how much we shared in common. It was good.

At six AM, she looked at her watch and said, “Hooooly shshshsh…” Then she gave me a long, steady look. It was a drunk look, but it was a steady look, too. “I was going to ask you if you wanted the couch… or not… But it is time for a cold shower, Mr. Stone, and a gallon of coffee. We have work to do. Make coffee! I am going to shower.”

She walked unsteadily into the bedroom. I shook my head, took a few deep breaths and went into the kitchen wondering if I had heard right, and if so, what the hell I was going to do about it.

Twenty

At 9 AM, Akachukwu was brought into interrogation room three and manacled to the table again.

I asked him, “Do you wish to have an attorney present?”

He shook his head. “Not right now, no. If I change my mind, I will let you know.”

“Mr. Oni, I have to inform you that we are charging you with the murder of Mr. Jack O’Brien, as well as the assault on Angela Rojas, the attempted murder of Moses Johnson and Luis Irizarry, and the murder of Sebastian Acosta. Do you still say you do not want to have an attorney present?”

He smiled. “It seems I have been a busy man. I will hear what you have to say, and then I will decide whether I want an attorney or not.”

I shrugged. I was about to speak but Dehan interrupted me. “Excuse me, Detective Stone, just a quick question. Mr. Oni, have you lent any of your clothing to anybody in the last few days?”

He laughed and shook his head. “No, Detective, I have not. But let me assure you that it is not difficult to find a black sweater and a ski mask in New York!”

She smiled. “Thank you, Mr. Oni, that’s good to know.”

I smiled, too. “How about size thirteen boots?”

“They are also readily available, Detective, if you are that well endowed.”

Dehan smiled. “You don’t know anybody that well endowed?”

“I do not. Do you?”

“So you haven’t lent your boots to anyone.”

He laughed. “I don’t know anybody whose… feet are that big.”

I gave him a moment, then said, “Mr. Oni, we have given you three opportunities to deny it, but it is clear that you have not lent your boots to anybody in the last few days.” Now he frowned, but I went on. “Your boots were used yesterday in the murder of Jack O’Brien at his home in Hunt Avenue, and also in the theft of at least twelve cannabis plants from the same address. The unique tread of those boots was found at his home, and his blood was also found in those prints and in the boots themselves. What have you to say to that, Mr. Oni?”

His eyes remained dead and unexpressive. “I have no comment to make at this time.”

I nodded. “We also have testimony from Moses Johnson that you threatened to kill him because he struck you in self defense when he found you selling drugs in his neighborhood. You were at the time being driven by two associates in a black BMW. What do you say to that, Mr. Oni?”

He shook his head. “I have no comment to make at this time.”

“Very well. Mr. Johnson also states that a few days later you came to his house and threatened him with a gun. He knocked you down the stairs and you fired two .45 caliber bullets through his door. One struck the wall and the other struck him in the leg. Both of these bullets have been recovered. Have you any comment to make about that?”

“Like I said, I have no comment to make at this time.”

“It is our belief, that you later returned to Angela Rojas’ house and assaulted her in an attempt to find out where Moses Johnson was, because you intended to kill him. Have you any comment to make about that?”

He shook his head. “No comment.”

Dehan slammed her open hand down on the table. It made a loud noise that echoed in the small room. “Seriously? Is that all you’ve got? No comment? How about this, Akachukwu? Moses, who is a real man, who incidentally also has big feet, humiliated you in front of your goons and in front of the whole damn street! Your little ego is so fragile that you could not take that humiliation, and all you could think to do, in your ignorant little mind, was to kill him! Because anybody who stands up to pathetic, little Ak Oni must be destroyed! In case they reveal sad, pathetic, little Ak Oni for what he really is: an ignorant, stupid, impotent little coward!”

She stood up and leaned across the table at him. His eyes were hooded and you could see death in them. Dehan didn’t seem to notice. Or if she did, she didn’t care.

“So you went after him, not with your hands, not in an equal, man to man fight. Because you’re not a man! Because you are too damn chicken-shit to face him man to man! You went after him with a gun. And even with a gun in your hand, he still knocked you down!”

She walked around the table and stood behind him. His face was impassive, but I could see his breathing had got faster and shallower. She kept on, relentless and mocking.

“So what did the big, dangerous, scary, terrifying, Ak Oni do then? Because he was too damned chicken-shit to go after Moses, he went after his girlfriend.” She laughed out loud. “But even she