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

He glared at me. “Very well, but the minute you upset him, you are out of here.”

I didn’t answer. I pulled up a straight-backed chair and sat by his side. Dehan sat on the foot of the bed and smiled at him. He smiled back.

“My name is John Stone. This here is Carmen Dehan. We’re detectives with the 43rd precinct.” I smiled. “Welcome back.”

He gave a lopsided grin. “Yeah, thanks. I still feel pretty weak.”

“I bet you do, but before long, you’ll be back on your feet again. Luis, we’d like to catch whoever did this to you.”

He gave a small laugh. “Yeah, me too.”

Dehan grinned. “That’s the spirit. But listen, if it’s hard or upsetting, we can come back some other time.”

He shook his head. “No, I’m OK. The fact is I don’t remember much.” His eyes drifted just past Dehan’s right shoulder, like he could see there the events of that night playing themselves out again. He took a deep breath. “We went in Angela’s car to get some beer. We stopped at the ATM, then we went to the 24/7 store. We got some cans. I remember I wanted to get a bottle of vodka, but Seb said no, Angela wouldn’t like that. Then we came back…” He looked at me and frowned. “We’d parked out front of the house. Seb killed the engine and the lights. But there was a car ahead of us. He had his lights on high beam. It was blinding. I remember a figure. It was hard to make out because he was kind of back-lit, you know what I mean?” I nodded. He went on, “He was standing with the headlamps behind him, so he was sort of like a hazy silhouette. I remember Seb said, ‘What the hell does this joker want?’ Then he came up to Seb’s window…” He shook his head. “And that’s all I remember.”

I heard Dehan repress a sigh. “You didn’t see his face?”

He shook his head.

I said, “You’re doing great, Luis, and we are nearly done. You said that the image was like a hazy silhouette. Could you make out what sort of size he was?” I grinned. “Assuming he was more than five foot and less than seven, where would you place him in between?”

He thought about it. In the background I heard the rate of the heart monitor accelerate slightly. Finally, he took a deep breath. “I’m sorry I can’t be more helpful, Detective. I’d say he was more than average. But aside from that, I don’t seem to have retained any more details.”

I shook my head. “Not at all, Luis, you’ve been very helpful. Maybe when you’re stronger we can have another try.”

I saw his eyes shift to look past me at the door. I heard it open and Dehan and I both turned to look. I heard Ed splutter, “What the hell is this?”

Moses and Angela were standing in the doorway, and behind them was Sue.

Ed took a step toward them and snarled, “What do you mean by coming here to my son’s room?”

Luis sighed and looked away, closing his eyes. Mary rose and placed a hand on Ed’s sleeve. He yanked his arm away, ignoring her, speaking to Angela and Sue. “Get out of here…!”

I stood and Dehan stood with me. I said, “Mr. Irizarry, could I have a word with you outside?”

Then several things happened all at once: Mary hurried around him, saying, “Sue! Angela! It is so nice of you to have come!” Sue and Mary embraced and Angela moved toward the bed, holding out her hands to Luis.

Luis reached out for her, “Angie, I am so sorry!”

Ed was looking this way and that, like a man losing control, his face flushed with anger. I stepped over close to him and spoke quietly. “Let’s try to do this without upsetting your son. Step outside with me or I will cuff you right here.”

He stared into my face like he wanted to shoot me where I stood, there and then. Dehan came up close by his side and we moved to the door as Mary, Sue, and Moses moved toward the bed. Out in the corridor, Ed started in on me. “What is the meaning of this? How dare you come to…”

I cut him short. “Can it. We got the results on your DNA from the mug. Ed Irizarry, I am putting you under arrest for the rape and murder of Rosario Rojas.”

Twenty-One

He buried his face in his hands and turned away from me, saying, “No, no, no, you’ve got it all wrong. This can’t be happening…!” He looked strangely infantile, but at the same time it seemed fitting in a man who had lived his life as a series of childish tantrums.

“It’s happening, Ed. And you know yourself that the best thing you can do now is cooperate with us and tell us the truth.”

He turned fiercely to face me. “What is wrong with you? I did not kill her! Why would I kill her? Are you insane?”

An orderly walked past and glanced at us, but kept going on her way. Protocol said I should cuff him and take him in. My gut said I should keep him talking. My gut wins every time. I said, “Because you raped her. And if you’d let her live, she would have reported you to the cops and that would have been the end of your career as the great man of the people.”

He spat savagely, “You’re out of your mind! You don’t know anything!”

Dehan must have had the same feeling as me, because she said, “Fine. Why don’t you enlighten us?”

“I was in love with Rosario! Why would I kill her? I adored her! It almost destroyed me when she was murdered! It almost finished me, my