Dead Cold Mysteries Box Set #3: Books 9-12 (A Dead Cold Box Set), Blake Banner [reading in the dark TXT] 📗

in the chair opposite us and cuffed him to a metal ring on the table. One of them, a beefy black guy with humorous eyes said, “If he gives you any trouble, you jess shout. We’re right outside.”

I thanked him, they strolled out and clanged the door shut behind them. Wayne didn’t look at me. He kept his eyes on Dehan. When he spoke it was like sandpaper being dragged over twenty years’ accumulated deposits of hardened nicotine in his throat.

“It’s sure nice to talk to somebody who ain’t a con. You ain’t a con, are you, Detective?”

I said, “I’m Detective Stone, this is Detective Dehan. We’re from the cold cases unit at the 43rd Precinct. I was told you had some information for us.”

He kept staring at Dehan, smiling, then slowly shifted his gaze to look at me. “Well that all depends, Detective Stone of the 43rd Precinct. See, we are in the age of the Information Revolution. That may be something you don’t fully appreciate, on account of your age. But Detective Dehan here, I figure she is closer to my age. Am I right, Detective Dehan? I figure maybe you will have a better understanding of what I am talking about. Information is where it’s at. It’s the name of the game.”

Dehan raised an eyebrow at him that could have sliced the balls off a brass monkey.

I smiled and said, “If you’re looking to sell information, Wayne, however old I may be, you need to talk to me. I run the cold cases Unit.”

He still didn’t look at me. He frowned and smiled simultaneously at Dehan and said, “Ouch! Male chauvinism strikes again. The white male still running the show, huh?”

I stood. “When you’re ready to talk to me, Wayne, call the precinct. Right now you’ve got time to waste, we haven’t.”

Dehan stood.

Wayne sighed. “Take it easy man! Take some time out from being you, we’d all be grateful.” He grinned. “You feel me? Know what I’m sayin’?”

I waited, watching him. “Have you got something for me?”

“Yeah, man! Siddown, I got something for you.”

I sat. Dehan went and stood in the corner, behind me, leaning against the wall with her arms crossed. I smiled to myself. She knew he wanted to play games with her, so she’d gone where she could observe him without distracting him. Now he was looking for her with his eyes.

I said, “You know something about the Westchester Creek murder in May, 2016?”

He looked pained and gestured toward Dehan. “C’mon man. She don’t have to go away.”

I leaned forward. “OK, Wayne, this is your second warning. There won’t be another. I think you’re bored and you want to play games, and you know exactly squat about the Westchester Angel. Now you had better start talking as soon as I draw breath or we are out of here and you will not see us again. Start talking now.”

“OK! OK! OK… Man! Heavy or what?”

I stood.

“I’m talking already! I was there! I saw the whole damn thing go down. I watched it! All right?”

I sat. “No. You’re lying.”

“I ain’t lying! I was there, man.”

“Prove it. I’m out of patience, Wayne. You need to keep me here and I am walking…”

“I was near the bushes, lyin’ there just minding my own business, watchin’ the stars, smokin’ some weed, you know? And I hear this noise, like people strugglin’, and I look over and I see this dude comin’ down from the road, where there is a gate in the fence, and he has a chick with him and he is pushing her in front of him.”

“Why didn’t she scream?”

He started to laugh. “Well, I didn’t ask her, Detective Stone Cold. I didn’t think I was invited to that particular party. You feel me? But I think—and you know it was kind of hard to see in that light, at that time of night—I think she had a gag in her mouth.”

“What time was this?”

“Now, let me see, you’re gettin’ very particular and maybe my memory needs refreshing…”

I stood. “You’re full of shit, Wayne.”

“Ten or ten thirty Saturday night! Man! Don’t you ever let up? All I’m askin’ for is a little two way reciprocity, dude.”

“Give me something I don’t know, then we’ll talk about reciprocity.”

“I’m settin’ the scene. Chill. So he takes her down, where it’s kind’a like a beach. You been there?”

I nodded.

“It kind’a levels off toward the water, and there’s grass and it’s a bit soft there, so you can lay down. And he throws her down on her back, he pushes up her skirt and he rides that baby. Man! And he’s tellin’ her to hold him. Weirdest fuckin’ thing I ever saw. ’Cause she’s got her hands tied, right? And he’s kissin’ her like crazy, and when he comes up for air he’s sayin’, like, ‘Hold me, bitch! Hold me!’ And she can’t say nothin’ back because he’s in this kind of frenzy, kissin’ her and stranglin’ her at the same time. When he’s done, he pulls up his pants, and he starts to drag her toward the water. I guess he’s figurin’ on dumpin’ her in the river. But just at that very moment…” He leaned back in his chair and started to wheeze with laughter. “You would not believe it, man! I mean, what are the chances, right? That is the very moment a Harbor Patrol boat chooses to just cruise on by. You should have seen that guy hightail it out of there. Man… he was like a dog with a jalapeno pepper up his ass!”

I thought about it for a moment. “Did you get a good look at him?”

He made an exaggerated grimace, sucked his teeth and drew a deep breath. “Well now, Detective Stone Cold, here’s how I figure it. I have