Capture (Butch Karp Thrillers) Read Online Free Page A

“The letter’s addressed to Francis Garrahy.”
    Karp perked up. New York District Attorney Garrahy was already a legend by the time Karp arrived as a snot-nosed, wet-behind-the-ears assistant district attorney out to save the world by locking up all the bad guys. The old man had seen something in him, a raw, hardworking Jewish kid from Brooklyn who aspired to a career in the Homicide Bureau, and he’d taken him under his wing.
    The DAO required applicants to have three letters of recommendation, so Karp had asked Cole for such a letter and was glad he’d kept a copy of it. “So if you’re not going to let me read it, what’s it say?”
    “‘Mr. Karp is an able and intelligent man,” Marlene began lightly. “He is highly motivated toward law and public service, and well trained. He is competent and fully qualified for excellent service in any law office.’”
    “That’s what had you laughing like a lunatic? Have you been hitting the cooking sherry again?”
    Marlene stuck her tongue out at him. “I’m getting to it if you’ll allow me to continue. ‘He has had a remarkable career of extracurricular activities, which testify to his energy, well-roundedness and complexity of interests, a principled devotion to public service, and his ability to do a great deal of work successfully. In college he was a star varsity basketball player…’”
    Karp winced. His promising basketball career had ended with a blown-out knee that had required major reconstructive surgery and finished any thoughts he’d entertained of playing pro ball.
    “‘…and a major student leader on a campus of over 25,000 students.’”
    “I still don’t see what’s so humorous. If you ask me, it’s a rather dry recitation of these extraordinary facts as they pertained to me.” Karp grinned with a raised eyebrow and an “I gotcha” wink.
    Marlene rolled her eyes. “Yeah, Saint Butch. Anyway, what I was laughing about was what Cole wrote in the last paragraph. ‘He is a forthright, strong-willed, outspoken man, and his combination of aggressiveness and determination has no doubt made him controversial at times and has occasionally annoyed people.’”
    Karp’s wife, his darling companion, his one and only, burst out laughing and had to wipe the tears from her eyes before she could speak again. “Boy, this guy Cole was a master at the understatement. ‘Has occasionally annoyed people.’ Oh, that’s rich!”
    “Yeah, well speaking of annoying…is that it?”
    “No, he goes on, ‘Moreover, his manner is not entirely suave….’ He sure got you right, baby boy,” Marlene chortled.
    “Give me that,” Karp growled, snatching the document fromher hands. He read silently for a moment before smiling and reading aloud: “‘Yet, I would consider these attributes as more desirable than not. They suggest a kind of earthy ability to understand ordinary people and a willingness to see even the unpopular jobs through to the end. I recommend him to you without hesitation.’ I suppose you were going to leave that out?”
    “I was getting to it,” Marlene replied, grabbing the letter back. “Give me that…I’m going to have it framed.”
    “Simple minds, simple pleasures,” he suggested.
    “Uh, I wouldn’t talk, big boy. If I remember correctly, simple pleasures were about all you had on that extraordinary mind of yours last night.”
    “I beg your pardon? I am a very emotionally complex man with a great variety of needs and am quite capable of multitasking.”
    “Don’t I know it, Romeo.”
    Karp grabbed for his Juliet, who deftly avoided his grasp. “What’s next week look like for you?” she asked. “The usual Monday morning meeting, I assume.”
    “Yeah, but I have two others before that,” he said.
    “Your mistress and who else?”
    “She couldn’t fit me in…so to speak,” he replied, which caused his wife to make a gagging sound. “So instead, I’m going by Moishe’s shop. The old geezers in the