Eldorado Read Online Free Page A

cross-section of humanity – from homeless, drunks, and hookers to sharply dressed businessmen and middle-class people like himself. A slow-moving line had formed in front of the reception desk, and Richard took his place its end. A filthy drunk lined up behind him; he was almost overcome by the stench of the man’s liquor-soaked breath.
    As it had four years ago after the tragedy, Richard’s mind raced as he waited, walking through scenarios, weighing options, desperate to act but stunned and confused about where to begin. He was so preoccupied he hardly noticed the wait, and didn’t realize he was up until the uniformed officer at reception bellowed at him, “Next!”
    He moved up to the desk.
    “What’s your business,” said the officer.
    “I’ve got an appointment with Detective Leung.”
    The officer glanced over his left shoulder. “Fourth desk on the right.”
    Richard headed for desk the officer had indicated. The man sitting behind it waved him over and motioned for him to have a seat.
    “Richard,” said Leung, wearing a harried expression that reminded him of Ms. Kingsley, the school counselor. “Good to see you again. Sorry, but there are no developments in your parents’ case.”
    “I’m not here about that,” said Richard, taking a seat across from him.
    Leung eyed him expectantly.
    “My brother Danny’s missing, said Richard. “Here – I brought a recent picture.” He fished the photograph from his coat pocket and handed it to the detective.
    Leung glanced at it. “How old is Danny now?”
    “He’s seventeen,” said Richard. Leung let out a faint sigh as he typed something into the terminal and studied the result.
    Richard explained the events surrounding Danny’s disappearance, including his trips to Surrey.
    “Look,” Leung finally said, turning from the computer screen. “You had a fight with Danny, and my guess is that he’s gone off somewhere to punish you. It happens all the time.”
    “Danny has a dog,” Richard said, realizing how foolish he probably sounded. “This morning the dog came home without him. It would never have willingly left Danny’s side. I know what it looks like – we’ve had our differences, but Danny would never run off like that.”
    Leung’s face expressed infinite patience.
    “Do you have any record of him?” Richard asked, embarrassed at not knowing the answer. “Has he been in trouble before? For drugs or gangs or anything?”
    “That was the first thing I checked,” said Leung. “If he’d been brought in you would have been notified.”
    “So what’s the next step?”
    “The next step?”
    “I assume you’ll be assigning somebody to the case?”
    “He’s only been gone a couple of days. We’ll have to wait and see if that’s necessary.”
    Richard’s knuckles were white on the arms of his chair. “Look, believe me this isn’t like Danny. He’s got his faults, but he’s never done anything like this before. And the dog…”
    “I’m sorry,” said Leung. “We can’t spare the manpower at this point.”
    Richard raised his voice. “Don’t you realize that my brother's life might be at stake?”
    Leung leaned forward and glared at him. “Do you have any understanding of what's going on in this city? People are out there killing each other for food. We've got a major force that does nothing but patrol the coastline for boatloads of refugees coming in from Asia. We’re up to our armpits in black marketers, street gangs, drug lords, militias – it's a war zone out there.” There was a flash of desperation in his eyes. He leaned back. “Now – we don't know for sure that Danny is even in trouble. Maybe he just ran away…”
    “Danny did not run away!” Richard shouted. The other conversations around them stopped and the people at adjacent desks stared in their direction.
    “Please lower your voice,” said Leung.
    “I’m telling you,” said Richard. “Something bad has happened to Danny.”
    “See this?”