Free Fall Read Online Free

Besides, it’s already Saturday. My day off.
    Before Ceepak leaves, he tells me to “keep my calendar open” next week.
    â€œI’ve asked Chief Rossi to assign you to a one-week stint with me starting Monday.”
    Finally. Good news. “What’s up?”
    â€œAnnual SHPD pre-season ride inspections. As you know, there are many brand-new amusements on the boardwalk this summer.”
    True. After Sandy hit, almost all the rides on the boardwalk had to be replaced. You might remember our Mad Mouse roller coaster. Well, Sandy turned it into a water park ride. A photograph of its twisted steel carcass sitting out in the Atlantic Ocean was on the front page of newspapers everywhere in the days after the storm.
    â€œSome of these new rides,” Ceepak continues, “may, in my estimation, have criminal records.”
    â€œHuh?”
    â€œSinclair Enterprises has installed a ‘Free Fall’ on its pier. It is ‘used equipment,’ Danny, purchased from Fred’s Fun Zone, a ragtag amusement park near Troy, Michigan where, according to my research, the Free Fall was responsible for one death and several injuries.”
    Ceepak. The guy does criminal background checks on amusement park rides.
    â€œPlain clothes?” I say.
    â€œRoger that,” says Chief of Detectives Ceepak.
    â€œAwesome.”
    Baggy shorts and a shirt loose enough to hide a holster. My kind of uniform.
    â€œThe rides really don’t open till ten or eleven,” says Ceepak.
    â€œYou want to grab breakfast at the Pancake Palace first? Say, nine-thirty?”
    â€œThat’ll work. My mother and her senior citizen group are taking a bus trip to the boardwalk Monday. Want to make sure everything is up to snuff.”
    â€œYou don’t think they’re going to ride the rides, do you?”
    â€œActually, with my mother, you never know.”
    True. Adele Ceepak is what they call a pistol. Or a firecracker. Something that sizzles and pops and does things you weren’t expecting.
    I escort Christine and her VW up to the Mussel Beach Motel.
    Becca, who’s bubbly and blonde, meets us out front in a pair of sloppy sweats.
    â€œSaving another damsel in distress, Danny Boy?” she jokes with a yawn. That’s her cute way of saying thanks one more time for what went down in the Fun House last summer. It’s a long story. Remind me. I’ll tell you sometime.
    â€œYou remember Katie’s friend, Christine?” I say.
    â€œSure. Rough night, huh?”
    Christine smiles. “Something like that.”
    â€œYou still at the hospital?”
    â€œNo. I’m mostly working as a home health aide these days.”
    â€œCool. Well, you must be tumblewacked. Come on. I put you on the first floor …”
    â€œHow much do we owe you?” I ask.
    â€œIt’s on the house,” says Becca. “Hey, it’s what Katie would want.”
    Becca had been one of Katie Landry’s best friends, too. A lot of people were. Katie had been like that.
    â€œThanks, Beck,” I say. “I’ll check in with you tomorrow, Christine.”
    I head toward my Jeep.
    â€œHey, Danny,” calls Becca. “There’s two beds in the room if you want to just crash here tonight instead of driving all the way back to your place.”
    â€œIt’d be fine with me, Danny,” adds Christine.
    I think about it. For two seconds.
    â€œGood night, Becca. See you tomorrow, Christine.”
    I don’t look back. I just keep on walking.
    Hey, it’s what Ceepak would do.

5
    I RACK UP A GOOD SEVEN HOURS OF SACK TIME AND CRAWL OUT of bed a little after eleven.
    This is why they invented Saturdays.
    I tidy up my apartment. Okay, I pick up the socks and boxer shorts off the floor and toss then into a plastic hamper I should probably replace because I think it used to be white. Now it’s sort of grayish.
    Hungry, I hop into my Jeep and head off in search