Hunter's Way Read Online Free

and let the traffic die, no. Had to leave right then. Had to have us stuck together in this god-damn car.
    “So, do your friends call you Sam?”
    “Excuse me?” It was the first words they had spoken since they left the squad room.
    “Sam? Do they call you that?”
    “Not if they expect me to answer them,” Samantha said.
    Tori nodded. “Sam it is, then.”
    “No. I detest that name.”
    “Sorry. Samantha is just too… formal.”
    “Formal? It’s my name.”
    “I like Sam better,” Tori said.
    “Well, I don’t. I forbid you to call me Sam.”
    “Forbid?” Tori laughed. “You’re not serious, are you?”
    I hate her.
    It seemed like hours later before they walked into the lab. Samantha noticed that no one greeted them. In fact, they avoided them.
Great. I’m partnered with a psycho whom no one can stand.
She thought it amazing that Hunter got any cooperation at all in the department.
    “Jackson. Good morning,” Tori said, walking up to an older man and touching hands with him briefly. “This is Sam Kennedy, my new partner,” she said, motioning to Samantha.
    “It’s Samantha,” she said through clenched teeth as she shook the doctor’s hand.
    “Nice to meet you, Detective. I’m Arthur Jackson.” He took a stick of gum from his lab coat and folded it into thirds before sticking it in his mouth. “My staff tells me you’ve been badgering them, Hunter. What’s the problem?”
    “No problem. Just six hours late on lab reports,” she said. “I got impatient.”
    He laughed. “You get impatient when we’re an hour late. I can’t imagine your attitude after six.” He walked down the hall and they followed. “Your Jane Doe was a popular gal, Detective. I’m guessing she’s sixteen, maybe seventeen. Hard to tell. Life on the street ages you quickly.”
    “Her street name was Lorraine,” Tori said. “She’s fairly new on the streets, they tell me.”
    Samantha stared, wondering how in the world Tori had gotten this information. And why the hell hadn’t she told her.
    “I’m going to guess she’s from New Orleans,” Dr. Jackson said. “She has a tattoo on her right arm. Mardi Gras type of thing. We traced it. Some sort of gang symbol down there. Sara’s running a report for you.”
    “Thanks. Now, what about the semen?”
    Dr. Jackson held the door open to his office and they preceded him, each taking a seat in front of his desk.
    “Four types. You’d think they’d be smart enough to use condoms.” He flipped open a file on his desk. “Two were from semen in the rectum. The only sign of violence was strangulation. No recent bruises. There were two old fractures. Wrist and tibia. That’s it.”
    “You run the semen through? No DNA matches?”
    “None.”
    “Drugs?”
    “Clean.”
    “Not much to go on, Doc.”
    “No. There’s not.”
    Samantha sat and listened to their exchange, still seething because Tori apparently had been working last night while she was sleeping peacefully in her bed.
    Tori’s cell phone interrupted her thoughts. She watched as Tori pulled it off the clip on her jeans.
    “Hunter.”
    “Got another hooker. Dumpster over in Central.”
    Samantha saw the frown, the tightening of lips.
    “Great. Thanks, Fisk.” Tori looked briefly at Samantha, then folded her cell phone. “Got another body, Jackson.” She stood, then turned back. “I’m looking for a semen match.”
    Samantha hurried after Tori as she nearly ran down the hallway. She hated not knowing what the hell was going on. When they were on the road again, Samantha turned to her.
    “What’s up?”
    “They found another body.”
    “Yes. I heard. Thank you. But I want to know what’s going on,” she said.
    Tori shrugged. “You know as much as I do.”
    “Bullshit! How do you know her street name was Lorraine?”
    “I asked.”
    “You asked who?”
    “Hookers.”
    “Goddamn it, Hunter! I’m supposed to be your partner. Not some puppy dog that just follows you around during