Killing Zone Read Online Free Page A

he’d guessed right. “You’ll be very careful interviewing the victim’s family members, Wager. And all politically sensitive witnesses as well. Very careful.”
    “Yes, sir.”
    “Keep Lieutenant Wolfard and Chief Doyle fully informed. And I will be very interested in the case, too.”
    On the elevator down to their floor, Stubbs’s narrow shoulders bobbed. “Jesus. My first homicide. Why would I feel happier if Ross and Devereaux had gotten this one?”
    “It’s just another case,” said Wager. “It’s just like any other homicide.”
    “I hear you. But I don’t believe you.”
1915 Hours
    The police lab detectives weren’t ready yet to give them any solid facts. “We couldn’t find the slug or any trace of it. What we’ve got, Gabe, is some cigarette butts, scraps of paper, crap like that. But most of it looks like it was already there. We’ll know something for sure by tomorrow morning.”
    “The chief asked the medical examiner to do the autopsy right away.”
    “I get you. And we’ll work on this stuff all night if we have to,” said Adamo. “But we can only do so much so fast. When we have something, we’ll call.”
    Finishing the paperwork that the preliminary report required, Stubbs glanced at the clock. “The city offices are closed. We’ll have to do those interviews in the morning.” He stretched and his stomach gave a little gurgle of despair. “In fact, it’s four hours after quitting time—Nancy’s stopped calling to find out if I’m coming home. You ready to hang it up?”
    “Green’s wife hasn’t been questioned yet. The chief and the mayor should be there by now. They won’t stay long.”
    Stubbs’s face showed its weariness as he gazed a long moment at Wager. “Axton’s got the night duty, Gabe. He can handle that interview.”
    “It’s my case.” Wager corrected himself, “Our case. And Axton’s got about twelve homicides of his own.”
    “Who’s got twelve?” Axton loomed in the doorway, his head dipping slightly as it sensed the lintel. “How you doing, Lester? Don’t let this hard-charger talk you into working two shifts. He doesn’t know when to quit.” Max winked at Stubbs. “He’s kind of loco about it, you know?”
    Max wasn’t the only one who thought Wager was crazy for doing what it took and sometimes more. He held up the report for Max to see. “Councilman Horace Green, recently deceased.”
    “Uh oh.” The big man read the first two pages. “They hitting the panic button yet?”
    “Still trying to find it.”
    Max glanced at the file drawer holding his “Open” cases. “What do you want me to cover?”
    Wager shook his head. “I’m going over to interview the family. If I need help, I’ll call.”
    Stubbs shoved back from his desk with a resigned sigh. “I’ll go, too. What the hell, I’m supposed to be learning the business.”
    Max laughed. “You sure as hell got a good case to learn on. And a good man to teach you.”
    It was a quiet ride through the ebbing traffic. A few office workers still straggled toward the cooler lawns of the suburbs, and the first of the night traffic began coming back to town for dinner and the theatres. Overtime was nothing new to Wager, and Stubbs better get used to it, too. And he’d better get used to not being paid for it. Stubbs had called his wife and told her he would be even later than he thought, and to go ahead to his son’s parents’ night without him. He’d try to finish up in time to meet her there. “I can’t help it, Nancy—it’s the job. I told you what it might be like when I transferred, remember?” To Wager, he explained, “Kenny was hoping I could make this one. Being on the day shift, and all.”
    “I can handle the interview myself.”
    “I said I’d go. Let’s do the damn thing and get it over with.”
    They swung onto Martin Luther King Boulevard and joined the column of automobiles speeding past the long islands of grass and low trees that separated the