Momma Lupe, Book 1 in the Ty Connell 'Novella Series. A Mystery/Suspense Thriller. Cooking or killing -- Momma Had Her Funny WAys Read Online Free

church."
    "Well, at least that narrows it down from
three point five million people in the greater metropolitan area to
maybe under a hundred guys."
    Morgan grunted. "Yeah, that
is if the shooter
didn't come from out of town. That would bring it back up to three
point five million."
    "Any idea what Vinnie might have been doing
to get his brethren so pissed at him?"
    "Near as I can figure, nothing unusual. I ran
it by the guys over at the Mob Squad, and it seems Vinnie was just
engaged in his usual chamber of commerce activities. Skimming,
scamming, extorting, stealing, embezzling, dealing dope."
    The Mob Squad was what they called the
Organized Crime Unit, based out of HQ up town. It tracked and
coordinated motorcycle gangs, the Italian and Russian mobs,
Vietnamese gangs, and any other gang activities across the GBA. The
Greater Boston Area takes in most of the entire population inside
the I-95 highway that rings the city from the south, well out to
the west, and rounding in again well north. Dozens of smaller
cities, towns, and neighborhoods making up that census
area.
    "How about parolees and ex-cons recently back
on the street?" Connell suggested.
    "I checked. Nobody with contract killer
credentials."
    "How about new talent? Anyone noteworthy
arrive in town lately?"
    "Not that came in and signed the big red
guest book over at city hall."
    Connell felt for his partner. This was
exactly why he hated such cases.
    "How'd you get stuck with it, anyway?" he
asked. "How come they didn't just move it over to the Mob
guys?"
    "I made the mistake of
getting there first. I had no idea on the drive over that it was
mob business. We thought it was an old money case. Once we got
there, and the media guys got there, and it became this big front
page item, Ms. Nolan jumped all over it and decided she wanted to
keep it in-house. Make points with the Captain. Made it sound like
a big break-through moment. Take it an
run . I’m s’posed to push it into some kind
of prelim shape so we can bring the team in later.”
    Connell rolled his
eyes. Right .
Departmental politics. Lt. Catherine Nolan was head of Detective
Services, the C-11.
    "John, good chance this thing is going to
dead end anyway. I wouldn't spend too much time on it."
    "Easy for you to say, man. You ain't the one
with Nolan on your tail."
    Connell realized that his partner was hitting
the wall.
    "Tell you what," he said. "I'll do some
nosing around for you. See if I can find out anything."
    "Naw, man," Morgan said. "You can't do that.
Nolan'd be all over your sorry ass, you go putting time in on
this."
    "Don't worry about it, bro. Most days Nolan's
got no idea what I'm doing. I'll just mix in a few inquiries for
you while I'm on about my own stuff."
    At six-foot five and a
still mostly muscled two-hundred and eighty pounds, Morgan was forty-nine
and twenty years Connell’s senior. He had stepped in and helped
Connell out a time or two where a certain intimidation factor had
helped move things along. The favors went both ways.
    Morgan nodded. "Yeah, okay, little brother,"
he said. "I'd 'preciate that. Nolan's really pushing on this
one."

    That night, Connell devoted some time to see if he
could stir something up for John.
    He decided to start with
pool halls. So he headed
outside his usual territory, across the channel into the northern
part of the city which.
    Connell split his time between regular duties
at the C-11 and his INSOURCE rounds. INSOURCE was Intelligence
Sourcing. A trial project of the BRIC, Boston Regional Intelligence
Center of the BPD. Its mandate is to build a network of reliable
informants— ICs, Intel Contacts, from the criminal world; and CIs,
Confidential Informants from the civilian sector. The city that
brought the world Whitey Bulger was trying once again to the get
the intel business right. Connell had volunteered for the
experimental unit and, at the C-11, he was a squad, so far, of
one.
    There were a number of pool halls in close
proximity to each