Never Fear Read Online Free

mother was. How he knew about me. Did our father stick around for him, or run from it all like he did to me?”
    I looked at Harrison. “I’d like to know if my father ever told him about me.”
    I looked at the envelope in my hands. “How are you at chasing windmills?”
    â€œI’ve done my share,” Harrison said.
    I thought about his young wife, whose death was never solved, and regretted asking the question.
    â€œDo you have a brother?” I asked.
    â€œAn older one.”
    â€œWhat’s he like?”
    Harrison smiled, or nearly smiled. “He’s my brother . . . which I guess means he’s a bit of a mystery to me.”
    I looked back toward the river. “How many miles would you say it is from downtown upriver to Griffith Park?”
    â€œEight, maybe ten miles.”
    I looked north, where the river traveled past railroad yards and industrial complexes before running past the hills of Griffith Park.
    â€œI want to know why John Manning walked or ran all that way without any shoes on, and then put a bullet in his head.”

3
    The lawyer Gavin had an office in the Ensor building at Seventh and Grand in downtown L.A. It was a stone building from the turn of the century that appeared to have resisted the gentrification that was making over the rest of the block.
    We stepped off the elevator and found the office halfway down the hallway. A notice from LAPD forbidding entry was taped over the door. The dark wood of the door frame had been splintered around the lock.
    â€œWhy would he break into an office where he worked?” Harrison said. “Wouldn’t he have a key?”
    I opened the envelope containing Manning’s effects and removed a key chain with half a dozen keys. A key with the number of the office stamped on it slipped into the lock and easily turned the dead bolt.
    â€œHe did,” I said.
    I looked around the corridor; at least half the nearby offices were empty. The likelihood of anyone being around to hear the crack of the door was remote.
    â€œWhy do you break into an office you have a key for?” I said.
    â€œTo make it appear that someone else broke in,” Harrison answered.
    I pushed the door open and looked inside. It was a secretary’s office, though from the dust on the desk it didn’t appear to have seen much work lately. A pair of black hard-soled shoes sat on the desk. The door to Gavin’s inner office had been broken just as the outer door had. I tested the same key and it opened the lock with a smooth, worn motion.
    Gavin’s office held the scent of decades of cigar smoke. I flipped on the light and we stepped inside. Papers were scattered across the floor, the desk drawers had been rifled. A computer hard drive lay smashed in a corner where it appeared to have been thrown. A heavy wooden chair lay on its side just beyond the swing plane of the door.
    â€œWhat if John didn’t break in?” I said.
    Harrison studied the room for a moment. “Then I’d like to know if whoever did this was here before or after Manning, and I’d like to know what they were looking for.”
    I stepped over to the window and looked out. A fire escape dropped down to street level.
    â€œWhat if they were here at the same time?” I said.
    Harrison stepped over to the window and looked down at the escape, then back out to the secretary’s office.
    â€œHe removed his shoes so he wouldn’t be heard on the marble floors.”
    â€œAnd it didn’t work.”
    I played it out for a moment, imagining his movements as he frantically searched the room for whatever he was looking for.
    â€œWhat would you do if you heard the crack of the outer door being forced?”
    Harrison walked over to the wooden chair on its side by the door and righted it. “The top rail of the chair back is dented. It’s possible he tried to brace the door.”
    I looked around the office. Pictures, most