The Pawnbroker Read Online Free

one of the cartels who were laundering money through a horse-racing operation. My guess is that’s where DuPree is looking.”
    â€œHe does know why Gina was there, meeting with Baza, doesn’t he?” Charlie asked, looking at Gordon.
    â€œI told him the same thing I told the officer at the scene. Gina was there to pay Baza three hundred dollars in exchange for business information concerning his old pawnshop, the business we just bought from the bank. DuPree didn’t even ask what the information was about. I think it went in one ear and out the other, bro,” Gordon said. “I’d even memorized the safe combination, in case I had to hand over the paper and the key. But he didn’t follow up on that.”
    â€œThe main thing here is catching the shooter,” Nancy said.
    â€œFor Gina,” Charlie added.
    â€œYou know we’re going to be looking for the shooter on our own,” Gordon said to Nancy. “You going to help us out?”
    â€œOfficially, no. Unofficially, you bet your ass I am,” Nancy said. “What did you observe about the shooter?”
    â€œZip, except he kept his cool, played it smart, and had a script. My guess he was using a revolver—no brass at either scene, so he’d thought this out ahead of time. He’s either a pro or a smart amateur.”
    â€œYou’ve got a plan?”
    Charlie nodded. “Baza is the key, so anything we can get on him helps. This drive-by was carefully arranged, including the backup car by the warehouse loading dock. My guess is that any prints found won’t belong to the shooter. Hear anything on that?”
    â€œCrime-scene team is working the blue Taurus. Nothing yet except for the bullet lodged in the dash,” Nancy said. “Yours?”
    â€œYeah. I missed the bastard.”
    â€œToo bad,” Nancy said. “But if anything else turns up, I’ll pass it along.”
    â€œGood. We need to find out, ASAP, who wanted Baza dead and why. We know Gina had nothing to do with this, which puts us a step ahead of DuPree already,” Charlie said. “But sooner or later we’re bound to cross paths with him.”
    â€œLet me get in the way when that happens. I go on shift in an hour,” Nancy said, “but before I do, I’ll see what I can get on Baza—where he lived, where he was working—basically anything Detective Rager may know. He’d have passed what he had on to DuPree, but frankly I’m not counting on the big guy clearing this case on his own.”
    â€œMaybe he’ll give you some tidbits. There’s that professional courtesy among cops, isn’t there?” Charlie asked Nancy.
    â€œSure, but Gina’s my roommate so he’ll see my connection as a conflict of interest. Still, I can feed him some of what you get, helping him out. He’ll want to close the case. What we need to do is make sure he catches the real perp.”
    â€œNo problem. DuPree can get Cop of the Year for all I care as long as we get the bastard who shot Gina,” Charlie said.
    â€œGod’s ears,” Gordon said, echoing Charlie’s thoughts.
    â€œSo what’s this pawnshop business all about?” Nancy asked.
    â€œAfter spending several months trying to get our shit together after our enlistments ended, we decided to team up again, so we bought the business. We’re used to structure, so it sounded doable to us,” Gordon explained.
    â€œThe previous owner was Diego Baza, right? Gina mentioned his name and that he’d defaulted on his mortgage and lost the business,” Nancy replied.
    â€œExactly. And Baza had a host of other bills, including gas, electric, and insurance. He let his last employee go just before the bank stepped in. After that, he dropped out of sight, ducking the lawyers,” Gordon said.
    â€œIt’s possible we now own part of the motive for Baza’s murder,” Charlie added.