Wicked Break Read Online Free Page A

halfhearted, confused wave. Maybe a symbolic white flag of sorts.
    She blinked once, turned her head, and walked over to the group of cops in the parking lot without acknowledging me.
    â€œWe going anytime soon, pal?” the driver asked from inside the idling cab.
    I slid into the backseat, stung more than I wanted to be. “Yeah. We’re going right now.”

Five
    The cab dropped me off at the corner of Mission and Jamaica. Mission Beach is a conglomeration of mazelike alleys about ten feet wide and I didn’t want to subject him to the rigors of maneuvering to my house.
    I grabbed a beer out of the fridge and heard clapping out near my patio. I walked out of the kitchen and opened the back slider.
    Carter, all six-foot-nine of him, was doing a handstand on the three-foot wall that separates my patio from the boardwalk. A group of four Japanese tourists were alternately snapping photos of him and cheering from the boardwalk side of the wall.
    â€œDid you tell them that you can drink beer through your nose, too?” I asked.
    He lifted his head in my direction. “I didn’t think they’d find that as charming.”
    He brought his legs down and sprang off the wall onto the patio, his yellow board shorts and white tank top falling into place. His fans erupted into more applause.
    He bowed to them and held out his hand. They shoved some cash into his massive palm and then shuffled off, chattering excitedly among themselves.
    â€œDo I get a cut of that?” I asked, sitting down in one of the patio chairs.
    â€œNo.”
    â€œIt’s my property.”
    He shoved the bills into his pocket and grinned. “Yeah, but you don’t support my act.”
    â€œThat is so true.”
    Carter Hamm, my best friend, sat down next to me. His white-blond hair was sticking up like tiny spikes on his head. He propped his huge feet up on the small table in front of us.
    â€œThat dude find you this morning?” he asked.
    I looked across the boardwalk to where Peter Pluto had waited for me at the edge of the water. “Yeah. Let’s chat about that.”
    â€œChat? You must really be pissed.”
    â€œHandstands and perceptive. You are one of a kind.”
    He leaned back in the chair. “That’s what the ladies tell me.”
    I sipped from the beer and shook my head. “Yeah, the dude from this morning found me. When I was out in the water. When I wasn’t looking for a job.”
    Carter glanced to me, his dark eyes squinting into the disappearing sun. “So you bailed on him?”
    I took another drink and didn’t say anything.
    â€œNo, of course not,” he said, nodding his head. “You decided to help him. Plus, you need cash.”
    â€œIt’s your fault.”
    â€œIs not.”
    â€œIs too.”
    â€œI just told him where to find you.”
    â€œAnd you knew I’d say yes.”
    â€œI didn’t even know what he wanted.”
    â€œNot to take my picture doing a handstand, that’s for sure.”
    â€œWell, you suck at handstands.”
    Arguing with Carter was like arguing with a three-year-old—a genetic freak of a three-year-old.
    I held up my hand. “Fine. My fault.”
    He folded his arms across his chest and nodded. “Exactly. So what happened?”
    â€œWent to look for this guy’s brother at his apartment and while I was there, a girl got shot.”
    â€œShut up.”
    â€œI’d like to, but you keep asking me questions.”
    I set my beer down on the table between our chairs. He immediately snatched it, held it up to his mouth, and emptied it.
    â€œTell me,” he said, setting the empty bottle down.
    I told him about Linc’s place, the girls, Rolovich, and the shooting.
    â€œThat’s some afternoon,” he said when I was done.
    â€œNo kidding.”
    â€œYou gonna keep looking for the kid?”
    I shrugged because I didn’t know now if I wanted to or