Read Online A Measure of Blood by Kathleen George - Free Book Online Page A

asked to come forward.
    Allegedly. Believed.
    OOPALE AND HER MOTHER make him eat cereal and toast. They sit and murmur at him until he makes the food go down. “The detective is coming for you. He will take care of you today.”
    â€œCan I go home now?”
    â€œNo, it isn’t allowed yet.”
    â€œWhy?”
    â€œBecause there’s an investigation. Nothing can be touched.”
    Yes, he’s seen that on TV. He could go to Jade’s house or Grady’s house. They could play something anyway.
    â€œIs there anything you want? Anything I can get you?” Oopale asks.
    â€œNo.”
    The two women look at each other. They clearly don’t know what to say to him. After a while, Mrs. P smiles with a sad face and puts on the TV.
    â€œTWO-PRONGED TASK,” Christie repeats at the squad meeting. “To find the murderer and to keep the boy safe.” Then he adds, “Two-pronged investigation also. Think of it as the two fathers—there is the person who stabbed her and who insisted he was the father. There is the man who supposedly fathered the child—artificial insemination, we’re told, at a clinic in New York. We have to follow that up. We have Potocki going through all kinds of files. The two fathers very possibly could turn out to be one and the same, but we have to follow both avenues. Nothing so far on the clinic. Right?” He addresses Potocki. “Fill us in.”
    â€œShe might have thrown away financial records from eight years ago. People do. I haven’t found them yet. I’ll try her current bank if nothing comes up today. One other thing: I asked a neighbor there if there was a storage unit in the basement. He said no, but I found this key on her ring that doesn’t go to anything. So I called the super this morning and it turns out there is a storage unit in the basement. I’ll get stuff from there today.”
    â€œRight. Good. So here we are, looking at three possibilities—One: The father is anonymous, from a clinic in New York. That’s what the best friend says. If this is the case, the guy is probably not our killer. Two: The father is very present and knows he’s the father. He has a secret tempestuous history with the mother who didn’t share it with her best friend. Or, Three: The guy who killed Margaret Brown thinks he’s the father but he isn’t. That information comes via the boy and the best friend who didn’t really know much beyond the fact that some guy from way back reappeared lately. What do we believe?”
    â€œThe guy was probably in her life,” says Coleson. “This is an angry killing.”
    â€œIt is.”
    â€œDid we pick up any DNA from the guy? The knife or anything.”
    â€œThere’s going to be some DNA somewhere in the evidence they collected. They got some prints. They ran the prints locally. No matches. They are running the prints more widely today. We’ll see about that. We’ll test any DNA we have. Anything else? Ideas? Let me hear from you.”
    â€œAny chance,” McGranahan begins, “that the kid is like some bad seed and he did it and made the whole thing up?”
    â€œAlways a chance,” Christie says.
    â€œTabloid heaven,” Colleen mutters.
    â€œWere the prints on the knife good?” Coleson asks.
    â€œNot very. But we got some bits.”
    â€œSo do we have any notion of which prints at the apartment belong to the killer and which are those of innocent friends?”
    â€œNot clear yet,” Christie says.
    â€œWhew,” McGranahan says. “Not simple.”
    â€œSo it’s Potocki on paperwork and the storage unit at the apartment house, the rest of you canvassing—Dolan has the assignments. And Dolan has a list of friends and acquaintances he’s working through with Hurwitz and Denman. Call me with anything. I’m off to get the kid squared away.”
    COLLEEN AND CHRISTIE take one