Read Online Bad Apple by Anthony Bruno - Free Book Online Page A

had a rattle to it.”
    Gibbons shrugged. He was willing to give Dougherty the benefit of the doubt. The guy knew sound. He was one of the best surveillance techs the FBI had, and his weird balding pattern attested to his devotion to the science. A hairless path ran across the top of his head in a direct line from ear to ear. Years of wearing headphones day and night had worn his hair away.
    â€œWhere’s Tozzi wearing the wire?” Gibbons asked.
    â€œHe’s got a transmitter in his beeper. He’s wearing it on his belt. Nice clarity, huh?” Dougherty was proud of his work.
    Gibbons nodded. He didn’t care so much about the sound quality. It was the content that concerned him. “What’s going on with these two? I don’t remember seeing anything in Tozzi’s daily reports about DeFresco’s sister.”
    Dougherty’s Labrador retriever smile turned into a lurid grin. “There’s a reason for that.”
    Gibbons’s tooth started to throb. He knew it. Goddamn Tozzi, thinking with his dick again. A sharp twinge froze Gibbons’s face in the middle of a wince. “He screw her yet?”
    Dougherty was leering, like a dirty mad scientist. “C’mon, Gib. Some things are private.”
    â€œNot to you they aren’t. Spill it, Dougherty. Did he do her yet?” Between the nagging pain in his tooth and his dumbshit, fuck-happy partner, he was ready to punch a hole in the wall of the van.
    â€œWell . . .” Dougherty took off the headphones and hung them around his neck. “Yeah, he did. But just once.”
    â€œAnd you listened in on it?”
    â€œTozzi left the transmitter on. What could I do? Shut him off?”
    â€œYes. You could have.”
    â€œGib, I swear to God, I didn’t know where he was going at the time. I’m supposed to monitor everything he does, right? I didn’t realize till things started heating up with Ms. DeFresco that he wasn’t at her apartment to gather information, if you know what I mean.”
    â€œYeah, I know what you mean.” Frigging peeping Tom.
    â€œI’m telling you, Gib. It’s not what you think. Tozzi should’ve deactivated the transmitter if he wanted privacy. But as long as it’s transmitting, I have to record it. Those’re the rules.”
    â€œYou have it on tape?” Gibbons rubbed his swollen jaw.
    â€œOf course. I have to account for my time.” Dougherty reached over to a plastic milk crate full of reel-to-reel tape boxes, ran his finger down the line until he found the one he wanted, then pulled it out. “Here. You wanna listen to it.”
    Gibbons scowled at the box. “No. But just tell me this. How long has he been boffing her?”
    â€œAs far as I know, it was just that one time. But he’s been trying hard ever since. If you ask me, I think Ms. DeFresco regrets that she gave it up so quick.”
    â€œWho are you? Dr. Ruth?”
    â€œI’m just saying.”
    â€œHow exactly did it happen?”
    A sheepish grin replaced the leering one on Dougherty’s face. “C’mon, Gib, that’s Tozzi’s business. I feel funny—”
    â€œMy dumbshit partner goes to bed with the sister of a unstable flake like Freshy DeFresco, who can fuck us up royally, and I’m not supposed to know everything that’s going on? What’re you, crazy? Tozzi could end up eating a couple slugs the way Petersen did this morning if those guys ever find out he’s a fed. What if Freshy double-crosses Tozzi? He’s nuts enough to do it. What if he gets pissed off because Tozzi screwed his sister? What better way to pay him back?”
    Dougherty stopped grinning. “I suppose that’s always possible, but I don’t think he’d do that to Tozzi. They seem to be getting along pretty well. All things considered.”
    â€œDougherty, you don’t know shit.” Gibbons gritted his teeth as a