Read Online Cage of Night by Ed Gorman - Free Book Online Page A

had those first few days was already gone.
    When he saw me, he paused in the doorway, nodded for me to follow, and then turned around and walked back outside.
    He said hello to a couple of passing people, and then gave a long, hard look to a very pretty young mother pushing her baby in his stroller down the block. She had beautiful ankles.
    He didn't say anything to me, just started walking, and I fell in next to him.
    It was kind of strange, neither of us saying anything, just walking. We passed the Lutheran church with its towering spire; and the First Trust bank building where, according to legend, John Dillinger stopped one day while fleeing federal agents; and the Orpheum theater that closed down after the four-plex went up in the mall.
    Then we reached the city park, and it was all pretty women, and little kids playing Frisbee with dogs, and old men on park benches, and motorboats out on the river.
    "You eat yet?" Garrett said.
    "Huh-uh."
    "You want a hot dog?"
    "Yeah, OK."
    There was a small concrete block concession stand. We got two Pepsis and two chili dogs and went over and sat on a bench by the river.
    I could tell he wanted to say something.
    He said, "Guess what I read this weekend?"
    "What?"
    "Four of those old Roy Thomas Conan comic books."
    "Wow, I haven't seen those since I was a kid."
    "They were really good."
    But that wasn't what he really wanted to say. That was just talk. Nervous talk.
    He said, "Went on my first drug-bust last night."
    "Yeah?"
    "Yeah. I was scared shitless. The Captain said that these guys would be armed. You know, dealers."
    "Were they?"
    "Yeah, they were. One of them even had a sawed-off shotgun. Lucky for us, they were stoned out of their fucking minds. All we had to do was waltz in there and bust the bastards."
    He was already a cop. With the attitude, I mean, and hard edge. He'd only been wearing the uniform about three weeks.
    But the drug bust wasn't what he wanted to tell me about, either.
    We sat in silence a little longer and the little kids laughing and toddling around on the grass was kind of fun to watch.
    He said, "He's a big hero."
    "Who is?"
    "Myles."
    "Oh."
    "You didn't press charges so he could play that game and he goes and scores more points than he ever has and we win the conference championship so now he's king shit again instead of this creep who beat you up."
    "Well, I got something good out of it." I looked over at him and smiled. "Cindy."
    We watched each other for a moment and then looked back at the river. Sometimes it's easy to imagine the days when the big paddle-wheelers plied this river and unloaded supplies here on the shore. The old-timers say that Indians used to run for miles on the shore right along with the paddle-wheelers, waving and laughing the whole time.
    He said, "I've got to tell you something."
    Whatever he was about to say was the real thing he wanted to tell me. Not Conan, not drug busts. This.
    "She's seeing him again."
    "Cindy?"
    "Uh-huh."
    "Bullshit."
    There was a sweet, soft breeze, but I couldn't enjoy it. I didn't believe what he'd told me, but somehow I didn't quite dis -believe him, either.
    The last few days, Cindy had been acting odd. The nights we went out, she found a reason to go home early. And any plans I suggested, she always put off, saying she wasn't sure what her schedule would be like.
    She wouldn't even kiss me right, either.
    I guess that was the worst of it because that's where I could really feel her slipping away from me, her kisses too quick, too cold.
    "She hates him," I said.
    "Maybe."
    "And since she hates him, it wouldn't make any sense that she was seeing him, would it?"
    "I just thought you should know."
    I was quiet for a time.
    Then, "Somebody tell you this or you see it for yourself?"
    "I saw it for myself."
    "When?"
    "Last few nights."
    "Where?"
    "Couple of different places. Out behind McDonald's where all the kids hang out?"
    "Yeah?"
    "He was kissing her."
    I felt a lot of things just then, but mostly I