Read Online Chasing Darkness by Robert Crais - Free Book Online

antlers, and their brittle leaves fluttered like rice paper. I listened and drank. Maybe Marx and his task force were right about Tomaso. Tomaso had seemed like a bright, conscientious kid who wanted to help, but maybe he had tried too hard to be helpful. Change his answer by half an hour, and everything changed. Make a mistake by thirty minutes, and suddenly Lionel Byrd had the time to kill Yvonne Bennett, drive back to Hollywood, and stop for a fast one before heading home. Nothing like a double shot of Jack after crushing a woman’s skull.
    I was still listening to the trees when the phone rang, and a quiet female voice came from two thousand miles away.
    â€œIs this the World’s Greatest Detective?”
    I immediately felt better. I felt warm, and at peace.
    â€œIt was. How’re you doing?”
    Lucy said, “Was?”
    â€œLong story.”
    â€œI think I know part of it. Joe called.”
    â€œPike called you?”
    â€œHe said you could use an ear.”
    â€œDid Joe really call?”
    â€œTell me about Lionel Byrd.”
    The canyon grew dark as I told her. As the outside darkness deepened, the houses dotting the banks and ridges of the canyon glowed with flickering lights.
    When I finished, she said, “So what do you think?”
    â€œIt’s just the thought of it, I guess. Sometimes you can’t duck the blame even when you do everything straight up and by the book.”
    â€œDo you believe Byrd killed those seven people?”
    â€œLooks that way, but I don’t know. The facts appear to be on their side.”
    â€œIt might look that way, but do you believe it?”
    I hesitated, thinking back through everything Lindo and Starkey had told me, and also everything I had learned three years ago on my own.
    â€œNo. Maybe I should, but I don’t. I know Byrd. Not the way someone who knows him would know him, but I put everything I had into reconstructing his life on the night Yvonne Bennett was murdered. That night, I owned him. I had him by the places he went, the people he met, what he said to them, and how he said it. I knew how loud he talked, how little he tipped, where he sat, and how long he stayed before moving on. An A-list predator would have blended into the background, but Byrd was loud, crude, obvious, and drunk. I knew him on that night better than anyone, and I do not believe he killed Yvonne Bennett. Maybe he knew the murderer, I guess that’s possible, but he did not kill Yvonne Bennett. I do not believe it. I can’t.”
    â€œListen to me. Are you listening?”
    â€œYes.”
    â€œEven if the worst is true, what happened here is not your fault. You will feel bad, and you will mourn because something so ugly happened, but you have always acted with a good heart. If this terrible thing is true, do you know what you will do?”
    I nodded, but didn’t answer.
    â€œYou will man up and ranger on. I will personally fly out on the L-jet, and hold you. Do you hear me?”
    The L-jet was our personal joke. If Lucy had a private jet, it would be the L-jet.
    I said, “You’re holding me now.”
    â€œI’m not finished. Have you been drinking?”
    â€œYes.”
    â€œListen to me.”
    â€œI miss you.”
    â€œShut up and listen. I want you to listen to me.”
    â€œI’m listening.”
    â€œSay something funny.”
    â€œLucy, c’mon—”
    She raised her voice.
    â€œSay something funny!”
    â€œSomething funny.”
    â€œNot your best effort, but it’s a start. Now hang up.”
    â€œWhy?”
    â€œJust hang up. I’ll call right back.”
    She hung up. I held the phone, wondering what she was doing. A few seconds later it rang. I answered.
    â€œLuce?”
    She shouted.
    â€œ Answer like you mean it! ”
    She hung up again. I waited again. The phone finally rang, so I answered the way she wanted.
    â€œElvis Cole Detective Agency. We