Read Online First Avenue by Lowen Clausen - Free Book Online

directly to him, but in the general direction. “You have to have some reason to stop me,” he said.
    “I have a reason. What’s your name?”
    “I don’t have to tell you anything. I was just walking down the street.”
    “I see. Come here. Listen to this.”
Sam
raised the radio that was in his left hand. The boy was now close enough that
Sam
gestured with a single finger for the boy to join him. “Come here,”
Sam
repeated.
    Reluctantly, ever so reluctantly, the boy took a few more steps toward
Sam
.
Sam
took a few toward the boy.
    “1-David-4,”
Sam
said into the radio. After Radio acknowledged him, he continued, “Will you repeat the description you have of the suspect at First and Pike?” He held the radio out so that the boy could hear.
    “David-4, I have your suspect as a white male, eighteen, five-foot-ten, orange cap, blue windbreaker, blue jeans.”
    “Thank you, Radio.”
Sam
shoved the radio back into its holster. Another patrol car crept around Post Alley in the Market and shut its lights off.
Sam
lifted his hand to tell it to stay there. The boy saw the car, too. “I guess that’s you. Radio never lies.”
    “I didn’t do anything.”
    “So maybe somebody’s playing a joke on you. What’s your name?”
    “
Richard
.”
    “Your last name?”
    “
Rutherford
.”
    “Do you carry any weapons,
Richard
?”
    “No.”
    “Let me check. Turn around for a second. Lift your arms.”
    The boy turned away from
Sam
and raised his arms from his side.
Sam
felt the boy’s coat pockets first, found them empty, and then used his palms and fingers to search for anything big enough to be a weapon.
Richard
had none. He had a wallet, however.
    “Take out your wallet,
Richard
, and show me some ID.”
    The boy reached for his wallet and fumbled through it until he found a social security card. He handed it to
Sam
.
    “
Richard
Jonathan
Rutherford
,”
Sam
said, as he held it up to the streetlight. “That’s quite a name. Your parents must have thought you would become an important man. Are you important,
Richard
?”
    The boy shrugged his shoulders. His eyes showed anger.
Sam
pulled a pen and notebook from his shirt pocket and wrote down the boy’s name.
    “Am I under arrest or something?”
    “Not yet, Richard. How old are you?”
    “Ni
net
een.”
    “Got a record,
Richard
?”
    “No.”
    “What’s your date of birth?”
    The boy gave him a date, and
Sam
wrote it down although he had no way to verify it.
    Sam pulled out his radio and asked for a name check. When Radio acknowledged,
Sam
gave the boy’s full name, spelling the middle and last names, and the boy’s birth date. He watched the boy’s eyes while he talked.
    “Where are you living now?”
Sam
asked while he waited for Radio to run the name in the computer.
    “I’m staying with some friends. I don’t know the address. Roy Street , I think.”
    Sam nodded. He doubted he would get any closer than that.
    “Do you go to school, do you work? What do you do with your time?”
    “Nothing.”
    “When I came around the corner, I saw you standing in front of the Donut Shop.”
    “So?”
    “Do you hang out there? Are you one of Pierre ’s buddies?”
    “Who’s
Pierre
?” the boy asked insolently.
    “The King of France,”
Sam
said.
    “David-4,” said the woman’s voice on the radio.
Sam
knew then that the name was clear. If not, the operator would have addressed him differently, beginning the transmission with a full “Radio to 1-David-4.”
    Sam lifted the radio to his mouth, repeated his call letters, and waited as Radio told him the name was clear. The boy knew he was home free then.
Sam
could see it in his eyes. He gave the social security card back.
    “Well,
Richard
, I guess it’s your lucky day. I don’t see any bodies on the street, so you’re free to go.”
    Richard was no longer in a hurry to leave. “Who called you?” he asked. His eyes narrowed into small stones of ice.
    “I’m not real sure. Can’t give