Read Online Henry Wood Perception by Brian D. Meeks - Free Book Online

when "Scenes from an Italian Restaurant” started, Luna said, “I really like music from the future. Hey, look, we have a bottle of red.” It was half empty, and she was taking fewer notes. “Dance with me.”
    She pulled him up from the kitchen table. They started to sway together until the change in tempo and then Luna let go and bopped around the room. She didn’t know where the song was going nor did she care. Henry liked her easy way with life.
    “It's a story. Fun.” Luna said.
    Henry sat back down and wrote, "Brenda and Eddie" in his notebook.
    She stopped dancing and said, “Oh, it has a sad ending; they got a divorce. But it's still fun to dance to.” She started bopping around again. Luna waved "Brenda and Eddie Goodbye." The tempo changed again, and she grabbed Henry and said, “He is quite the piano player.” She looked into his eyes, then rested her head on his chest. They swayed for a while, right into "Vienna". The notes could wait; Henry could listen for clues later.
    Henry turned off the player after "Vienna" finished. Luna looked up at Henry with tired eyes and said, “I should probably be getting home.”
    Henry gave her a long slow kiss. She wrapped her arms around him and gave him a tight hug. “Detective work is nice.”
    Henry said, “I think I'm going to go back to the city and do a bit more work.”
    “Don’t stay up too late...Opening Day tomorrow. I’ve never been to an Opening Day.”
    “Don’t worry about me. I hear Carl Erskine is getting the start.”
    Luna smiled. She had no idea who Carl Erskine was, but she liked how excited Henry got when talking baseball.
    Henry snuck in one more kiss before he said goodbye. It was about 11:00, and Henry had too much on his mind to pack it in for the evening. He brought the player and box with him and drove to his apartment.
    It was an easy drive into the city.
    The hallway outside his apartment was quiet. Henry opened the door. He walked in, set the player on the table, and went to grab a beer from the fridge. The phone rang before he got there. “Hello?”
    “Henry, this is Mike, I tried a little while ago, but you didn’t answer.”
    “I was out with Luna and just got back.”
    “I know it’s late, but I need you to come down to a crime scene.”
    “Sure, who is it?”
    “I wouldn’t have bothered you, but, after the Woolworth building today, well, it was too much of a coincidence.”
    “What was?”
    “The victim has a picture of Daniel Kupton on her bedside table.”
    “The victim, is it Cynthia Pollard?”
    “Yeah, how’d you know?”
    “I had dinner with her, tonight. She was his mistress.”
    “I’ll send a car.”
    ***
    Henry walked onto Cynthia's floor. Mike was standing in the hall talking to another officer. “This way,” Mike said.
    They stopped at the door. The chain had been broken. In her hallway, a vase had been knocked off the table, and they carefully stepped over the puddle of water and lilies. Cynthia Pollard was lying on the floor next to her couch. She was wearing only a silk robe. Henry could see the red marks of a rope burn around her neck. He felt sick. More than that, he was angry.
    “What time did you get the call?”
    “The lady upstairs heard a scuffle and called at 9:27 pm. The first officer on the scene arrived less than five minutes later.”
    “Any witnesses see someone leaving?”
    “No, which is strange, as it's a secure building. The doorman reports that she got out of a cab at 9:10. He said there was a guy with her.”
    “That would have been me.”
    “Oh, yeah…right…sorry.”
    Henry gave them a rundown of his evening. After a look around the apartment, he went with Mike down to the station to fill out an official report. The song "The Stranger", or at least the whistling, ran through his head.

 
     
    CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
     
     
    It didn’t matter that he barely knew her; they had broken bread. Henry sat alone at Mike’s desk. He filled out an official report. Mike had