Read Online Infected: Shift by Andrea Speed - Free Book Online Page B

childhood, but some things just brought it all back a little too clearly. “Unidentified friend. Is that you?”
     
    “It is. Luckily I knew the reporter who wrote the article. I told him to leave my name out, or his wife would discover what he was actually doing when he was supposedly working late on a story.”
     
    “Oh no, not another closet case.”
     
    “Nope, not this time. He’s straight, to the best of my knowledge. He just visits the S&M clubs. A lot. If they had a punch card, he’d be on his second free whipping by now.”
     
    An S&M punch card? That brought up an amusing image that made Roan smirk. “You know, having dirt on a lot of people is a good way to get offed. It’s why Danny DeVito got killed in L.A. Confidential .”
     
    “I try not to advertise the amount of dirt I have. I try and fly under the radar. Speaking of dirt: Carey Switzer. We really need to talk about him.”
     
    The article said that the car was unidentified—apparently neither Grey nor Holden saw it—and the police were still looking for witnesses, as well as perusing tapes from nearby CCTV cameras to see if they’d caught anything. That told him the cops had pretty much nothing to go on. He wondered if Grey being a “local sports star” would encourage some witnesses to come forward. Roan folded up the paper and tossed it on the coffee table, enjoying a swig of sugary caffeinated goodness. “Okay, so you know Switzer.”
     
    “He’s infamous on the East side. He’s one of those ones who wants freebies.”
     
    That was seemingly cryptic, until you realized you were talking to a sex worker who used to hustle on street corners, and then its meaning was nauseatingly clear. “He extorted sex?”
     
    Holden nodded, looking disgusted at the whole thing. “He’d deliberately pick up newbies, youngsters, mostly female, some male, some just street kids and not even prostitutes. He’d say he’d arrest them and bring them in, but he’d let them off if he got a freebie.”
     
    “A fuck.”
     
    “From the boys, a blow job. But yeah, that was the deal. If you turned down his oh so generous offer, he’d rough you up, take you in, and say you were beaten when he found you. One woman claimed he planted a rock on her.”
     
    A rock being meth, of course. Roan rubbed his eyes, and wondered if he should just track this motherfucker at home. Nowadays departments cracked down hard on this kind of shit, but bullies with a badge still existed, and when they did, they were horrendously foul little despots. They all deserved to be taken out and shot. “No one’s filed a complaint against him?”
     
    “Not until Jasmine sued, no.”
     
    “Shit.” There was motive. His little fiefdom was threatening to come crashing down, so he takes out the only witness brave enough to say something.
     
    “And he really hated gays. Even if he got what he wanted from a boy, it wasn’t unusual for him to beat them up anyways. Once he beat one up and ran him in, said he resisted arrest, pulled a knife on him. I can’t imagine what he’d do to a transsexual.”
     
    “Will any of these people be willing to testify against Switzer?”
     
    Holden grimaced, his hands tightening like he wanted to make a fist but didn’t dare. “I don’t know. It would depend.”
     
    “On what?”
     
    “On how much protection they’d get.”
     
    “They’re that scared of him?”
     
    “He’s a complete fucking asshole.”
     
    “Well, being a bully and a rapist will get you that reputation.” He sighed wearily and dry washed his face. “What about Michael Brand?”
     
    Holden shook his head. “No one’s heard of him. Switzer generally works alone.”
     
    Roan didn’t know how to ask it, so he decided to just try and brazen it out. “Were you victimized by Switzer?”
     
    Holden tensed and gave him a sidelong look of disbelief. “I’ve never been a victim of anyone, Roan.”
     
    “I’m willing to believe you’ve always been