Read Online New Title 1 by Edward Lee, John Pelan - Free Book Online Page A

knew. It was her presence that had revived the long forgotten sex drive. She was the bolt of lightning that could resurrect the dead.
    There seemed little point now in preserving any professional acumen. She’d caught him beating off, for Christ’s sake! “Are you married?” he asked.
    “Oh, no. My job is my priority,” she informed him, steering down the road. “You’re a cop, you know what I mean.”
    At least that much was true. “Yeah, but I’m sure you’ve got a boyfriend.”
    “Nope. Not interested.”
    This seemed unfathomable. As good-looking as she was? She could walk into any New York modeling agency and leave with a contract. She could be in movies or tv. She could be anything, he realized. But she’s chosen to be a reporter instead, and she accepts the sacrifices. Straker had accepted those same sacrifices but more by default than anything less. Yet her resolve was crystal clear.
    “Let me ask you something,” he said, taking the thought a step further. “You’ve gone undercover as a ringrat. It’s the same as a narc, in a way. You lose your credibility when it gets down to the wire, don’t you?”
    She glanced confused at him. “What do you mean?”
    “I mean, if a narc is posing as a dopehead, his credibility only lasts as long as it takes for someone to wonder why he’s never been seen actually taking drugs.”
    “Oh, I get it. And you want to know how I can maintain the premise of being a ringrat without really having sex with wrestlers.”
    “Yeah.”
    “That’s not a problem, Captain. I’ve been able to successfully infiltrate the local ringrat community because I do have sex with wrestlers.”
    Straker’s neck nearly snapped when he jerked his gaze to her. “You’re kidding me, right?”
    “No. And what’s so odd about that? We’re pros, Captain. We do what we need to do to get the job done, period. Even if it means we have to do things that would otherwise be considered a breech of professional conduct.”
    Straker was suddenly riled. “You mean you actually, you-you-you… get it on with those guys?”
    “Of course. I have to. Otherwise I’d have no undercover credibility at all. My job is to get the real story on Goon. I can’t do that unless I can get close to him, and I can’t get close to him unless I’m believable as a ringrat. Goon has a vulnerability; I’ll find that vulnerability by getting to his manager, and I know I’ll eventually get to his manager by—pardon the word—fucking the right grappler.”
    This was incredulous. Was she serious? Straker could tell, by her poise, her gestures, and the tone of her voice that she meant every word of it.
    Then she continued, “And don’t tell me you’ve never done anything technically unethical in order to do your job more effectively.”
    Straker bumbled, was about to object, but then fell silent. She’s right, he realized. Just this morning he’d had sex—twice—in order to obtain Susan Bilks’ diary. So he could hardly criticize Melinda Pierce for having sex with wrestlers in order to do her job.
    “It’s just…kind of shocking is all,” he eventually remarked.
    Then she looked him dead in the eye. “Goon has raped, mutilated, and murdered at least nineteen people that we know of, Captain. I will do anything to stop him. Anything.”
    Straker stared at the poison in her eyes. You know something? he thought. She means it.
     
    ««—»»
     
    The bell clanged. Sallee County Civic Center, little more than a high school gymnasium, had packed in over a thousand people. Straker was taken aback by the sight of the crowd: mostly rednecks, mostly adults. Cheering, waving signs, wearing shirts and caps emblazoned with the likenesses of their favorite “grapplers.” Straker and Melinda never went to their seats; instead they stood by the railed ring entrance along with about a hundred other people, mostly women dressed similarly to Melinda.
    Ringrats.
    “How come we’re not going to our seats?” he