Read Online Our Honored Dead (Stephanie Chalice Thrillers Book 4) by Lawrence Kelter - Free Book Online

stomach.”
    “It’s worth a shot. Lead on McDuff,” I said while I chewed on a mouthful of roasted goodness.
    The autopsy of John Doe was still a work in progress. The body was still thawing, and thus, we were still waiting for the coroner’s report. Nonetheless, I wanted to canvas the area to see if anything might fall into place.
    We were back at Kowsky Plaza in the spot where John Doe had been found. The area was still blocked off with police tape, but there were no officers present. All there was to see was the slab of concrete with the ridiculous painting from the Berlin Wall. The area did not have video surveillance cameras. I was hoping for a moment of inspiration, a flicker of genius that would give me some direction in the case.
    All of a sudden, I felt something brush by my leg. I looked down and saw an adorable little dog. It was standing on its hind legs, wagging its tail, and staring at my bag of pralines. It was on one of those long retractable leashes. “And who is this?”
    “Sorry, sorry.” A good-looking young man with a shaved head raced over to save us from the menacing dog at the end of the leash. “Sorry,” he repeated. “She must have smelled your nuts.”
    Not a problem a woman usually encounters. “No worries,” I said. “What’s her name?”
    “Pumpkin,” he said. He seemed kind of bashful.
    I bent over to pet the dog. “Can I give her one?”
    “Oh no, please don’t. Pumpkin has a sensitive stomach.” He reached into his pocket and took out a biscuit. “You can give her one of these if you like.”
    “Sure. Thanks.” Pumpkin wasn’t the first dog I’d noticed in Kowsky Plaza. Kowsky Plaza housed a very cool dog run. I decided to play a hunch while Pumpkin nibbled from my hand. “Do you walk Pumpkin here every day?”
    “When the weather is good,” he said.
    “What about in the morning?”
    “Are you a cop or something?” the young man asked. He seemed intrigued by the possibility.
    “Yes, we’re both police officers. A body was found here yesterday morning, and we’re hoping that someone might have witnessed the event.”
    “Really, you’re cops? That’s so cool.” He extended his hand. “My name’s Scott. I took the police exam last month.”
    “That’s fantastic,” Gus said. “How’d you do?”
    “I was number fifty.”
    “That’s pretty good. Upwards of a thousand take the exam every year. I’m sure that you’ll get called.” Gus turned to me. “I think he finished higher than you did, Stephanie.”
    The truth was that no one finished higher than I did. I was number one the year I took the exam, but I kept it quiet—humility goes a long way in the police department. “Yeah, I think you beat me, Scott. So tell me, do you walk Pumpkin early in the morning?”
    “No. I just take care of her during the day. Her owner walks her in the morning.”
    All right, it was worth a shot. I had the right idea but the wrong dog walker. I would ask to have officers assigned to interview dog owners in the early morning when there was a chance one of them saw John Doe being deposited at the base of the ugly Berlin wall.
    “Sorry,” Scott continued.” He seemed genuinely disappointed. “I’ve been walking dogs in this area since before it was renamed. It’s always nice and quiet here—hardly any traffic.”
    Hardly any traffic—hence, a good location for the disposal of a body. I turned to Gus. “Did you know this park was renamed?”
    “No,” Gus said. “What was it called originally?”
    Scott’s eyes gleamed. “They used to call this Pumphouse Park. It was built over the old World Trade Center pumping station.”
    “Pumping station?” Gus asked.
    “It was part of the cooling system for the towers. Chilled water from the Hudson River was originally used to cool the World Trade Center.”
    Chilled water? Cold enough to freeze a body? I turned to Gus and saw that we were on the same page. Scott saw from our expressions that his contribution had