Read Online Straw Men by Martin J Smith - Free Book Online

could intimidate her?
    â€œDumb bastard,” Brenna said, and laughed out loud.
    Even as her words filled the empty house, she considered another possibility. Her bravado turned to anger as she paced the kitchen floor. The straw man was back on the street. The Scarecrow was unchained, a menace loosed. Any hint of trouble and Dagnolo would be all over the judge, arguing to put DellaVecchio back behind bars. Maybe someone was setting him up again.
    The kitchen wall clock read 4:23. What now? She played the message again, its creepy power diminishing each time. She could ignore it, but Jim had a right to know if this ugliness was seeping into their home. She thought suddenly of Alton Staggers, the Underhill family’s security goon who a year earlier had snatched her son and Jim’s younger daughter from school after she and Jim had unearthed the Underhills’ sordid family secret. In situa­tions this volatile, there are no boundaries.
    No, she decided, this had to be done by the book. It was risky, but she saw no other way. She picked up the phone and dialed.
    â€œPublic Safety Building,” the operator answered.
    â€œChief Kiger, please.”
    â€œWho’s calling?”
    Brenna gave her name and waited. Would he remember her? No matter. Patrick Kiger was the one man in the Pittsburgh Police Department she felt she could trust. In the years since he arrived from Memphis, he’d turned the department from a swamp of institutionalized vice and debilitating internal politics into one of the most effective and best-managed forces in the country. His low tolerance for misconduct among his officers earned him loyalty and loathing in equal measure. The police union filed regular grievances against him, but few ever questioned his personal integrity. Even Dagnolo knew better than to cross him.
    â€œI’m sorry, Chief Kiger’s out this week.”
    Brenna swore under her breath. “Is there any way—”
    â€œHold on, I’ll transfer you.”
    She considered hanging up, but didn’t. What choice did she have? She wanted this on record, just in case it happened again. Just in case whatever.
    â€œSo, what?” came a familiar voice. “You take it all back?”
    Milsevic. Damn.
    â€œUh, Captain,” she stammered, “I was looking for the chief.”
    Milsevic laughed. “Surprise!” he said. “He’s in San Diego. Had to speak at a DBA seminar. Left me holding the fort. What can I do for you?”
    As Kiger’s second-in-command, Milsevic more than made up for the chief’s lack of personal charm. It worked on most people. She had always felt that if his police career didn’t work out, he showed promise as a hot-tub salesman, or maybe a motivational speaker. Her friends in the department’s rank-and-file considered Milsevic ruthlessly ambitious, but cops have better bullshit detectors than the general public. Kiger, on the other hand, understood Milsevic’s value as the department’s unblemished public face.
    â€œNothing,” she said after an awkward pause. “Just … nothing.”
    â€œLook,” Milsevic said, “let’s not play games here, OK? If there’s something we need to know—”
    â€œNothing personal, Captain. I do need to talk to somebody there. I’m just not sure you’re the right guy. You’re too involved in my case, and with the Harnetts. I’m just not comfortable—”
    â€œIf this is about your boy DellaVecchio, no worries. Unless he’s slipped his collar, he’s at his dad’s house in Lawrenceville right now. The wonders of electronics.”
    â€œI know,” Brenna said. “Talked to him an hour and a half ago, just before I left the office.”
    â€œWhat then? The lynch mob’s torches keeping you awake at night? Swear to God, they didn’t get your address from me.”
    Asshole,
Brenna thought. “I’d take a