A Forest of Corpses by P. A. Brown Read Free Book Online

need to know who has been hanging around your store in the last couple of months, whether they came in to the store or just loitered outside."
    "I don't have time to be watching spics in the parking lot."
    "Spics?" I leaned toward him, crowding his space. I hadn't said they were Latino. "Describe them."
    "Spics. What can I say about 'em? Dirty Mexis, shaved like they just come outta jail. Tattoos. Those baggy clothes all the kids seem to wear. Sneering all the time." If he noticed he was standing beside another of his 'dirty Mexis' in the form of a cop, he gave no sign. Thick. I'd give Miguel points. He showed no sign the name calling got to him. His face was as flat as I knew mine was.
    "What did they do besides hang around?"
    "Pick on my customers. Call them names. Try to pick fights with the men, the women...I called the police but no one ever did anything. They'd ask if the Mexis could come in the store and when I said no, they said it wasn't trespassing then and they couldn't do nothing until they did. Lot of damn good payin' city taxes gets me."
    "Did you ever see them interact with either Momo or Simpson?"
    Hardy gave me a disgusted look. "They 'interacted' with everyone. Business is down since they showed up, but fat lot of good you guys did me. Want to tell me why that was?"
    I made sympathetic noises, which didn't mollify Hardy at all. I jerked my head and Miguel followed me toward where 52

    A Forest of Corpses
    by P. A. Brown
    our car was parked, baking in the sun. The Escalade was gone. I didn't turn around to see if the angry manager was watching us. I knew he was.
    Miguel was getting better at reading me. "What's up?"
    "He's lying."
    He thought about that for a minute and nodded. "Okay, I agree. But about what?"
    I drummed my fingers on the wheel staring over the dash towards the rolling waves beyond the beach, crashing and churning on the shoreline. "That I don't know." I rammed the key into the ignition and cranked the engine on, immediately turning on the air. A blast of hot air was soon replaced by welcomed coolness.
    "He's afraid of them."
    "Anyone would be, if they're smart. But we're going to put a stop to it."
    "How are we going to do that?"
    "Haven't quite figured that out yet, either."
    "But you will." He sounded skeptical.
    "Yes," I said, slamming the car into gear and booting it out of the parking lot. "I will."
    Back at the station we pulled out the latest briefs on gang activity in our area and started leafing through them, looking for the bangers we had spotted on the beach or at least some familiar tattoos. It wasn't long before my suspicions were confirmed. The tats I had seen were all Eastside with the exception of two, who were confirmed Westside bangers with long sheets.
    53

    A Forest of Corpses
    by P. A. Brown
    I took the briefs with me, then left for lunch around twelve-thirty. Over a corned beef on rye, I ran down what I knew so far. Bangers were up to something. Two opposing gangs showing up in Eastside territory, albeit right on the border between the two sides. Why? What would bring two warring factions together? Nothing good, I was sure. Add to the mix one dead, black indigent. Head shot, which suggested execution. So who executes a homeless old guy with no criminal ties? I went back to what I had told my class a good cop looks at. Opportunity? They had that—I'd seen them down there myself and had corroboration that they'd been there before. Means? I'd never known a banger that didn't have a surplus of weapons at his disposal. Motive? I was stretching there. Extortion? Common, but usually aimed at store owners or neighborhood dealers, not penniless street bums. Who expected them to have money? Or was there something darker at work here? There had been an increasing number of crimes against blacks by Hispanic gangbangers in the L.A. area. No one wanted to talk about it. Creating yet more racial tensions in a city that always seemed to be on the edge of another race riot was never a