Cage of Night by Ed Gorman Read Free Book Online

Cindy Brasher offering to give me a ride home. And in front of a witness.
    I knew it probably made Garrett jealous and angry to hear all this but I didn't care. In a mean way, in fact, I probably enjoyed it a little bit. His uniform had made him a big man. Cindy Brasher's interest in me was making me a big man, too. That's the thing I figured out about love a long time ago. It's not how your lover feels about you that matters—it's how your lover makes you feel about yourself that counts.
    "Sorry to spoil your fun, Miss Brasher," Garrett said, "but I'm afraid he'll have to ride home with me."
    "With you?" she said, sounding genuinely disappointed.
    "Afraid so."
    "But why?"
    "I've still got some questions to ask him. About what happened tonight, I mean."
    I saw what he was doing. The pettiness of it was so pathetic it was almost laughable. Revenge of the Conan Readers.
    She looked angry.
    I took her hand. "I'll call you tomorrow," I said. She continued to glare at Garrett. "No, you won't," she said. "I'll call you. As soon as I get up."
    She gave me another cautious kiss on the cheek, scowled again at Garrett, and left.

    The squad car smelled of puke and disinfectant and cold, cold night. Cops hauled a lot of drunks.
    After he pulled out of the hospital parking lot, Garrett said, "You going to press charges?"
    "Sure. Why wouldn't I?"
    '"For the good of the cause' as the Mayor put it to me.
    "You're shitting me. The Mayor doesn't want me to press charges?"
    "That's the idea he gave me."
    "Well, fuck him."
    He looked over at me solemnly. "What if I told you that I was going to nail him on a couple of charges a lot worse than assault and battery?"
    "A lot worse?"
    "Uh-huh."
    "Man, you just started working tonight. How could you have anything on him?"
    "Yeah, but I've been following some things very closely. That's one thing they taught us at the Academy. To watch things that don't seem to be related."
    "Like what?"
    He didn't say anything for a time. Just drove. His uniform gave him the right to be mysterious.
    The mercury vapor lights made the glowing snow purple. No other cars were on the street. The town looked doomed.
    "You been following the robberies?"
    "What robberies?" I said.
    "Eight convenience stores in little towns all within fifteen miles east and west of here."
    "Guess not." Of course not. Why would I follow anything like that?
    The radio squawked. He picked it up and checked in and then ten-foured.
    He looked over at me and grinned. "I do that shit pretty good, don't I?"
    "Yeah, Conan couldn't have done it any better."
    He laughed. "That'd make a great movie. You know, fish-out-of-water. Conan gets transported forward in time and is a cop."
    It really was a pretty funny idea.
    Then, "Three weeks ago, in one of the robberies, two store clerks got murdered."
    "That's right. I forgot about that." Then, realizing his implication, I said, "God, you think Myles had something to do with that?"
    "Maybe. But if you tell anybody, I'll deny I said it."
    "Why would he rob convenience stores? His old man's rich and he's a football hero."
    "Have some fun, maybe. Who knows?"
    "Anyway, how could you tie him to it?"
    "Hamstring."
    "Huh?"
    He shook his head. "Maybe I'll explain someday."
    He pulled up in front of my house. All the lights were on. Mom and Dad and Josh would be waiting up. Nervously.
    Just as I was getting out of the car, I said, "You could've let her drive me home."
    "I know. But I figure the less time she spends with you, the better my chances are."
    At least he was finally being honest about it.
    "Man, who would've thought that two comic book nerds like us would be going after the same beautiful girl?"
    I suppose I felt sorry for him again. At the moment I felt that Cindy was completely mine. I could afford to joke with him.
    "Too bad she doesn't have a twin," he said, and then put the car into gear.
    "Yeah," I said, "too bad."
    And then I closed the door.
    And then he was gone.

Richard Mitchell,