Cutter by Thomas Laird Read Free Book Online Page B

had been detective work that had solved my previous cases, not some damned machine ‘that did our bidding’.
    We had only interviewed one possibility, so far. That cute bastard, Karrios. There were two left to interview. Doc and I were going to round up that pair today.
    *
    Dawson Repzac was our first conversation of the day. He was a two-time loser on molestation charges, but the previous arrests were ancient beefs.
    He was about the right size for the guy Stephanie had seen in the parking lot at the mall. We had his jacket sitting in front of us when we talked to him in the box.
    ‘Do I need a lawyer?’ the sandy-haired ex-molester asked.
    ‘Probably. You got probation coming up?’ Doc teased.
    Repzac was not smiling.
    ‘I am clean. I mean, I am immaculate.’
    ‘You were a war hero. Served in Vietnam twice and in the Gulf War. You were infantry in Vietnam and then you worked as a medic in the Gulf. That right?’ I inquired.
    ‘I carried the litters in the Gulf. That’s all.’
    ‘How come you didn’t carry a gun in the Middle East?’ Doc asked.
    ‘I killed enough people the first time.’ 
    ‘You were a lifer until after the Persian Gulf thing,’ I said.
    ‘I quit after that pissant adventure. Yeah.’
    ‘You’re well educated,’ Doc added. ‘Went to Illinois Chicago. Studied biology ... What? You want to teach? Go to medical school?’
    ‘I wanted to avoid Vietnam. Then I changed my mind and volunteered after I graduated — Have you guys had enough fun yet?’
    ‘We’re investigating a double homicide,’ I told Repzac.
    ‘You mean the two women who were cut open? What would I have to do with something like that? I got hauled up for statutory rape. Twice. It was consensual. I tried to break it off because I found out she lied about her age. She told me she was eighteen. Hell, she looked twenty-five. But she was fifteen and she wasn’t getting carded at the bar where I picked her up. What I’m saying i s wh y m e? ’
    ‘You’re not the only guy we’ve talked to. We talk to a lot of people. You know that. You’ve been through the system, so why ask a dumbass question like that?’ Doc groused.
    ‘Okay, okay ... Is there anything else you need to ask me?’
    ‘No. Thanks for coming in,’ I answered.
    Then I opened the door for him.
    When he was down the hall from the box, Doc looked over at me.
    ‘You get the feeling you’ve just been lied to?’
    I watched Doc’s eyes, but neither of us blinked. 

 
     
    Chapter Ten
     
    Jimmy Preggio was the third guy on our list. He was the hardcore of the three, so far. Like the other two he was very intelligent, and like the other two he had a record for sexual assault. But his jacket was very short, other than the information on the two crimes for which he’d served four and a half years.
    He was blond, about six one, and he fitted the general description that Stephanie Manske gave us for the mall parking lot thing.
    Doc and I picked up Jimmy Preggio in a pool hall on Milwaukee Avenue. He was with several of his brothers, and it got a little tense when I saw his buddies start to grip their cues a bit too tightly.
    ‘We want to talk to you, Mr Preggio,’ Doc explained as he showed the guy his badge and ID.
    But the three clowns with Preggio were standing still, with some very fierce body language.
    ‘This is a homicide investigation,’ I told the three onlookers. ‘Any of you guys here on probation?’
    They headed for the bar without a blink.
    ‘I oughta use that line more often,’ Doc grinned.
    There was a clear, blank, serene look on Preggio’s handsome puss. He wasn’t troubled by any of this. He’d been downtown before, but never on a homicide deal, as far as I knew.
    ‘Are you going to cooperate with us, Mr Preggio?’ I asked again.
    ‘I will. I never had any other intention.’
    There was a gym bag under the pool table. Frank’s Pool was a twelve-table operation here on the North Side with a small lounge up front that