Darkness of the Soul by Kaine Andrews Read Free Book Online Page B

up.”
    “Sigs ain’t worth jack, and you know it. Besides, our guy has been smart so far; no reason to think he actually walked into a pawnshop, sold the thing, then went and hunted down the new owner. And even if he did, I really doubt he signed for the sale with his own name or even with anything resembling his real signature.”
    Parker didn’t have an answer to that, so he just shrugged again and glanced up the street. The usual crowd was filing in and out of the casino, but other than that, traffic was at the wonderful point in the day where all commuting ceased for a brief window. Parker was glad for that; trying to get back to the office during rush hour would have been even more of a nightmare than the drive there had been, and being spared that was worth nearly anything. He pulled open his door and dropped himself into the cruiser, ignoring the wheezing of the brakes and the disturbing way it creaked as he did so. Drakanis followed a moment later, after casting a last glance up at the casino across the way.
    For a second, he’d been sure he’d seen something up there, some gleam, and the feeling of being watched returned. Then it faded, and he shook his head.
    “Waiting for the second coming, Mikey? Haul your freight.”
    “Yeah, yeah, shut up, asshole. Where to? Scene of the cr—”
    He was interrupted by a sudden chirping from Parker’s pocket. It bleeped out the Twilight Zone theme. Drakanis arched his brow. Parker shrugged, looking a trifle embarrassed. “Hey, it’s recognizable. No patting down to see who’s ringing.” He flipped the phone out of his pocket—quite a trick, given his girth and the narrow seating—and jabbed a button.
    “Parker.”
    Drakanis couldn’t hear what was being said on the other end, but the noise coming out of the phone was loud enough that he could detect some panic in the voice. He drew a question mark in the air, and Parker turned to him, shaking his head. The look on the other man’s face was enough to convince Drakanis that it might be best not to bother him just yet; he looked like death warmed over all of a sudden, or as if someone had just sucker punched him in the gut.
    Parker was nodding and tracing his finger in the air as if writing something. It was a habit Drakanis had watched often and always found fascinating. It wasn’t as if the person on the phone could see the gestures he was making, if he was really writing anything at all, but for Parker, it seemed to help.
    “Right. I got it. We’ll be there quick as we can. Uh-huh. Right.”
    Parker slammed the phone shut, tossed it to the floor, and then slammed his door and started the engine. He was pulling out into traffic even before Drakanis had a chance to register what was happening.
    “What’s up? Slow down, there, bucky.”
    “Morrigan just had a heart attack. Sheila thinks he was talking to our boy when it happened. Says the guy wanted to leave you a message.”
    Drakanis blanched. “Oh. Fuck.”
    “Right. Fuck.”
    Drakanis reached over to the dash and flicked the switch. The car came alive in pulses of blue and red, the siren blaring. Not that either was necessary, given the light traffic, but it made him feel a little better at least, and from Parker’s look, it did him some good, too.
    They sat in silence for a minute, and then Drakanis broke it by asking, in a tone of pleading desperation, “What the fuck is going on?”
    Parker didn’t have an answer for that. Yesterday, things had been nice, mundane, and orderly. Even working homicide got routine, after a while. Now it felt like everything had been turned on edge and given a little bit of surreal movie focus, and there wasn’t shit he could do about it.
    Drakanis could feel his skin trying to crawl off his body, provoking a fit of shuddering. He closed his eyes, trying to make it go away. He kept telling himself that it was just nerves, but he didn’t really believe that.
    Right, nerves. You know what it really is? They call that