Flipping Out by Marshall Karp Read Free Book Online Page B

supposed to be coming up with answers.
    By five in the
afternoon we were back in the office updating Kilcullen on our most recent lack
of progress.
    'What about
Reggie's arrests?' he said.
    'We ran through
the most recent busts this morning. We have past arrests going back^ three years
being pulled out of the archives. So far, nothing jumps out.'
    'Dig deeper,'
Kilcullen said. 'It might not be obvious. It may be hiding under the surface.'
    'Meaning what?'
Terry said.
    'OK, I'll give
you a dumb scenario,' Kilcullen said. 'Totally hypothetical. Let's say Reggie
busted a pimp. The guy wants to negotiate with Reggie, so what does he offer up
as a bargaining chip?'
    'I don't know,'
Terry said. 'How horny is Reggie during the negotiation period?'
    'Kiss my ass,
Biggs,' Kilcullen said. 'I'm trying to teach you something. The pimp tells
Reggie he can finger a cop who's taking bribes to look the other way when the
hookers are working his beat. So now Reggie's got something on a crooked cop,
and he's going to take it to IA.'
    'I doubt it,'
Terry said. 'Reggie's too smart. He'd never just take some lowlife pimp's word
for it.'
    'I told you it's
hypothetical,' Kilcullen said. 'In this case, Reggie buys the pimp's story, but
before he can report it, the rogue cop finds out, and he kills Reggie's wife.'
    'Why?'
    'Because that
would effectively put Reggie out of commission.'
    'Why doesn't the
cop just kill Reggie?' Terry said.
    'I said it was
dumb, dammit. I'm just trying to get you guys to think outside of the box.'
    'Oh, right...the
dumb scenario school of management,' Terry said. He was winding up to take one
more poke at the boss, when Tony and Charlie walked into Kilcullen's office. In
reality, Charlie walked. Tony barrelled in, steaming mad.
    'What the hell
are you guys doing questioning my wife?'
    'What are you
talking about?' Terry said. 'We questioned the whole group connected to the
house flipping business. Charlie's wife, his mother-in-law...'
    'And Marilyn?'
Tony said.
    'Yeah, I worked
her over with a rubber hose. She confessed.'
    'Tony, relax,'
Kilcullen said. 'They're just doing their—'
    Terry isn't the
type to let the boss fight his battles. 'So we interviewed Marisol,' he said to
Tony. 'It's not like we cuffed her and carted her off. It's called police
work.'
    'Yeah, well the next
time you got police work with my family, let me know ahead of time.'
    'Yeah, I'll send
you a registered letter,' Terry said. He turned to Charlie. 'How about you? You
got the same beef?'
    Charlie just
shook his head. 'Hey, man, my buddy's wife was murdered...whatever it takes.'
    'Thanks,' Terry
said. 'And now, if it's OK with Detective Dominguez, I'm gonna take a piss.'
    Tony shot him
the finger.
    'All right,
knock it off,' Kilcullen said. 'Get back to work.'
    'Yeah,' Terry
said. 'And one more thing about your dumb scenario. I was wondering what cop
would take a few hundred bucks from a pimp, and then cover up the crime by
killing another cop's wife. I was thinking, how stupid can one cop be? But
you're right. I gotta start thinking outside the box.'
    Terry stormed
out and Kilcullen stood up. 'Dammit, Dominguez, the victim was in business with
your wife. Of course she gets questioned.'
    'Marisol said he
was a total wiseass,' Tony said.
    'It's part of
his charm,' Kilcullen said. 'Get over it. And rein in that Latin temper. I got
enough crap to deal with.'
    Tony threw both
hands up and left the room. Charlie gave me a smile and followed.
    'And Lomax,'
Kilcullen said. 'Get your partner to start acting civil, or you're both...
Never mind. I don't care who you piss off. Just solve it.'

Chapter
Fifteen
     
     
    It probably
would have been a good time to go home and let Terry cool down. But when I got
back to my desk there was a message from the coroner's office. The autopsy was
complete, and they had released Jo Drabyak's body. She was Jewish, and it's a
tradition to bury the dead as soon as possible, so the funeral was scheduled
for the next